History of Bihar
The History of Bihar is one of the most varied in India. Bihar consists of three distinct regions, each has its own distinct history and culture. They are Magadha, Mithila and Bhojpur. Chirand, on the northern bank of the Ganga River, in Saran district, has an archaeological record dating from the Neolithic age. Regions of Bihar—such as Magadha, Mithila and Anga—are mentioned in religious texts and epics of ancient India. Mithila is believed to be the centre of Indian power in the Later Vedic period. Mithila first gained prominence after the establishment of the ancient Videha Kingdom. The kings of the Videha were called Janakas. A daughter of one of the Janaks of Mithila, Sita, is mentioned as consort of Lord Rama in the Hindu epic Ramayana. The kingdom later became incorporated into the Vajjika League which had its capital in the city of Vaishali, which is also in Mithila.
Magadha was the centre of Indian power, learning and culture for about a thousand years. One of India's greatest empires, the Maurya Empire, as well as two major pacifist religions, Buddhism and Jainism, arose from the region that is now Bihar. Empires of the Magadha region, most notably the Maurya unified large parts of the Indian subcontinent under their rule. Their capital Pataliputra, adjacent to modern-day Patna, was an important political, military and economic centre of Indian civilisation during the ancient and classical periods of Indian history. Many ancient Indian texts, aside from religious epics, were written in ancient Bihar. The play Abhijñānaśākuntala being the most prominent.
The present-day region of Bihar overlaps with several pre-Mauryan kingdoms and republics, including Magadha, Anga and the Vajjika League of Mithila. The latter was one of the world's earliest known republics and had existed in the region since before the birth of Mahavira.
The Pala Empire also made their capital at Pataliputra once during Devapala's rule. After the Pala period, Bihar came under the control of various kingdoms. The Karnat dynasty came into power in the Mithila region in the 11th century and they were succeeded by the Oiniwar dynasty in the 14th century. Aside from Mithila, there were other small kingdoms in medieval Bihar. The area around Bodh Gaya and much of Magadha came under the Buddhist Pithipatis of Magadha. The Khayaravala dynasty were present in the southwestern portions of the state until the 13th century. For much of the 13th and 14th centuries, parts of Western Bihar were under the control of the Jaunpur Sultanate. These kingdoms were eventually supplanted by the Delhi Sultanate who in turn were replaced by the Sur Empire. After the fall of the Suri dynasty in 1556, Bihar came under the Mughal Empire and later was the staging post for the British colonial Bengal Presidency from the 1750s and up to the war of 1857–58. On 22 March 1912, Bihar was carved out as a separate province in the British Indian Empire. Since 1947 independence, Bihar has been an original state of the Indian Union.
Neolithic (10,800–3300 BC)
The earliest proof of human activity in Bihar is Mesolithic habitational remains at Munger.Prehistoric rock paintings have been discovered in the hills of Kaimur, Nawada and Jamui. It was the first time that a Neolithic settlement was discovered in the thick of the alluvium, over the bank of the Ganges at Chirand. The rock paintings depict a prehistoric lifestyle and natural environment. They depict the Sun, the Moon, stars, animals, plants, trees, and rivers, and it is speculated that they represent love for nature. The paintings also highlight the daily life of the early humans in Bihar, including activities like hunting, running, dancing and walking. The rock paintings in Bihar are not only identical to those in central and southern India but are also akin to those in Europe and Africa. The rock paintings of Spain's Alta Mira and France's Lascaux are almost identical to those found in Bihar.
Bronze Age (3300–1300 BC)
Parallel to Indus Valley Civilization
In 2017 bricks dated to the mature Harappan period was discovered from the outskirts of the ancient city of Vaishali. Any in-depth research which may establish definite links between Indus Valley Civilization and Bihar is yet to be conducted. A round seal excavated from Vaishali dated 200 BC-200 AD has three inscribed letters which according to Indus Valley Civilization scholar Iravatham Mahadevan represents formulas inscribed on the Indus seals and dates it to the earliest layers of excavation i-e 1100 BC.Rigvedic period
was an ancient kingdom in what is now India, mentioned in the Vedas. Some scholars have believed that they were the forefathers of Magadhas because Kikata is used as a synonym for Magadha in the later texts. It probably lay to the south of Magadha Kingdom in a hilly landscape. A section in the Rigveda refers to the 's, a tribe which most scholars have placed in present-day southwestern Bihar such as Weber and Zimmer while some scholars such as Oldenburg and Hillebrandt dispute that. According to Puranic literature Kikata is placed near Gaya. It is described as extending from Caran-adri to Gridharakuta, Rajgir. Some scholar such as A. N. Chandra places Kikata in a hilly part of the Indus Valley based on the argument that countries between Magadh and the Indus Valley are not mentioned such as Kuru, Kosala etc. Kikatas were said to be Anarya or non-vedic people who didn't practice Vedic rituals like soma, According to Sayana, Kikatas didn't perform worship, were infidels and. The leader of Kikatas has been called Pramaganda, a usurer. It is unclear whether Kikatas were already present in Magadh during the Rigvedic period or they migrated there later. Like Rigveda attributes of Kikatas, Atharvaveda also speaks about southeastern tribes like Magadhas and Angas as hostile tribe who lived on the borders of Brahmanical India. Bhagvata Purana mentions about the birth of Buddha among Kikatas.Some scholars have placed the Kīkaṭa kingdom, mentioned in the Rigveda, in Bihar because Kikata is used as a synonym for Magadha in the later texts; however, according to Michael Witzel, Kīkaṭa was situated south of Kurukshetra in eastern Rajasthan or western Madhya Pradesh. The placement in Bihar is also challenged by historical geographers Mithila Sharan Pandey, and O.P. Bharadwaj, and historian Ram Sharan Sharma, who believes they were probably in Haryana.
Northern black polished ware
Urbanization in the Gangetic plains began with the appearance of Northern black polished ware period and archaeologists trace the origin of this pottery in Magadh region of Bihar. The oldest dated site of NBWP is in Juafardih, Nalanda, which is carbon dated to 1200 BC.Iron Age (1500–200 BC)
Mahajanapadas
In the later Vedic Age, a number of small kingdoms or city-states, dominated what is now Bihar. Many of these states have been mentioned in Buddhist and Jaina literature as far back as 1000 BC. By 500 BC, sixteen monarchies and 'republics' known as the Mahajanapadas – Kasi, Kosala, Anga, Magadha, Vajji, Malla, Chedi, Vatsa, Kuru, Panchala, Matsya, Surasena, Assaka, Avanti, Gandhara and Kamboja – stretched across the Indo-Gangetic plains from modern-day Afghanistan to Bengal and Maharashtra.The Vajji covered the modern North Bihar, Magadha covered South-western Bihar while Anga covered South-eastern Bihar. Many of the sixteen kingdoms had coalesced to four major ones by 500/400 BC, that is by the time of Siddhartha Gautama. These four were Vatsa, Avanti, Kosala and Magadha. In 537 BC, Siddhartha Gautama attained the state of enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, Bihar. Many of the Buddha's chief disciples and contemporaries had their origins in modern-day Bihar including Śāriputra, Maudgalyayana and Mahākāśyapa.
Around the same time, Mahavira was born to the Nāya tribe in modern-day Bihar near Vaishali. He was the 24th Jain Tirthankara, propagated a similar theology, that was to later become Jainism. However, Jain orthodoxy believes it predates all known time. The Vedas are believed to have documented a few Jain Tirthankaras and an ascetic order similar to the sramana movement. The Buddha's teachings and Jainism had doctrines inclined toward asceticism and were preached in Prakrit, which helped them gain acceptance amongst the masses. They have profoundly influenced practices that Hinduism and Indian spiritual orders are associated with namely, vegetarianism, prohibition of animal slaughter and ahimsa.
Vajjika league
The Vajjika League was a league of republican tribal states under the leadership of the Licchavikas centred around the city of Vesālī. The other members of the league were the Vaidehas in the Mithila region, the Nāyikas of Kuṇḍapura, and the Vajji tribe proper, who were dependencies of the Licchavikas. The Mallakas, who were organised into two separate republics, were also part of the Vajjika League, although they were not dependencies of the Licchavikas and therefore maintained their independence and sovereign rights within the confederation, hence why Jain sources considered the Licchavikas and the neighbouring Mallakas of Kusinārā and Pāvā to be the republican states of Kāsī-Kosala.Early Magadha Empire
According to both Buddhist texts and Jain texts, one of Pradyota tradition was that the King's son would kill his father to become the successor. During this time, it was reported that there were high crimes in Magadha. The people rose up and elected Shishunaga to become the new king, who destroyed the power of the Pradyotas and created the Shishunaga dynasty. Shishunaga was the founder of a dynasty collectively called the Shishunaga dynasty. He established the Magadha empire. Due in part to this bloody dynastic feuding, it is thought that a civil revolt led to the emergence of the Shishunaga dynasty. This empire, with its original capital in Rajgriha, later shifted to Pataliputra. The Shishunaga dynasty was one of the largest empires of the Indian subcontinent.; Magadha |
File:Magadha.GIF|thumb|center|Pataliputra as a capital of the Kingdom of Magadha. |
The Hariyanka dynasty king Bimbisara was responsible for expanding the boundaries of his kingdom through matrimonial alliances and conquest. The land of Kosala fell to Magadha in this way. Estimates place the territory ruled by this early dynasty at 300 leagues in diameter and encompassing 80,000 small settlements. Bimbisara is contemporary with the Buddha, and is recorded as a lay disciple. Bimbisara was imprisoned and killed by his son who became his successor, Ajatashatru, under whose rule, the dynasty reached its largest extent.
Licchavi was an ancient—before the birth of Mahavira— republic in what is now the Bihar state of India. Vaishali was the capital of Licchavi and the Vajjika League. The Mahavamsa tells that a courtesan in that city, Ambapali, was famous for her beauty, and helped in large measure in making the city prosperous.
Ajatashatru went to war with the Licchavi several times. Ajatashatru is thought to have ruled from 551 BC to 519 BC and moved the capital of the Magadha kingdom from Rajagriha to Pataliputra. The Mahavamsa tells that Udayabhadra eventually succeeded his father, Ajatashatru, and that under him Pataliputra became the largest city in the world. He is thought to have ruled for sixteen years. The kingdom had a particularly bloody succession. Anuruddha eventually succeeded Udaybhadra through assassination, and his son Munda succeeded him in the same fashion, as his son Nagadasaka.
This dynasty lasted until 424 BC when it was overthrown by the Nanda dynasty. This period saw the development in Magadha of two of India's major religions. Gautama Buddha in the 6th or 5th century BC was the founder of Buddhism, which later spread to East Asia and Southeast Asia, while Mahavira revived and propagated the ancient sramanic religion of Jainism.
The Nanda dynasty was established by an illegitimate son of King Mahanandin from the previous Shishunaga dynasty. The Nanda dynasty ruled Magadha during the 5th and 4th centuries BC. At its greatest extent, the Nanda Empire extended from Burma in the east, Balochistan in the west and probably as far south as Karnataka. Mahapadma Nanda of the Nanda dynasty, has been described as the destroyer of all the Kshatriyas. He defeated the Ikshvaku dynasty, as well as the Panchalas, Kasis, Haihayas, Kalingas, Asmakas, Kurus, Maithilas, Surasenas and the Vitihotras. He expanded his territory to the south of Deccan. Mahapadma Nanda died at the age of 88 and, therefore, he ruled during most of the period of this dynasty, which lasted 100 years.
In 321 BC, exiled general Chandragupta Maurya, with the help of Chanakya, founded the Maurya dynasty after overthrowing the reigning Nanda king Dhana Nanda to establish the Maurya Empire. The Maurya Empire, ruled by the Mauryan dynasty, was geographically extensive, powerful and a political-military empire in ancient India. During this time, most of the subcontinent was united under a single government for the first time. The exceptions were present-day Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The empire had its capital city at Pataliputra. The Mauryan empire under Chandragupta Maurya would not only conquer most of the Indian subcontinent, defeating and conquering the satraps left by Alexander the Great but also push its boundaries into Persia and Central Asia, conquering the Gandhara region. Chandragupta Maurya then defeated an invasion led by Seleucus I, a Greek general from Alexander's army. Chandragupta Maurya's minister, Kautilya Chanakya, wrote the Arthashastra, a treatise on economics, politics, foreign affairs, administration, military arts, war and religion.
Chandragupta Maurya was succeeded by his son, Bindusara, who expanded the kingdom over most of present-day India, other than the extreme south and east. At its greatest extent, the Empire stretched to the north along the natural boundaries of the Himalayas, and to the east stretching into what is now Assam. To the west, it reached beyond modern Pakistan, annexing Balochistan and much of what is now Afghanistan. The Empire was extended into India's central and southern regions by the emperors Chandragupta and Bindusara, but it excluded the republic of Kalinga.
The Maurya Empire was inherited by Bindusara's son, Ashoka. Ashoka initially sought to expand his kingdom but in the aftermath of the carnage caused during the invasion of Kalinga, he renounced bloodshed and pursued a policy of non-violence or ahimsa after converting to Buddhism. Following the conquest of Kalinga, Ashoka ended the military expansion of the empire and led the empire through more than 40 years of relative peace, harmony and prosperity. Ashoka's response to the Kalinga War is recorded in the Edicts of Ashoka, one of the oldest preserved historical documents of the Indian subcontinent.
According to Rock Edicts of Ashoka:
The Mauryan Empire under Ashoka was responsible for the proliferation of Buddhist ideals across the whole of East Asia and South-East Asia. Under Ashoka, India was a prosperous and stable empire of great economic and military power whose political influence and trade extended across Asia and into Europe. Chandragupta Maurya's embrace of Jainism increased social and religious renewal and reform across his society, while Ashoka embraced Buddhism. Ashoka sponsored the spreading of Buddhist ideals into Sri Lanka and South-East Asia. The Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath, is the emblem of India. Archaeologically, the period of Mauryan rule in South Asia falls into the era of Northern Black Polished Ware. The Arthashastra, the Edicts of Ashoka and Ashokavadana are primary sources of written records of the Mauryan times.
Ashoka was followed for 50 years by a succession of weaker kings. Brihadrata, the last ruler of the Mauryan dynasty, held territories that had shrunk considerably from the time of emperor Ashoka, although he still upheld the Buddhist faith.