Magadha was an ancient kingdom of the Ganges plain, in what is now the state of Bihar, and one of the sixteen great states of ancient India. Later tradition traces its royal lines far back into legend, but its history is firmer from about the 6th century BCE, when kings such as Bimbisara and Ajatashatru of the Haryanka dynasty expanded it from its capital Rajagriha, later Pataliputra. It was associated with the Buddha and Mahavira, who both taught there. The Nanda dynasty seized the throne in the mid-4th century BCE, and Chandragupta Maurya overthrew the Nandas and founded the Maurya Empire, which Ashoka later ruled. Fertile land and rich iron deposits supported its rise as the core of the first great Indian empires.
Before and after
- c. 1,274 BCEConstruction of Abu Simbel
- from c. 1,258 BCE to 1,180 BCETrojan War
- from 13th century BCE to 6th centuryAncient Greece
- from 13th century BCE to 6th century BCEAncient Israel and Judah
- from 13th century BCE to 4th century BCEMagadha
- 13th century BCEAncient Celts
- c. 1,201 BCEThe Olmec civilisation emerges at San Lorenzo
- from c. 1,200 BCE to 1,150 BCEBronze Age collapse
- c. 1,200 BCEIron Age
More in Civilizations & archaeology
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- from 206 BCE to 220 CEHan dynasty
- 19 BCEConstruction of Western Wall
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- from 476 CE to 1492Middle Ages
The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires.