BPSC 70th CCE Prelims General Studies · Question 77 of 143

Correct — A, Bimbisara. The Haryanka dynasty is the line that turned Magadha from one mahajanapada among sixteen into the dominant power of the Gangetic plain, and Bimbisara, who ruled from about 544 to 492 BCE, is conventionally named as its founder. He ruled from Girivraja, called Rajagaha in the Pali texts and Rajgir today, in Nalanda district of Bihar — an old town enclosed by five hills and a cyclopean wall of undressed stone laid without mortar. Three things define his reign and all three are testable. First, expansion by conquest: he annexed Anga, with its capital Champa near modern Bhagalpur, which gave Magadha control of the trade route down the Ganga towards the sea. Second, expansion by marriage: he took Kosaladevi, sister of Prasenajit of Kosala, who brought a Kashi village as dowry; Chellana of the Lichchhavis of Vaishali; and Khema, a princess of the Madra clan of the Punjab — a deliberate diplomatic net around a young kingdom. Third, religious patronage: he was a contemporary of both the Buddha and Mahavira, and the Buddhist canon records his gift of the Veluvana bamboo grove to the Sangha. The dynasty he founded ran through Ajatashatru and Udayin to Nagadasaka, whom the Shishunagas displaced. The tradition is not perfectly single-voiced — some accounts credit Bimbisara's father, named Bhattiya or Mahapadma in different sources, with establishing the line — but no such figure is offered here, and the attribution examiners use, and that every standard account of Magadha uses, is Bimbisara.

• (b)Brihadrath — Brihadratha founded a genuinely different and much earlier Magadhan dynasty — the Brihadratha line of the epic tradition, whose best-known king is Jarasandha of the Mahabharata, also seated at Girivraja. The option works because both dynasties are Magadhan and both ruled from the same hills; the discriminator is that the Brihadrathas precede the Haryankas by centuries and belong to legendary rather than datable history.
• (c)Ajatshatru — Ajatashatru (about 492 to 460 BCE) was Bimbisara's son and successor, who came to the throne by imprisoning his father, and he is the more spectacular ruler of the two — he crushed the Vajji confederacy of Vaishali with the mahashilakantaka catapult and the rathamusala chariot, and patronised the First Buddhist Council at Rajagriha. Prominence is not foundation: he inherited the dynasty rather than founding it.
• (d)More than one of the above — Fails on the record rather than on logic. A dynasty has one founder, and only Bimbisara founded the Haryanka line: Brihadratha founded a different dynasty altogether and Ajatashatru inherited this one. Since no second option is true, 'more than one' has nothing to rest on — and that is the test to apply every time this option appears. Ask whether you can name two options that are simultaneously true; if you cannot, it is not the answer.

Magadha's rise is the central story of sixth-century-BCE north India, and its dynastic sequence — Brihadratha, then Haryanka, then Shishunaga, then Nanda, then Maurya — is the spine on which every other fact hangs. Magadha's advantages were physical and are worth stating because they explain why this kingdom and not another prevailed: iron ore in the hills of south Bihar for weapons and ploughs, elephants from the eastern forests, a fertile alluvial plain with dependable rainfall, and two successive capitals sited for defence and then for trade — Rajagriha ringed by hills, and Pataliputra at the confluence of the Ganga, Son and Gandak, effectively a water fort. The Haryankas provided the first two of the aggressive rulers who exploited this: Bimbisara, who took Anga and married into three neighbouring houses, and Ajatashatru, who broke Vaishali and absorbed Kosala's territories. Their period is also the moment of the sramana movements — the Buddha and Mahavira were both active in Magadha and its neighbours, and both kings appear in the Buddhist and Jaina canons, which is why so much of what is known about them comes from religious literature rather than from inscriptions.

Founder questions in ancient Indian history are decided by keeping two lists apart: dynasties with their founders, and dynasties with their most famous kings. The two rarely coincide, and examiners exploit the gap constantly — Haryanka is founded by Bimbisara but is famous for Ajatashatru, exactly as the Mauryas are founded by Chandragupta but famous for Ashoka, and the Nandas are founded by Mahapadma but remembered through Dhana Nanda. Read the stem for the word 'founded' and go to the founder list, not the fame list. The other half of the work here is separating Brihadratha from Haryanka. Both are Magadhan and both are seated at Girivraja, so a candidate who has stored 'Girivraja' as the cue cannot separate them; store instead that Brihadratha belongs to the epic layer, Jarasandha's line, while Haryanka belongs to the historical layer that begins in the sixth century BCE with the Buddha's lifetime. On the fourth option, apply the standing test: name two simultaneously true options or reject it.

• Bimbisara (c. 544-492 BCE) founded the Haryanka dynasty of Magadha with its capital at Girivraja/Rajagriha — modern Rajgir, Nalanda district, Bihar
• He annexed Anga, whose capital was Champa near modern Bhagalpur, opening Magadha's route down the Ganga
• His matrimonial alliances: Kosaladevi, sister of Prasenajit of Kosala, who brought a Kashi village as dowry; Chellana of the Lichchhavis of Vaishali; and Khema of the Madra clan
• Ajatashatru, his son, succeeded him about 492 BCE after imprisoning him, defeated the Vajji confederacy using the mahashilakantaka and the rathamusala, and hosted the First Buddhist Council at Rajagriha
• Magadhan dynastic order: Brihadratha (epic, Jarasandha) → Haryanka (Bimbisara, Ajatashatru, Udayin) → Shishunaga → Nanda → Maurya; Udayin shifted the capital to Pataliputra in the fifth century BCE

• Choosing Ajatashatru because he is the more famous king; the stem asks who FOUNDED the dynasty
• Confusing the Brihadratha dynasty of Jarasandha with the Haryankas — both ruled Magadha from Girivraja, but the first belongs to the epic layer
• Marking 'More than one of the above' without being able to name two options that are simultaneously true

BPSC asks ancient Bihar as founder-and-capital identification, in one line, with the fourth option offering 'More than one of the above' — so the paper rewards a clean dynastic list and punishes vague familiarity. UPSC works the same period through relationships instead: who was not a contemporary of the other three, which kingdoms the Buddha's life touched, which dynasty was ruling when Alexander invaded. Learn the sequence with dates and the contemporaries attached, and both framings are covered.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Bimbisara of Magadha annexed which neighbouring kingdom, whose capital was Champa ?

  • (a)Anga
  • (b)Kosala
  • (c)Vatsa
  • (d)Avanti

  Answer(a) Anga — its capital Champa lay near modern Bhagalpur in Bihar, and its annexation gave Magadha command of the river route down the Ganga.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The First Buddhist Council was held at Rajagriha under the patronage of

  • (a)Bimbisara
  • (b)Ajatashatru
  • (c)Kalashoka
  • (d)Ashoka

  Answer(b) Ajatashatru — the first council met at Rajagriha soon after the Buddha's death; the second was held at Vaishali under Kalashoka and the third at Pataliputra under Ashoka.