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F, E. Pargiter —Ancient Countries in Eastern India. [No. 2, 
Magadha. 
Magadha is too well known to call for much notice here. It com¬ 
prised the modern districts of Patna, Gaya and Shahabad. Its ancient 
capital was Giri-vraja (Sabha-p., xx. 798-800; Hari-V., cxvii. 6598; 
and Ramayana, Adi-k., xxxv. 1-9), which Cunningham has identified 
with the modern Giryek on the Pancana river about 36 miles north¬ 
east of Gaya (Arch. Surv. Repts., I. 16 and plate iii). Raja-grha 
appears to have been another name of the capital (Adi-p., cxiii. 4451-2 ; 
and A^vamedh.-p., Ixxxii. 2435-63), but Cunningham identifies it with 
the modern Raj-gir about six miles west of Giryek (Arch. Snrv. Repts., 
I. 20 and plate iii). The people were called Magadhas and Maga- 
dhas. 
Magadha appears to have been the arena of many early conflicts. 
Its oldest name is said to have been Kikata, which occurs in Rg.-Y., 
iii. 5314 (Muir’s Sansk. Texts, II. 362-3). In the Ramayana, Y^va- 
mitra gives the youthful Rama an account of Magadha and the coun¬ 
tries near it. He says its old name was Yasu; Ku^a, a great king who 
was sprang from Brahma, had four sons who established four kingdoms, 
(l) Kuca^va at Kau^cvi (or, Kuy-amba at Kau 9 ambi, according to 
another reading), (2) Ku 9 anabha at Mahodaya or Kanyakubja, (3) 
Amurtnrajas in Prag-jyotisa, and (4) Yasu at Giri-vraja (Adi-k., xxxv. 
1-10 and 35). This story professes to hand down what occurred 
several generations before Rama’s time, but presents many difficulties, 
and clashes in some of its details with the next event that I now cite. 
According to the Maha-Bharata, at a later time about half way 
between Rama’s age and that of the Pandavas, Yasu Upari-cara, king 
of Cedi, conquered Magadha and established his son Yrhad-ratha as 
king over it (see paper on “Ancient Cedi, Matsya and Karusa ” men¬ 
tioned above). 
The later history of Magadha is well-known, and it played the 
leading part in Buddhism. 
Yideha. 
Videha derived its name from Mathava the Yidegha who colonized 
it according to the pata-P. Brahmana (I. iv. 1). The passage runs 
thus, briefly, according to Dr. Eggeling’s translation. “ Mathava, the 
(kiug of) Yidegha, carried Agni Yai 9 vanara in his mouth. The Rsi 
Gotama Rahugana was his family priest. When addressed (by the 
latter) he made no answer to him, fearing lest Agni might fall from 
his mouth. [The priest continued to invoke Agni, and at length Agni 
Yaiyvanara flashed forth from the king’s mouth and fell down on the 
earth,] Mathava the Yidegha was at that time on the river Sarasvati. 
