Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c51.20

c51.20

The system which won the day in the post-Bārhadratha² period was the sārva-bhauma. The system began to take shape about 700 B.C. when the national states began to give way (§ 247). The old dynasties, come down from Vedic times, began to dwindle. In the next century, large, non-national monarchies greatly developed. There were about three of these One, but not yet the foremost, had its seat in Magadha, another in Kosala and the third in Avantī.³ Competition follows between the three and Magadha finally wins under Nanda-Vardhana.⁴ A permanent Sārva-bhauma is set up about 450 B.C. A century later, the old traditional houses are finally wiped off the tablet of history by the Śūdra Emperor of Magadha (§ 362). Literally a 'one-umbrella' empire covering the whole of Northern India except the Punjab was erected: Hindu historians marked it as the beginning of a New Period.