MAGADHA. The territory of which this is the ancient name corresponds with that part of the present Behar which extends along the south ol the river Ganges. The capital was Rajagriha. Magadha is mentioned so early as in the Atharvan Veda, and is met with so late as the 7th century A.D., when Chinese pilgrims speak of it under the scarcely intelligible name of Moki-a-to. The present appellation Behar is from Vihara or a monastery of the Buddhists, whose most reputed convent was at Behar, the place where Buddha obtained the law. As Magadha was the scene ol Buddha's early career as a religious performer ; it possesses a greater number of holy places con nected with Buddhism than any other province ol India. The chief places are Buddha ,Gya, Kuk kutapada, Rajagriha, Kusagarapura, Nalanda. Indrasilaguha, and the Kapotika monastery.
The kings of Magadha were of six dynasties viz. that of Barhadratha, of the line of Pandu, the first of which was Jarasandha, a co-temporary of Yu dishthra and Krishna. According to Sir William Jones, B.C. 3101, according to Professor Wilson in the reign of Sahadeva, B.C. 1400, Parakshita was born, and the great war ends, and in the reign of Ripunjaya, B.C. 915, a Buddha was born The accepted era of the Pandu dynasty is B.0 1400 to 915.
The Sunaka dynasty, kings of Bharatkanda, ol Magadha kings, reigned 128 years.
The Saisunaga or Sesnag reigned 360 years. and we find amongst them, B.C. 415, Nandi Mahapadnia (u.c. 1602 Jones, 360 Wilson), regarding whom it was said he will bring the whole earth under one umbrella ; he will have eight sons, Sumalya and others, who will reign after Mahapadma. He and his sons will govern
for 100 years. The Brahman Kaulilya will not root out the nine Nanda.
The Maurya dynasty governed 137 years, the first of whom, according to Wilson, B.C. 315. and 1502 Jones, was Chandragupta, the Sandra cottus of the Greeks, contemporary with Seleucus The Sunga dynasty reigned 110 years, the first of whom, Pushpamitra (B.C. 178), put his master, the last of the Maurya, to death.
The Kanwa dynasty reigned 45 years. The first was, B.c. 66 Wilson, Kanwa, named Vasu deva, who usurped his master's kingdom.
Sahadeva was king of Magadha at the end of the war of the Mahabharata. The 35th king it succession from him was Ajata Satru, in whose reign Sakya or Gautama, the founder of the Buddh• ist religion, was born, and Sakya died about,n.c. 550. Tho Gth in succession from Ajata Satru, inclusive, was Nanda ; the 9th from Nanda was Chandragupta, and the 3d from him was Asoka. Pali was the spoken tongue.
Magadha was first mentioned by the Greeks n.c. 300. The last mention of it was about the 5th century A.D. it is mentioned in a note in the Vishnu Parana.
Tho Magadha kingdom occupied the tract called Prachi by Hindu authors, the Prasii of the Greeks. Megasthenes was ambassador at the court of Chandragupta when king of Magadha, who had I'ataliputra as his capital, known to the Greeks as Palibothra.—Canningham's Ancient Geography, p. 452; Eiphinstone, pp. 138, 143 ; Dowson.