- Between the sixth and the fourth century BC, Magadha (the present-day Bihar) became the most powerful Mahajanapada.
- Initially, Girivraj (Rajagriha) was the capital of Magadha.
- The Haryanka dynasty was founded by Bimbisara when he overthrew the Brihadrathas.
- He was a contemporary of the Buddha and patron of Buddhism.
- He acquired Anga and placed it under the viceroyalty of his son Ajatashatru.
- He strengthened his position by marriage alliances. He had three wives.
- His first wife was the daughter of the king of Koshala and sister of Prasenjit. His second wife Chellana was a Lichchhavi princess from Vaishali who gave birth to Ajatshatru. His third wife was the daughter of the chief of Madra clan of Punjab.
- Bimbisara ruled for 52 years, from 544 BC to 492 BC.
- Ajatashatru killed his father and seized the throne for himself.
- He defeated the Lichhavis in a 16-year battle.
- He built Dhatu-Chaityas (an enclosure) around the capital.
- Ajatashatru was succeeded by Udayayabhadra.
- Udayin’s reign is famous because he built a fort at the confluence of Ganga and Sone which later on became famous as ‘Pataliputra’.
- Shishunaga, a minister of the Haryankas, deposed Nagadasak, the last ruler of the Haryanka dynasty and became the king in 413 BC. He established the rule of the Shishunaga dynasty.
- Kalasoka, the son of Shishunaga, transferred his capital from Girivraj to Patliputra.
- Mahapadmananda overthrew the Shishunaga dynasty and founded the Nanda dynasty in 362 BC.
- Dhanananda was the last king of the Nanda dynasty.
- Alexander, the son of Philip of Macedonia (ancient Greece), occupied the throne in 336 BC.
- He reached India through Khyber Pass (326 BC).
- The Battle of Hydaspes was fought by Alexander the Great in 326 BC against king Porus of the Hindu kingdom of Paurava on the banks of the Hydaspes river (Jhelum river) in the Punjab. The battle resulted in a complete Macedonian victory.
- Overrunning the Kathasoi, he reached river Beas; his troops were unwilling to move further.
- Alexander reached back to Babylon, where he died at the age of 33 years in 323 BC.
- Alexander was a student of Aristotle.