Question

Which of the following areas was known as Magadh in the ancient period?
1. South of Ganga
2. Between Ganga and Yamuna
3. North of Ganga
4. Between Yamuna and Chambal

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 1 : South of Ganga

• ​Magadha was an ancient kingdom located on the Indo-Gangetic plains in eastern India and spread over what is today the modern state of Bihar. Hence, the correct option would be South of Ganga.
• At the height of its power, it claimed suzerainty over the entire eastern part of the country and ruled from its capital at Pataliputra (modern Patna, Bihar).
• In 326 BCE, when Alexander the Great was camped at the river Beas on the westernmost part on India, his army mutinied; they refused to march further east. They had heard about the great Magadha kingdom and were unnerved by stories of its might.
• Unwillingly, Alexander turned back. But this was not the first time that the might of Magadha had forced kings westwards.
• One of the earliest references to Magadha is in the epic Mahabharata, where we see the entire Yadava clan abandoning their homeland on the Gangetic plains to migrate south-westwards towards the desert-ocean land to avoid constant battles with their eastern neighbour, Magadha.