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GreaterMagadha is a theory in the studies of theancient history of India, introduced byJohannes Bronkhorst.[1] It refers to thenon-Vedic political and cultural sphere that developed in the lowerGangetic plains (modern dayBihar,Eastern Uttar Pradesh andWest Bengal), east of theVedic heartland and roughly corresponding to the region of the later Magadha empire.
According to Bronkhorst, out of the ideological opposition between these two cultural spheres – theVedic realms ofKuru andPanchala in the west, andŚramaṇa of Greater Magadha in the east – developed the two main religious & spiritual ideologies ofAncient India. Critics have questioneded Bronkhorst's assertion of a stark cultural division between East and West, as well as his claim that early Magadha was less influenced by Brahmanization.
The concept was developed in a book by theIndologistJohannes Bronkhorst. The concept of the cultural region of "Greater Magadha" extends well beyond the traditional political boundaries of the ancient mahājanapada of Magadha. Bronkhorst does not specify the exact limits or provide a map but refers to the “region east of the confluence of theGaṅgā and theYamunā” and “the geographical area in which theBuddha andMahāvīra lived and taught” as Greater Magadha. Thus, Greater Magadha encompasses other ancientmahājanapadas in parts of modernEastern Uttar Pradesh,Bihar, andWest Bengal, outside the core area of Magadha.[3]
They developed an ideological opposition to the sacrifice and ritual slaying of animals. Later this non-Vedic tradition gave rise to religions or schools of philosophy such asJainism which later gave rise to concepts likeahimsa.[4]
According to Bronkhorst, theŚramaṇa culture arose in "Greater Magadha," which wasIndo-Aryan, but not Vedic. In this culture,Kshatriyas were placed higher thanBrahmins, and it rejectedVedic authority and rituals.[1][5]
Out of the ideological opposition between these two cultural spheres – the Vedic realms ofKuru andPanchala in the west, andŚramaṇa of Greater Magadha in the east – developed the two main religious & spiritual ideologies ofAncient India.
Vedic religion, which placed a lot of importance on the system of ritual correctness, arose out of the culture of the erstwhile Kuru and Panchala realms. While the Śramaṇa tradition, which placed emphasis on the spiritual works,[6] that developed in Greater Magadha, later to gave rise to non-Vedic (non-Brahmanical) religions such asBuddhism,Jainism,Ajivika,Ajñana and the atheist ideology ofLokāyata (Charvaka).
According to Norelius, critics have questioned Johannes Bronkhorst's claim of a sharp cultural divide between east and west, the supposed lesser influence ofBrahmanisation in early Magadha, or his proposed revision of textual chronology, while also criticizing him for overlooking the role of socioeconomic and political developments in shaping new ideological trends.[7]
Alexander Wynne questions Bronkhorst's late dating of earlyUpanishads. He argues the ideas ofkarma,reincarnation andliberation developed within the Vedic tradition rather than being borrowed. He states that there is more continuity between late Vedic thought and early Upanishads than Bronkhorst allows. Wynne proposes an alternative view that unorthodox Brahmin thinkers in the eastern region developed these ideas, triggering the ascetic and philosophical culture Bronkhorst associates with Greater Magadha.[8]
On the other hand, Geoffrey Samuel, following Thomas Hopkins, also proposed that the Central Gangetic region formed a "distinct but related cultural complex," as exemplified by the Painted Grey Ware, which did not spread past the Ganga-Yamuna Doab.[9] It was the area of the earliest known rice cultivation in South Asia,[9] and had reached the Chalcolithic when the Aryans first entered northwestern India.[9] According to Hopkins, the Aryan societies and this eastern Gangetic culture formed two separate sources for the development toward iron-working and urbanisation.[10] The Brahmins of the Aryan, Vedic cultural sphere perceived this eastern, non-Aryan, Jain-Buddhist cultural sphere as wholly different,[10] with a religion of fertility and female deities which dominated this area.[11]
