Mahada Dynasty

Pradyota became king of Avanti ending the Brhadratha Dynasty and commencing the Haryanka Dynasty of Magadha. The Haryanka king Bimbsara was responsible for expanding the boundries of his kingdom through matrimonial alliances and conquest. Bimbsara was the contemporary to Buddha. Bimbsara was imprisoned and killed by his successor, Ajatasatu, under whos rule, the dynasty reached its largest extent. Ajatasattu's son Udayabhadra succeeded Ajatasattu and ruled for the next sixteen years. He moved his capital to the bank of Ganges which was known as Pataliputra. The succession was followed by Udayabhadra's son Anuruddha and his son Munda in the same family tradition by slaying the father. Munda's son Nagadasaka slew his father and continued reigning through this dynasty. The citizens angered by the rule of Haryankas, revolted against Nagadasaka and anointed Shishunaga as the king.

The Haryanka dynasty founded the Magadha Empire in 684 BC, whose capital was Rajagriha, later Pataliputra. This dynasty was succeeded by the Shishunaga dynasty. There were many states of the Aryans in North India, around the 6th century B. C. These states were called the 'Mahajanapadas'. The Mahajanapadas of Anga, Kashi, Kosala, Chedi, Vatsa, Matsya, Shursen, Ashmak, Avanti, Gandhar and Magadha were ruled by kings or monarchs. The kings in these states had the supreme authority. The Mahajanapadas of Vrijji, Malla, Kuru, Panchal and Kamboj were republican states and so were other smaller states like Lichhavi, Shakya, Koliya, Bhagga, Moriya. These republican states had a 'Gana-parishad' or an Assembly of senior and responsible citizens. This, Gana-parishad had the supreme authority in the state. All the administrative decisions were taken by this Parishad. Of all these states, Kosala, Vatsa, Avanti and Magadha were the most important ones. 

Bimbisara

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.

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

Bimbsara was contemporary of Buddha, and had even met the prince.

Ajatashatru

In some sources, Bimbisara was imprisoned and killed by his son and successor, Ajatasattu (or Ajatashatru), under whose rule the dynasty reached its largest extent.

Vaishali, ruled by the Licchavis, went to war with the kingdom of Magadha at some point, due to a border dispute involving gem mines.He is thought to have ruled from 551 to 519 BCE.

Udayabhadra

The Mahavamsa text tells that Udayabhadra eventually succeeded his father, Ajatashatru, moving the capital of the Magadha kingdom 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.

Shishunaga (or Shusunaga) 

. 413 – 395 BCE was the founder of the Shishunaga dynasty of the Magadha Empire in the present day northern India. Initially, he was an amatya (official) of the Magadha empire under the Haryanka dynasty. He was placed on the throne by the people who revolted against the Haryanka dynasty rule. The Puranas tell us that he placed his son at Varanasi and himself ruled from Girivraja (Rajagriha). He was succeeded by his son Kakavarna Kalashoka

According to the Mahavamsatika, Shishunaga was the son of a Licchavi raja of Vaishali. He was conceived by a nagara-shobhini and brought up an officer of state. At the time of the revolt, he was a viceroy at Varanasi of king Nagadasaka, the last ruler of the Haryanka dynasty.

Reign

Initially, his capital was Rajagriha and Vaishali was his second royal residence. Later he shifted his capital to Vaishali. His most significant achievement was the destruction of the 'glory' of the Pradyota dynasty of the Avanti kingdom. Most probably the king of Avanti whom Shishunaga humbled was Avantivardhana. The Magadhan victory must have been helped by the revolution that placed Aryaka on the thone of Ujjayini.

Nanda Dynasty

The first Magadha dynasty was overthrown by the usurper Mahapadna, founder of the Nanda dynasty, son of a low-caste woman. He established his capital in Pataliputra (eastern Bihar) at the time that Alexander was campaigning in the Indus river valley (327-324). The Nandas ruled Magadha between 364 B.C. and 324 B.C. Dhanananda was the last of the Nanda Kings. Magadha had become a very powerful kingdom by that time. It had expanded upto the Punjab in the West. Chandragupta Maurya, an ambitious young man, attacked and conquered Magadha. That was the end of the Nanda rule.

In the history of India, the Nanda period is considered to be important from many points of view. The Nanda kings had set up a good administrative system necessary to run the huge empire. This system continued even during the Maurya period. The Nanda Kings had a huge four-fold army of two lakh infantry, twenty thousand cavalry, two thousand chariots and three thousand elephants. The Nandas introduced the stem of standard weights and measures. The Nanda Kings were lovers of art and literature. They provided patronage to many scholars. The 'well-known grammarian Panini belongs to this period.