[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922) › v1.c19.s8.2 # The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c19.s8.2 The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c19.s8.2 - **Language:** English ### [v1.c19.s8.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922.v1.c19.s8.2) India, as shown in the authorities there quoted, appeared as a number of kingdoms and republics with a constant tendency towards amalgamation. This process had proceeded further in Kosala than elsewhere; that great kingdom being by far the most important state in Northern India, and very nearly if not quite as large as modern France. It occupied the very centre of the territories mentioned in those authorities; it had its capital near the borders of what is now Nepāl; and it included all the previous states or duchies between the Himālayas on the north and the Ganges on the west and south. The original nucleus of this great kingdom was the territory now the seat of the Gurkhas, and these Kosalans were almost certainly, in the main at least, of Āryan race. For the heads of houses among them (the \*gahapatis\*) are called \*rājāno\*, the same as the clansmen (the \*kula-puttā\*) in the free republics. Of the surrounding kingdoms Magadha, though much smaller, was the most progressive. It had just absorbed Aṅga, and at the last moment we saw it attacking, and with success, the powerful Vajjian confederation. The rise of this new star in the extreme South-East was the most interesting factor in the older picture. - [Previous: v1.c19.s8.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922.v1.c19.s8.1) - [Next: v1.c19.s8.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922.v1.c19.s8.3) - [Up: v1.c19.s8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922.v1.c19.s8) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922.v1.c19.s8.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922.v1.c19.s8.2) · Pramāṇa