Mahajanapadas, Jainism and Buddhism

Flagship overview

Around the sixth century BCE, the second urbanisation of India was under way: iron tools, a surplus agrarian economy, coined money (the punch-marked silver karshapana), and the growth of towns in the Ganga valley. Politically, north India was organised into sixteen large states, the mahajanapadas, listed in Buddhist texts such as the Anguttara Nikaya and the Jain Bhagavati Sutra. Of these, Magadha steadily outgrew its rivals and became the seed of the first Indian empire. The same century saw two great heterodox (non-Vedic) reform movements rise against Vedic ritualism, the dominance of the Brahmanas, and the hardening caste order: Jainism, given its final form by Mahavira, and Buddhism, founded by Gautama Buddha. The sources are literary (the Buddhist Tipitaka in Pali, the Jain Agamas in Prakrit, and the Puranas) and archaeological.

For CAPF, this is one of the highest-yield ancient topics. The examiner tests the Magadhan dynasty order, founders and birthplaces, the five Jain vows and the Buddhist Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path, the four Buddhist councils (council to place to patron), the symbols of the Buddha's life, and the Hinayana-versus-Mahayana distinction. The format is matching and single-correct.

Core narrative

The sixteen mahajanapadas

The sixteen mahajanapadas (the Anguttara Nikaya list) were: Magadha, Kosala, Vatsa, Avanti, Anga, Kashi, Kuru, Panchala, Gandhara, Kamboja, Vajji (Vrijji), Malla, Chedi, Matsya, Shurasena, and Assaka (Ashmaka). Some were monarchies (Magadha, Kosala, Vatsa, Avanti, the four that contested supremacy); others were ganasanghas, oligarchic or republican confederacies governed by an assembly of chiefs (notably the Vajji confederacy with its capital at Vaishali, and the Mallas).

The four most powerful early states were Magadha, Kosala, Vatsa, and Avanti. They fought for supremacy, and Magadha won. The capitals the examiner reuses:

The rise of Magadha

Magadha (its early capital at Rajgir, also called Girivraja, later shifted to Pataliputra) rose under a succession of able and ambitious rulers across three dynasties:

• Haryanka dynasty: Bimbisara (c. 544 to 492 BCE), a contemporary of both the Buddha and Mahavira, expanded by conquest (he annexed Anga) and by marriage alliances with Kosala, Vaishali, and Madra. His son Ajatashatru (c. 492 to 460 BCE) killed his father, annexed Kosala and Kashi, and subdued the Vajji confederacy after a long war (using the catapult mahashilakantaka and the chariot rathamusala). The First Buddhist Council met at Rajgir during his reign. Udayin (Udayabhadra) founded the new capital Pataliputra at the junction of the Ganga and Son.
• Shishunaga dynasty: founded by Shishunaga; it destroyed the power of Avanti. Kalasoka (Kakavarna) hosted the Second Buddhist Council at Vaishali.
• Nanda dynasty: the first non-Kshatriya, low-born dynasty. Mahapadma Nanda was a powerful empire-builder, called the "Ekarat" (sole sovereign) and the "uprooter of all Kshatriyas". Dhana Nanda, the last and immensely wealthy ruler, was overthrown around 321 BCE by Chandragupta Maurya, who founded the Mauryan empire.

Magadha's advantages were its fertile alluvial land, the iron mines near Rajgir, control of riverine trade and natural defence on the Ganga, the use of elephants, and a sequence of strong, expansionist rulers.

Jainism

Jainism traces its teachings to twenty-four Tirthankaras ("ford-makers", those who help cross the ocean of existence). The first was Rishabhanatha (Adinatha), whose bull emblem appears in tradition. The twenty-third, Parshvanatha (born at Varanasi, regarded as historical, c. 8th century BCE), taught four vows. The twenty-fourth and last, Vardhamana Mahavira (c. 540 to 468 BCE), born at Kundagrama (Kundapura) near Vaishali into the Jnatrika clan, gave Jainism its final form. He renounced the world at thirty, attained omniscience (kaivalya) at the age of forty-two on the bank of the Rijupalika, and won the titles Jina ("conqueror", whence "Jain"), Mahavira ("great hero"), and Kevalin. He died at Pavapuri (in present Bihar).

Core doctrine:

• The Three Jewels (Triratna): right faith (samyak darshana), right knowledge (samyak jnana), and right conduct (samyak charitra), which together lead to liberation (moksha or kaivalya).
• The Five Vows: Mahavira added the fifth (brahmacharya, celibacy) to Parshvanatha's four. The five are ahimsa (non-violence), satya (truth), asteya (non-stealing), aparigraha (non-possession), and brahmacharya (chastity).
• Jainism rejects the authority of the Vedas and the supremacy of the Brahmanas, denies a creator god, accepts karma and rebirth, holds ahimsa as the supreme principle, and teaches the doctrines of anekantavada (the many-sidedness of reality) and syadvada (the conditional nature of judgements). Liberation is by one's own effort, through severe asceticism.

After Mahavira's death, a famine in Magadha and a migration south under Bhadrabahu led to a split into two sects: the Svetambara ("white-clad", who wear white) and the Digambara ("sky-clad", who renounce clothing, following Bhadrabahu). The Jain canon (the Angas) was compiled at councils, the first at Pataliputra under Sthulabhadra and the final at Vallabhi (Gujarat) in the 5th to 6th century CE. Royal patrons of Jainism included Chandragupta Maurya (who tradition says became a Jain monk under Bhadrabahu and fasted to death at Shravanabelagola), Kharavela of Kalinga (the Hathigumpha inscription), and the Chalukya and Ganga rulers of the south. The colossal statue of Gomateshwara (Bahubali) at Shravanabelagola is a famous Jain monument.

Buddhism

Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha ("the enlightened one", c. 563 to 483 BCE in the traditional dating), was born at Lumbini (in present Nepal) into the Shakya clan of Kapilavastu, son of the chief Shuddhodana and Queen Mahamaya; he is also called Shakyamuni. The key events of his life are commemorated by symbols (the examiner's favourite matching):

• Birth at Lumbini: lotus and bull.
• The Great Renunciation (Mahabhinishkramana), leaving home at twenty-nine: the horse.
• Enlightenment (Nirvana / sambodhi) at Bodh Gaya under the pipal (Bodhi) tree, at thirty-five: the Bodhi tree.
• The First Sermon (Dharmachakrapravartana, "turning the wheel of law") at Sarnath (Deer Park, Isipatana): the wheel (Dharmachakra).
• Death (Mahaparinirvana) at Kushinagar at eighty: the stupa.

Core doctrine:

• The Four Noble Truths: the world is full of suffering (dukkha); suffering has a cause, namely desire or craving (trishna); suffering can be ended; the way to end it is the Eightfold Path.
• The Eightfold Path (the Middle Path, between indulgence and extreme asceticism): right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.
• Buddhism accepts karma and rebirth but denies a permanent soul (anatta) and a creator god, and stresses ahimsa, compassion (karuna), and the impermanence (anicca) of all things. The Buddhist Triratna (Three Jewels) are the Buddha, the Dhamma (his teaching), and the Sangha (the monastic order). The canon is the Tipitaka (Three Baskets) in Pali: the Vinaya Pitaka (monastic discipline), the Sutta Pitaka (discourses), and the Abhidhamma Pitaka (philosophy and analysis).

Royal patrons included Bimbisara and Ajatashatru of Magadha, Ashoka Maurya, Kanishka the Kushana, and Harshavardhana of Kanauj.

The schism: Hinayana, Mahayana, Vajrayana

After the Buddha's death, and especially after the Fourth Council, Buddhism split:

• Hinayana ("the lesser vehicle", a name given by rivals; its followers prefer Theravada, "the doctrine of the elders"): the older, conservative school, which holds to the original teachings, treats the Buddha as a great teacher (not a god), aims at individual liberation (the arhat ideal), and uses Pali. It spread to Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.
• Mahayana ("the greater vehicle"): worships the Buddha as a god, venerates the Bodhisattvas (compassionate beings who delay their own liberation to help others), aims at universal liberation, uses Sanskrit, and spread to Central Asia, China, Korea, and Japan.
• Vajrayana ("the thunderbolt/diamond vehicle"): the later Tantric form, using mantras, rituals, and magical practice, prominent in Tibet and parts of eastern India.

The four Buddhist councils

Static facts to memorise

Magadhan dynasties

Jainism versus Buddhism (the core contrast)

The Buddha's life: event, place, symbol

How CAPF asks it

Formats: founder-to-religion-to-birthplace matching; "which is NOT a vow / not part of the path"; council-to-place-to-patron matching; dynasty order; symbol-to-event matching; Hinayana-versus-Mahayana statements.

Authored practice (with answers):

Common confusion

• First Council (Rajgir, Ajatashatru) versus Third Council (Pataliputra, Ashoka) versus Fourth Council (Kashmir, Kanishka, the Hinayana-Mahayana split). The Second was at Vaishali under Kalasoka.
• Hinayana versus Mahayana: Hinayana (Theravada) is conservative, uses Pali, the Buddha is a teacher, the arhat ideal; Mahayana uses Sanskrit, deifies the Buddha, the Bodhisattva ideal.
• Mahavira (24th and last Tirthankara) versus Parshvanatha (23rd, the earliest historical one who gave the four vows).
• Jainism accepts the soul (jiva); Buddhism denies a permanent soul (anatta). This is a classic distinguishing statement.
• Svetambara (white-clad) versus Digambara (sky-clad/naked) Jain sects.
• Birthplaces: Mahavira at Kundagrama (near Vaishali, India); the Buddha at Lumbini (Nepal). Death: Mahavira at Pavapuri; the Buddha at Kushinagar.

Memory hook

• Magadhan dynasty order: "Happy Singers Never" (Haryanka, Shishunaga, Nanda).
• Five Jain vows: "A SABA" (Ahimsa, Satya, Asteya, Brahmacharya, Aparigraha).
• Four councils, place by patron: "Rajgir-Aja, Vaishali-Kala, Patna-Ashoka, Kashmir-Kanishka."
• Buddha symbols in life-order: lotus, horse, tree, wheel, stupa (birth, renunciation, enlightenment, sermon, death).

Night before

• Sixteen mahajanapadas are listed in the Anguttara Nikaya; the four strongest were Magadha, Kosala, Vatsa, Avanti.
• Magadha rose under Haryanka (Bimbisara, Ajatashatru), then Shishunaga, then Nanda (Dhana Nanda last, ousted by Chandragupta Maurya).
• Mahavira (24th Tirthankara), born at Kundagrama, died at Pavapuri; titles Jina, Mahavira, Kevalin.
• Jain Three Jewels and five vows (ahimsa, satya, asteya, aparigraha, brahmacharya, the last added by Mahavira); sects Svetambara and Digambara.
• The Buddha, born at Lumbini, enlightened at Bodh Gaya, first sermon at Sarnath, died at Kushinagar.
• Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path (the Middle Path); Triratna: Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha; canon Tipitaka in Pali.
• Buddhist councils: First Rajgir (Ajatashatru), Second Vaishali (Kalasoka), Third Pataliputra (Ashoka), Fourth Kashmir (Kanishka, Hinayana-Mahayana split).
• Buddhism denies the soul (anatta); Jainism accepts the jiva and holds ahimsa supreme.

Glossary

• Mahajanapada: one of the sixteen large states of the sixth century BCE.
• Ganasangha: an oligarchic or republican state ruled by an assembly of chiefs (for example, the Vajji).
• Tirthankara: a Jain "ford-maker", a perfected teacher; there are twenty-four.
• Kaivalya: the Jain term for liberation, the state of omniscient isolation.
• Triratna: the Three Jewels (Jain: right faith, knowledge, conduct; Buddhist: Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha).
• Anekantavada and syadvada: the Jain doctrines of the many-sidedness and conditionality of truth.
• Svetambara and Digambara: the white-clad and sky-clad (naked) Jain sects.
• Anatta: the Buddhist doctrine that there is no permanent soul.
• Anicca: the Buddhist doctrine of universal impermanence.
• Bodhisattva: in Mahayana, a being who postpones liberation to help others.
• Stupa: a hemispherical mound enshrining relics, the symbol of the Buddha's death.
• Tipitaka: the "Three Baskets" of the Pali Buddhist canon (Vinaya, Sutta, Abhidhamma).
• Sangha: the Buddhist (or Jain) monastic order.
• Arhat: in Hinayana/Theravada, one who has attained individual liberation.

Related notes

• vedic age
• mauryan empire
• post mauryan and gupta age
• Index
• syllabus index