>KashKarti at 21:18, 4 March 2021

2021-03-04T21:18:52Z

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[[File:Mahajanapadas (c. 500 BCE).png|thumb|The Indian subcontinent {{circa}} 500 BCE, during the Mahajanapada period. By 500 BCE, the ancient Kuru-Panchala realm had already declined and given way to influences from the eastern Magadha region.]]
'''Greater Magadha''' is a concept in studies of the early history of [[India]].<ref name=Bronkhorst/> It is used to refer to the political and cultural sphere that developed in the lower Gangetic plains during the [[Vedic period|Vedic age]]. The '''''[[śramaṇa]]''''' culture of Greater Magadha developed separately from the orthodox [[Brahmin]]-oriented '''''[[śrauta]]''''' culture to its west, that was characteristic of the upper Ganges basin (the [[Ganga-Yamuna Doab|Ganga-Yamuna doab]]).

The name derives from a later kingdom, ''[[Magadha]]'', that arose in the same region ''after'' the [[Vedic period]] had ended.

==Overview==
The concept was developed in a book by the indologist [[Johannes Bronkhorst]] (2007),<ref name=Bronkhorst/> where he defines the region to comprise modern day [[Bihar]] and eastern [[Uttar Pradesh]]. According to [[Jeffery D. Long|J.D. Long]],<ref name=Cheetham/> although the inhabitants of Greater Magadha revered the same deities as the [[śrauta]] Brahmins, they developed an ideological opposition to the sacrifice and ritual slaying of animals, even going so far as to regard all violence as undesirable in the path towards liberation (''mokṣa'' or ''nirvāṇa'').

Out of the ideological opposition between these two cultural spheres – the orthodox ''śrauta'' realm of [[Kuru Kingdom|Kuru]]-[[Panchala]] in the west, and Greater Magadha in the east – developed the two main spiritual ideologies of [[Vedic period|Vedic India]]. ''[[Śrauta]]'' practiced by [[Brahmin|Brahmanas]], which placed a lot of importance on the system of sacrifice and ritual correctness, arose out of the culture of the erstwhile Kuru-Panchala realm, while the ''[[śramaṇa]]'' tradition, which placed emphasis on the spiritual striving towards liberation,<ref name=Mahabharata/> that developed in Greater Magadha, later to give rise to the [[Buddhism]] and [[Jainism]].<ref name=Cheetham/>

== References ==
{{reflist|25em|refs=

<ref name=Cheetham>{{cite book
|last1=Cheetham |first1=David
|last2=Pratt |first2=Douglas
|last3=Thomas |first3=David
|title=Understanding Interreligious Relations
|page=45
|publisher=Oxford University Press
|isbn=9780199645855
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PHtYCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA45&dq=greater+magadha&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwix8ZD_tf_gAhX47nMBHRZlAoEQ6AEIUDAH#v=onepage&q=greater%20magadha&f=false
|via=Google Books
|lang=en}}{{full citation|date=August 2020|reason=year missing}}
</ref>

<ref name=Bronkhorst>{{cite book
|last=Bronkhorst |first=Johannes |author-link=Johannes Bronkhorst
|year=2007
|title=Greater Magadha: Studies in the culture of early India
|publisher=BRILL
|isbn=9789004157194
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4GNG5KuH73QC&printsec=frontcover&dq=greater+magadha&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwix8ZD_tf_gAhX47nMBHRZlAoEQ6AEIKjAA#v=onepage&q=greater%20magadha&f=false
|via=Google Books
|lang=en}}
</ref>

<ref name="Mahabharata">{{cite book
|chapter=Peace, Part Two: The Book of Liberation
|title=Mahabharata Book Twelve
|volume=3 |page=xlii
|publisher=NYU Press
|isbn=9780814794531
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BHQTCgAAQBAJ&pg=PR42&dq=greater+magadha&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwix8ZD_tf_gAhX47nMBHRZlAoEQ6AEISzAG#v=onepage&q=greater%20magadha&f=false
|via=Google Books
|lang=en}}{{full citation|date=August 2020|reason=editor(s), translator(s), year missing}}
</ref>

}}

[[Category:Historiography of India]]
[[Category:Vedic period]]
[[Category:Magadha]]
[[Category:History of Bihar]]

Greater Magadha - Revision history

>KashKarti at 21:18, 4 March 2021