King Bimbisara (543 - 492 BCE) - one of the important kings of early Indian kingdoms as per historians

I am browse-reading Romila Thapar's "The Penguin History of Early India; From the origins to AD 1300". I am doing this to get the historian view of Early India. Note that historians do not view Lord Rama as an (established) historical figure nor do they view Mahabharata kings as (established) historical figrues. Of course, based on revelations and other statements of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, I believe Lord Rama and Lord Krishna to have been historical figures (real persons and not mythical persons).

Yesterday night I read the section on (early) kingdoms of (early) India. Thapar writes, "In contrast to the gana-sanghas, kingdoms registered a centralized government with the king's sovereignty as its basis. The polity in the kingdoms was slowly transmuted from chiefship to kingship. The change carried with it a ritual status that added another dimension to the authority of the king. Power was concentrated in the ruling family." She writes that succession to kingship became hereditary and led to dynasties being formed.

Thapar writes that the gana-sanghas were chiefdoms and oligarchies which seems to match what wikipedia says, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ga%E1%B9%87asa%E1%B9%85gha . 

The Ganges Plain was the important area where these early Indian kingdoms were established. Thapar mentions kingdoms of Kashi, Kosala and Magadha as early kingdoms of this area, which were competing with each other for pre-eminence. Thapar writes that Magadha emerged as the more powerful kingdom in this area and became "a centre for political activity in northern India", which continued for some centuries.

In this context, Thapar mentions Bimbisara as "the first important king of Magadha". I think this is the earliest important king of a major Indian kingdom who Thapar views as a historical figure and mentions in her book. So I think historians would be viewing Bimbisara as one of the, if not the, earliest important king of a major kingdom of India.

That led me to dig up more info. on Bimbisara from the Internet. Thapar also gives some additional information about him in the book.

First some extracts from Bimbisara wiki page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bimbisara :

Bimbisāra (in Buddhist tradition) or Shrenika and Seniya in the Jain histories[2][3] (c. 558 – c. 491 BCE[4][5] or during the late 5th century BCE[6]) was a King of Magadha (r. 543 – 492 BCE[7] or c. 400 BCE[8]) and belonged to the Haryanka dynasty.[9] He was the son of Bhattiya.[10] His expansion of the kingdom, especially his annexation of the kingdom of Anga to the east, is considered to have laid the foundations for the later expansion of the Mauryan Empire.[11]

...

Bimbisara was the son of Bhattiya, a chieftain. He ascended to throne at the age of 15 in 543 BCE.[14] He established the Haryanka dynasty and laid the foundations of Magadha with the fortification of a village, which later became the city of Pataliputra.[15] Bimbisara's first capital was at Girivraja (identified with Rajagriha). He led a military campaign against Anga, perhaps to avenge his father's earlier defeat at the hands of its king, Brahmadatta. The campaign was successful, Anga was annexed, and prince Kunika (Ajatashatru) was appointed governor at Champa.[16] His conquest of Anga gave Magadha control over the routes to the Ganges Delta, which had important ports that gave access to the eastern coast of India.[17][18] Pukkusati, the king of Gandhara, sent Bimbisara an embassy.[14]

His court is said to have included Sona Kolivisa, Sumana (flower gatherer), Koliya (minister), Kumbhaghosaka (treasurer) and Jivaka (physician).[19]

...

As per Buddhism, due to influence by Dustabandu Divadatt (a Buddhist monk), Bimbisara was assassinated by his son Ajatashatru in c. 493 BCE, who then succeeded him to the throne. However, as per Jainism, Bimbisara committed suicide.[17]

[References:]

1. Chandra, Jnan (1958). "SOME UNKNOWN FACTS ABOUT BIMBISĀRA". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. Indian History Congress. 21: 215–217.

2. von Glasenapp 1999, p. 40-41.

3. Jain & Upadhye 2000, p. 59.

4. Hugh George Rawlinson (1950), A Concise History of the Indian People. Oxford University Press, p. 46.

5. F. Max Muller (2001): The Dhammapada And Sutta-nipata. Routledge (UK), p. xlvii. ISBN 0-7007-1548-7.

6. Keay, John: India: A History. Revised and Updated: "The date [of Buddha's meeting with Bimbisara] (given the Buddhist 'short chronology') must have been around 400 BC."

7. V. K. Agnihotri (ed.), Indian History. Allied Publishers, New Delhi 262010, p. 166 f.

8. Keay, India: A History

9. Peter N. Stearns (2001), The Encyclopedia of World History. Houghton Mifflin, p. 76 ff. ISBN 0-395-65237-5.

10. Raychaudhuri 1923, p. 97.

11. "Bimbisara". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 25 January 2013.

...

14. Sen 1999, p. 112.

15. Sastri 1988, p. 11.

16. Upinder Singh 2016, p. 269.

17. Thapar, Romila (2002). Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300. University of California Press. pp. 152–154. ISBN 0-520-24225-4.

18. Kailash Chand Jain 1972, p. 99.

19. Upinder Singh 2016, p. 270.

--- end wiki extracts ---

Note that the 17th reference listed above is the Thapar book that I have mentioned in this post.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_eastern_Gangetic_plain_after_Bimbisara%27s_conquests.jpg shows a map of Bimbisara empire in North India.

A short extract from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bimbisara :

Bimbisara, (born c. 543—died 491 BCE), one of the early kings of the Indian kingdom of Magadha. His expansion of the kingdom, especially his annexation of the kingdom of Anga to the east, is considered to have laid the foundations for the later expansion of the Mauryan empire. 

--- end extract ---

Another interesting article: India's Earliest Kings (6th BCE - 1st BCE), https://www.livehistoryindia.com/story/eras/indias-earliest-kings , published in May 2020. It has a section on Bimbisara referring to him as having "a special place in ancient Indian history". It says, "Born the son of a chieftain, he (Bimbisara) created a kingdom and this formed the strong core for all the great empires of Northern India that followed over the next 1,200 years."

Fascinating! He was born in 543 BCE (as per two of the above sources) and became king at age 15 which would be around 528 BCE, and ruled till 491 BCE, which makes it a reign of around 28 + 9 i.e. 37 years.

Bimbisara was a contemporary of Darius the Great (Darius I), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darius_the_Great , who ruled the vast Persian empire from 522 BCE to 486 BCE. This predates Alexander the Great as well as the Roman empire. This period was a time when it seems that Asian kingdoms and empires were more powerful than European kingdoms/empires.

Of course, I had come across the name of Bimbisara earlier and noted it but I think I had only noted him as an ancient Indian king. I had not read or noted that he was one of the, if not the, most important kings of ancient India, as per historians. It was good to learn about him and his importance as a king of an ancient kingdom of India, as per historians.

[I thank author Romila Thapar and publisher of her book mentioned above, Wikipedia, britannica.com and livehistoryindia.com, and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extract(s) from their website (short extracts from Romila Thapar's book mentioned above, britannica.com and livehistoryindia.com ) on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]