•  About 2500 years ago, some Janapadas became more important than others and came to be known as Mahanjanapadas.
• According to the Buddhist text Anguttara Nihaya, there was 16 Mahajanapadas.

Kashi               Varanasi
Kosala             Shravasti
Anga                Champa
Magadh           Girivraja or Rajgriha

Vajji                  Vaishali
Malla                Kushinagar (Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh) and Pava
Chedi               Sotthivati (Suktimati; probably located in the Banda district of UP)
Vatsa                Kausambi
Kuru                 Hastinapur, Indraprastha and Isukara
Panchal           Northern Panchal —Ahicchtra (Bareilly district of UP); Southern Panchal Kampilya
Matsya             Viratnagar
Surasena         Mathura
Assaka             Pratisthana
Avanti              Ujjain and Mahismat
Gandhara        Taxila
Kamboj            Rajpur