Assaka
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Assaka (Sanskrit: अश्मक, Aśmaka Pali: Assaka), was one of ancient Indian regions (700–300 BCE). It is one of the solasa (sixteen) mahajanapadas in the 6th century BCE, mentioned in the Buddhist text Anguttara Nikaya.
The region was located on the banks of the Godavari river, between the rivers Godavari and Manjira. It was the only Mahajanapada situated to the south of the Vindhya Range, and was in Dakshinapatha. It corresponds to districts Nizamabad and parts of Adilabad, Nanded and Yavatmal in current-day India.
The capital of Ashmaka was Paudanyapura, the Prakrit name of Bahudhanyapura meaning "city of many grains", identified as present day Bodhan. The capital is variously called Potali, Potana or Podana, which now lies in the Nandura Tehsil.
The Buddhist text Mahagovinda Suttanta mentions about a ruler of Assaka, Brahmadatta who ruled from Potana.[1]
The Matsya Purana (ch.272) lists twenty-five rulers of Aśmaka, contemporary to the Shishunaga rulers of Magadha.[2]
Later the people spread southward to the territory of the Rashtrakuta empire, which is now in modern Maharastra.
Ashmaka is also identified as Assaka and Aśvakas in Buddhist literature and Gatha Saptashati of king Hāla. Ashmaka is derived from Sanskrit word "Ashma" which means Stone or Gem: it is supposed that the region was full of hillocks and small hills.
It is believed that the astronomer Aryabhata was from Ashmaka.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Law, Bimala Churn (1926). "3. The Asmakas or Assakas". Ancient Indian Tribes. Motilal Banarsidas. http://www.archive.org/stream/ancientindiantri032697mbp#page/n105/mode/2up.
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