Magadha

Magadha (mŭ`gädə), ancient Indian kingdom, situated within the area of the modern states of Bihar and Jharkhand. Its capital was Pataliputra (now Patna). The kingdom rose to prominence in the mid-7th cent. B.C. and rapidly extended its frontiers, especially under the rule of Bimbisara (c.540–c.490). Magadha fell (c.325) to Chandragupta, who made the kingdom the nucleus of the Mauryan empire. After a period of obscurity, it recovered importance in the 4th cent. A.D. as the power-base of the Gupta dynasty. Buddhism and Jainism first developed in Magadha, and the Buddha used the Magadhi dialect of Sanskrit.

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Magadha

Ancient kingdom, India, situated in present-day Bihar and Jharkhand states, northeastern India. An important kingdom in the 7th century BC, it absorbed the kingdom of Anga in the 6th century BC. Pataliputra (Patna) was its capital. Its strength grew under the Nanda dynasty; under the Mauryan dynasty (4th–2nd centuries BC), it comprised nearly the entire Indian subcontinent. It afterwards declined. Revived in the 4th century AD under the Gupta dynasty, it was conquered by the Muslims in the late 12th century. It was the scene of many events in the life of the Buddha.

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Magadha 

a historical region and state in ancient India, on part of the territory of modern south Bihar. The rise of Magadha began in the seventh century B.C. In the sixth and fifth centuries B.C., during the reign of Bimbisara and Ajatasatru, Magadha became much stronger as a result of successful wars with its neighbors. Magadha was the nucleus of important Indian empires: those of the Nanda (fourth century B.C.), Maurya (fourth to second centuries B.C.), and Gupta dynasties (fourth to sixth centuries A.D.). Magadha was a major economic and cultural center of ancient India and the cradle of early Buddhism and Jainism. By the tenth century the designation “Magadha” went out of use.