☼ Sixteen Mahajanapadas:-
During the sixth century B.C. a good number of small and big kingdoms emerged in northern india. These kingdoms were situated in the gangetic plains, in modern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar region. As many as sixteen states emerged in the said Gangetic plains, of which some were monarchies and others being republics. These sixteen states taken together are known as Sorasamahajanapadas or Sixteen Mahajanapadas.
1. Anga — Modern area is the districts of Munger and Bhagalpur in Bihar.
2. Magadha — Modern area is the districts of Patna, Gaya and parts of Shahabad in Bihar.
3. Vajji — Modern area is the north of the river Ganges in Bihar.
4. Malla — Modern area is the districts of Deoria, Basti, Gorakhpur and Siddharthnagar in U.P.
5. Kashi — Modern area is the district of Varanasi in U.P.
6. Kosala — Modern area is the districts of Faizabad, Gonda, Bahraich in U.P.
7. Vatsa — Modern area is the districts of Allahabad, Mirzapur etc. in U.P.
8. Chedi — Modern area is the Bundelkhand area
9. Kuru — Modern area is the Haryana and Delhi area
10. Panchala — Modern area is the Ruhelkhand, Western U.P.
11. Shurasena — Modern area is the Brajmandal
12. Matsya — Modern area is the Alwar, Bharatpur and Jaipur in Rajasthan.
13. Avanti — Modern area is the Malwa.
14. Ashmaka — Modern area is the areas between the rivers Narmada Potana /Patali and Godavari.
15. Gandhara — Modern area is the western part of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
16. Kamboja — Modern area is the Hazara district of Pakistan.
• Buddhist literature (Anguttara Nikaya, Mahavastu) and Jain literature (Bhagavati Sutta) present a list of 16 Mahajanapadas with minor variation of names.
• There were two types of states— (i) monarchical and (ii) non-monarchical / republican.
• Monarchial states were Anga, Magadha, Kashi, Kosala, Vatsa, Chedi, Shursena, Matsya, Avanti, Gandhara.
• Republican States were Vajji, Malla, Kuru, Panchal, Kamboja, Shakya (Kapilvastu), Koliyas (Ramgrama), Moriya (Pipplivana).
• They had fought for political hegemony for about 100 years. Ultimately Magadh emerged victorious and became the center of political activity in northern India.
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