The rise of Magadha

The 6th to 4th centuries BCE were a time of big change in north India. Of the sixteen mahājanapadas, one, Magadha (today south Bihar and nearby), grew in importance and set the stage for India's first empire. Strong early kings like Ajātaśhatru helped.

Two of the world's most famous religious teachers, the Buddha (Siddhārtha Gautama) and Mahāvīra (Vardhamāna), lived in Ajātaśhatru's time.

Why Magadha? Look at its advantages:

Each one helps the others. Iron ploughs gave surplus grain, so more people could work at arts and crafts. Those goods sold inside and outside the borders, and the rivers carried them, so Magadha's income grew.

Around the 5th century BCE, Mahāpadma Nanda founded the Nanda dynasty. He joined many smaller kingdoms across parts of eastern and northern India, issued coins, and, say Greek accounts, kept a large army.

The last Nanda emperor, Dhana Nanda, was very rich but became very unpopular, because he oppressed and exploited his people. That opened the way for the Maurya empire. Riches weren't enough; losing his people cost him everything.

In the Nandas' time lived Pāṇini, the famous grammarian. His Aṣhṭādhyāyi gives the rules of Sanskrit grammar in 3,996 sūtras: short, carefully made phrases that are easy to remember and pass on.