Haryanka dynasty

Haryanka dynasty
←   ← Middle of 6th century BCE–413 BCE →
The approximate extent of the Magadha in the 5th century BCE
Capital		Rajagriha, later Pataliputra
Languages		Sanskrit
Religion		Hinduism Buddhism Jainism
Government		Monarchy
King
•	544-492 BCE	Bimbisara
•	492-460 BCE	Ajatashatru
•	460-440 BCE	Udayin
		Anuruddha
		Munda
		Nāgadāsaka
History
•	Established	Middle of 6th century BCE
•	Disestablished	413 BCE
Today part of		India

The Haryanka dynasty was the second ruling dynasty of Magadha, an ancient kingdom in India, which succeeded the Barhadratha dynasty. The reign of this dynasty probably began in the middle of 6th century BCE. Initially, the capital was Rajagriha. Later, it was shifted to Pataliputra, near the present day Patna in India. The founder of this dynasty was either Bimbisara himself or his father Bhattiya. According to the Buddhist text, the Mahavamsa, Bimbisara was anointed king by his father at the age of fifteen.^[1] According to George Turnour and N.L. Dey, the name of the father of Bimbisara was Bhatiya or Bhattiya, but the Puranas refer him as Hemajit, Kshemajit, Kshetroja or Ksetrauja and the Tibetan texts mention him as Mahapadma.^[2] This dynasty was succeeded by the Shishunaga dynasty.

Bimbisara

Eastern border of the Achaemenid Empire

The Haryanka king Bimbisara was responsible for expanding the boundaries of his kingdom through matrimonial alliances and conquest. The land of Kosala fell to Magadha in this way. He is referred to as King Shrenik in Jain scriptures.

Estimates place the territory ruled by this early dynasty at 300 leagues in diameter, and encompassing 80,000 small settlements.

According to Jain scriptures

Bimbsara or King Srenika in Jainism was contemporary of Lord Mahavir. Jain scriptures described King Bimbisara as a disciple of Lord Mahavira who frequently sought his teachings. As per Jain texts, he is referred to as King Shrenika of Rajgriha (being the possessor of a large army). Bimbisara sent Jivaka to Ujjain for medical treatment of King Pradyata, the king of Avanti. He was Baldev in a previous life. Per scriptures, this soul is to become the first Tirthankara of the next cycle..

QUEEN CHELNA AND KING SHRENIK _{(Source- http://www.jainworld.com/literature/story16.htm)}

This is a story from the time of Bhagwan Mahavir. At that time, king Chetak was the ruler of Vaishali and he had a beautiful daughter named Chelna. Once an artist called Bharat painted a picture of Chelna and showed it to king Shrenik (Bimbisar) of Magadh. Charmed by Chelna's beauty, Shrenik fell in love with her. One day Chelna came to the city of Magadh where she saw king Shrenik, and she also fell in love with him. They soon got married.

Queen Chelna was a devoted follower of Jainism, while Shrenik was influenced by the Buddhism. The king was very generous with a big heart but somehow was not happy with his queen's devotion to the Jain monks. He wanted to prove to Chelna that Jain monks were pretenders. He strongly believed that no man could follow the practice of self-restraint and non-violence to that extent, and that the equanimity shown by Jain monks was just superficial. Chelna was greatly disturbed by this.

One day king Shrenik went on a hunting trip where he saw a Jain monk, Yamadhar, engaged in deep meditation. Shrenik let his hunter dogs go after Yamadhar but the monk remained silent. On seeing the calmness and composure of the monk the dogs became quiet. king Shrenik got angry and thought that the monk had played some trick on them. So he started shooting arrows at the monk but they kept on missing him. Becoming more upset, he finally put a dead snake around Yamadhar's neck and came back to his palace.

The king narrated the whole incident to Chelna. The queen felt very sorry and took the king back to Yamadhar's meditation spot. Because of the dead snake, ants, and other insects were crawling all over the monk's body but the monk did not even stir. The couple witnessed the limits of human endurance. The queen gently removed the ants and snake from the monk's body and cleaned his wounds. She applied sandalwood paste. After sometime, Yamadhar opened his eyes and blessed both of them.

The monk did not distinguish between the king who had caused him pain, and the queen who had alleviated his pain. King Shrenik was very impressed, and convinced that Jain monks were truly beyond attachment and aversion. Thus, king Shrenik along with queen Chelna became a devoted member of the order of Bhagawan Mahavir.

According to Buddhist scriptures, he was devout follower of Buddha. He remained a devout devotee and follower of Buddha throughout his life.. King Bimbisara met the Buddha for the first time prior to the Buddha's enlightenment, and later became an important disciple that featured prominently in certain Buddhist suttas. He is recorded to have attained sotapannahood, a degree of enlightenment in Buddhist teachings.

Career King Bimbisara, depicted in Burmese art, offering his kingdom to the Buddha.

Marriage alliances Family tree showing Mahavira's relation to King Bimbisara

Bimbisara used marriage alliances to strengthen his position. His first wife was Kosala Devi, the daughter of Mahā Kosala the king of Kosala, and a sister of Prasenjit. His bride brought him Kashi, which was then a mere village, as dowry.[5] This marriage also ended the hostility between Magadha and Kosala and gave him a free hand in dealing with the other states. Bimbisara's second wife, Chellana, was a Lichchhavi princess from Vaishali. As per Indologist Hermann Jacobi, Mahavira (Vardhamana) was related to Queen Chellana who was daughter of King Chetaka, Mahaviras uncle. Bimbisara's third wife, Kshema, was a daughter of the chief of the Madra clan of Punjab.

Tradition tells us that Bimbisara was imprisoned by his son Ajatashatru who ordered his execution, but then he realized what he had done and tried to rescind his orders but it was too late. This is reported to have taken place around 491 BC.

Ajatashatru

In some sources, Bimbisara was imprisoned and killed by his son and successor, Ajātasattu, under whose rule the dynasty reached its largest extent. Ajātasattu was contemporary with Mahavira (599–527BCE) and Gautama Buddha (563–483 BCE). Ajātasattu fought a war against Vajji, ruled by the Lichhavis, and conquered the republic of Vaisali. Ajātasattu followed policies of conquest and expansion. He defeated his neighbors including the king of Kosala; his brothers, when at odds with him, went to Kashi, which had been given to Bimbisara as dowry. This led to a war between Magadha and Kosala. Ajātasattu occupied Kashi and captured the smaller kingdoms. Magadha under Ajātasattu became the most powerful kingdom in North India.

Udayin

The Mahavamsa states that Udayabhadra eventually succeeded his father, Ajātasattu, moving the capital to Pataliputra, which, under the later Mauryan dynasty, would become the largest city in the world. He is believed to have ruled for sixteen years.

Later rulers

The kingdom had a particularly bloody succession. Anuruddha eventually succeeded Udaybhadra through assassination, and his son Munda succeeded him in the same fashion, as did his son Nagadasaka.

Due in part to this bloody dynastic feuding, it is thought that a civil revolt led to the emergence of the Shishunaga dynasty.

See also

• Pradyota dynasty

Notes

1. Raychaudhuri 1972, pp. 97
2. Raychaudhuri 1972, p. 105ff

References

• Raychaudhuri, H.C. (1972), Political History of Ancient India, Calcutta: University of Calcutta
• Bhargava, P.L., The origins of the Nanda (PDF)