Online Course for Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) Exam (Assistant Commandant)
History : Magadh Empire
Harijanka
The first important Magadhan king, who emerges into the limelight was Bimbisara (544491 BC) of the Harijanka. He was an extremely polished diplomat and crafty statesman. While the earlier rulers had brought Magadha out of clear and present danger, it was Bimbisara, who consolidated and increased that power and really gave it the identity of a kingdom. According to sources, eighty thousand villages were there in the kingdom. Bimbisara was a contemporary of the Buddha and met him twice. When he met him the second time, in Rajgriha (which is an important Buddhist pilgrimage today), Bimbisara converted to Buddhism. Bimbisara was assassinated by his impatient son Ajatsatru, who was a good friend of the Buddha’s cousin Devadutta. Ajatsatru continued his imperialist policies. The most famous rivalry went on between him and the Lichchavi dynasty that ruled Vaishali (in Bihar), which he eventually managed to conquer. Ajatsatru was a colourful character and a man of sentiment. There are tales of his passionate affair with the chief courtesan of Vaishali, called Amrapali. During his reign, that Buddha attained parinirvana (nirvana from all births and bonds). Ajatsatru insisted upon a part of his relics be buried in a stupa (shrine) that he got erected in Rajgriha.