Give the reasons for the rise of the Magadha mahajanapada.

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The mahajanapadas were located over a major part of the Ganga valley with a few to the north-west and south-west. However, of the four most powerful kingdoms, three – Kosala, the Vajji confederacy and Magadha — lay in the middle Ganga valley and the fourth, Avanti was in western Malwa. The kingdoms that surrounded Magadha were Anga in the east, the Vajji Confederacy to the north, to its immediate west the kingdom of Kashi and further west, the kingdom of Kosala.

Magadha can be identified with the modern districts of Patna, Gaya, Nalanda and parts of Shahabad in the present-day state of Bihar. Geographically, Magadha’s location was such that it had in its vicinity large tracts of alluvial soil. The soil could be easily cleared off the heavy overgrowth with the use of iron implements and proved extremely fertile. Various varieties of paddy were grown as mentioned in the early Buddhist texts. This enabled the farmers to produce considerable surplus which augmented the taxes.

Magadha also had access to an easy supply of elephants. In fact, Magadha was one of the few which used elephants on a large scale in the wars and thus had an edge over others. The elephants could be procured from the east. Nandas, according to the Greek sources, maintained 6000 elephants. Elephants had an advantage over horses and chariots, because they could be used to march across marshy lands and areas which had no roads or other means of transport.

R. S. Sharma feels that the unorthodox character of the societal set up in Magadha allowed it to become more receptive to expansionist policies of its rulers. Magadha had a happy admixture of Vedic and non-Vedic people who were different in their outlook than those of orthodox Vedic societies.

 

Interestingly, the earliest capital of Magadha, Rajagriha (Girivraja) was situated to the south of the river and not near it. Rajagriha was surrounded by five hills and proved to be impregnable. It not only enjoyed a strategic location, but also lay in the vicinity of iron-encrusted outcrops. It has also been suggested that its accessibility to copper as well as to the forests of the present-day southern Bihar region can effectively explain why early Magadhan kings did not choose to have their capital in the most fertile plains of the Ganges valley but in a comparatively isolated region. The capital of Magadha did, however, shift to Pataliputra (originally Pataligramma) situated on the confluence of several rivers like the Ganga, Gandak, Son and Poon Pun. The rivers could be used as communication routes by the army moving in the direction of north, west, south and east. Besides, being surrounded by rivers made its position impregnable, functioning as a veritable water fort (jaladurga). Pataliputra became the capital of Magadha under the Mauryas. This enabled Magadha to effectively command the Uttarapatha (northern route) which lay to the north of the river Ganges, along the foothills of the Himalayas. The river also came to be used as one of the main arteries connecting Magadha with different regions and making heavy transport along the river possible. Thus, Magadha had certain natural advantages over other contemporaneous kingdoms, though some of which like Avanti to its south-west, Kosala to its north-west and the Vajji Confederacy to its north were equally powerful at the turn of the sixth century BCE.

Recent researches have suggested that accessibility to the iron mining areas in particular enabled kingdoms like Magadha and Avanti to not only produce good weapons of warfare but also in other ways. It facilitated expansion of agrarian economy and thereby, the generation of substantial surplus, extracted by the State in the form of taxes. This in turn enabled them to expand and develop their territorial base. Avanti, it must be noted, became a serious competitor of Magadha for quite some time and was also located not far from the iron mines in eastern Madhya Pradesh. Avanti had defeated the Vatsas of Kaushambi and planned to invade Magadha. Ajatshatru, in response to this threat, began the fortification of Rajgir; the remains of the walls can be still seen. Invasion, though, did not take place finally

Magadha was located in a region which had abundance of timber. Megasthenes has remarked about the wooden walls and houses of Magadha. Remains of wooden palisades of the 6th century BCE have been discovered to the south of Patna. Timber could be easily used to manufacture boats through which the Magadhan army could advance towards the east and the west.

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