Janapada, aka: Jana-pada, Jānapada; 13 Definition(s)

Introduction

Janapada means something in Buddhism, Pali, Hinduism, Sanskrit, the history of ancient India, Marathi. If you want to know the exact meaning, history, etymology or English translation of this term then check out the descriptions on this page. Add your comment or reference to a book if you want to contribute to this summary article.

In Hinduism

Purana and Itihasa (epic history)

1a) Janapada (जनपद).—Get deserted and desolate in Kali;¹ are left in a state of arājaka.²

• 1) Vāyu-purāṇa 88. 187.
• 2) Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa II. 31. 50, 97; III. 50. 5; IV. 5. 4.

1b) The seven of Krauñcadvīpa viz., Uṣṇa, Pīvara, Andhakāra, Muni, Dundubhi, Kuśala and Manuja.^*

• * Vāyu-purāṇa 33. 23.

2) Jānapada (जानपद).—Country people; treated with love by Pṛthu;¹ were provided with seats in the wrestling enclosure of Kaṃsā.²

• 1) Bhāgavata-purāṇa IV. 17. 2; 21. 6; Matsya-purāṇa 220. 15.
• 2) Bhāgavata-purāṇa X. 36. 24.

context information

The Purana (पुराण, purāṇas) refers to Sanskrit literature preserving ancient India’s vast cultural history, including historical legends, religious ceremonies, various arts and sciences. The eighteen mahapuranas total over 400,000 shlokas (metrical couplets) and date to at least several centuries BCE.

Ayurveda (science of life)

Janapada (जनपद) is a synonym for Deśa (“region”), according to the second chapter (dharaṇyādi-varga) of the 13th-century Raj Nighantu or Rājanighaṇṭu (an Ayurvedic encyclopedia). The Dharaṇyādi-varga covers the lands [viz., Janapada], soil, mountains, jungles and vegetation’s relations between trees and plants and substances, with their various kinds.

context information

Āyurveda (आयुर्वेद, ayurveda) is a branch of Indian science dealing with medicine, herbalism, taxology, anatomy, surgery, alchemy and related topics. Traditional practice of Āyurveda in ancient India dates back to at least the first millenium BC. Literature is commonly written in Sanskrit using various poetic metres.

In Buddhism

Theravada (major branch of Buddhism)

A district in Northern Malaya in Ceylon, near the frontier of the Dakkhinadesa. Cv.xliv.56, etc. For identification, see Cv. Trs.i.79, n.4; 262, n.1.

India history and geogprahy

Janapada (जनपद) refers to a “tribal settlement” and represents a name-ending for place-names mentioned in the Mahābhārata I.2-8, according to which, “a place must be named after any of its peculiar features”. We find Rāṣṭra as the oldest right from the Ṛgveda, and used for the biggest unit. Its equivalent Janapada came into being in the Brāhmaṇa-period.

The ordinary people of a Janapada were called Viś which were divided into grāmas or unions of many families. So whenever the people of grāmas settled they were termed as grāmas (villages) and hence the word Saṃgrāma came into being when a number of grāmas united for a battle. Every Janapada had a pura or chief city (capital) where the king resided. Every Janapada was politically named as Rāṣṭra. Pāṇini mentions a number of Janapadas in the Aṣṭādhyātī. Kauṭilya also uses the term Janapada for territory as the constituent of State. We find the mention of sixteen Mahājanapadas of Āryāvarta in many places in the Buddhist literature.

Janapada (जनपद) refers to a “tract of land”.—We have seen that from the days of the Brāhmaṇas the word janapada has been used to denote a particular people or territory in ancient India. The term seems to have had at first an ethnic rather than an administrative significance, being applied to a tract of land occupied by a particular race, tribe, or clan rather than an area marked out for administrative convenience by a government. But the janapada was not a mere habitat of anunorganized people. It formed a political community. Such was the janapadaof the Uttara-Kurus and the janapada of the Uttara-Madras in the Aitareya-brāhmaṇa.

In the Myakadani inscriptionof the Sātavāhana king Pulumāyi, however, a janapada is expressly mentioned as a district under a military governor. The word, however, very rarely occurs as a designation of an administrative area in later ages. It continues to be used in compositions of a geographical character, e.g. the Bhuvanakoṣa of the Purāṇas, or the deśa-vibhāga of the Kāvyamīmāṃsā, in its original sense of an area associated with a particular race, tribe, or clan often claiming a common ancestry.

Janapada or Jānapada.—(IE 8-3; EI 23, 33), people of the countryside; regarded by some as an official designation (EI 26), and by others as a corporate body (EI 21). Note: janapada is defined in the “Indian epigraphical glossary” as it can be found on ancient inscriptions commonly written in Sanskrit, Prakrit or Dravidian languages.

context information

The history of India traces the identification of countries, villages, towns and other regions of India, as well as royal dynasties, rulers, tribes, local festivities and traditions and regional languages. Ancient India enjoyed religious freedom and encourages the path of Dharma, a concept common to Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism.

Languages of India and abroad

Pali-English dictionary

janapada : (m.) a province; a country; country-side. || jānapada (adj.) belonging to the country; (m.) a rustic. plu. country-folk.

Janapada, (jana+pada, the latter in function of collective noun-abstract: see pada 3) inhabited country, the country (opp. town or market-place), the continent; politically: a province, district, county D. I, 136 (opp. nigama); II, 349; A. I, 160, 178; Sn. 422, 683, 995, 1102; J. I, 258; II, 3 (opp. nagara), 139, 300; PvA. 20, 32, 111 (province). See also gāma. The 16 provinces of Buddhist India are comprised in the soḷasa mahā-janapadā (Miln. 350) enum^d at A. I, 213=IV. 252 sq. =Nd² 247 (on Sn. 1102) as follows: Aṅgā, Magadhā (+Kālingā, Nd²) Kāsī, Kosalā, Vajjī, Mallā, Cetī (Cetiyā A. IV, ), Vaṃsā (Vaṅgā A. I, ), Kurū, Pañcālā, Majjā (Macchā A), Sūrasenā, Assakā, Avantī, Yonā (Gandhārā A), Kambojā. Cp. Rhys Davids, B. India p. 23.

—kathā talk or gossip about the province D. I, 7≈; —kalyāṇī a country-beauty, i.e. the most beautiful girl in the province D. I, 193 (see kalyāṇa); —cārikā tramping the country PvA. 14; —tthāvariya stableness, security, of the realm, in °patta, one who has attained a secure state of his realm, of a Cakkavattin D. I, 88; II, 16; Sn. p. 106; —padesa a rural district A. IV, 366; V, 101. (Page 278)

— or —

Jānapada, (adj. -n.) (fr. janapada) belonging to the country, living in the c.; pl. country-folk (opp. negamā townsfolk) D. I, 136, 142; M. II, 74; J. II, 287, 388; DA. I, 297 (=janapada-vāsin). (Page 282)

context information

Pali is the language of the Tipiṭaka, which is the sacred canon of Theravāda Buddhism and contains much of the Buddha’s speech. Closeley related to Sanskrit, both languages are used interchangeably between religions.

Marathi-English dictionary

janapada (जनपद).—m S Any inhabited country.

janapada (जनपद).—m Any inhabited country.

Sanskrit-English dictionary

Jānapada (जानपद).—[jānena utpattyā padyate pad ap; janapade bhavaḥ, aṇ vā]

1) An inhabitant of the country, a rustic, boor, peasant (opp. paura); ततः कतिपयाहःसु वृद्धो जानपदो युवा (tataḥ katipayāhaḥsu vṛddho jānapado yuvā) Rām.7.73.2.

2) A country.

3) A tax &c. from peasants.

4) subject.

-dā A popular expression.

-dī Profession, business.

Derivable forms: jānapadaḥ (जानपदः).

--- OR ---

Janapada (जनपद).—

1) a community, race, nation; Y.1.361 v. l.

2) A kingdom, an empire, an inhabited country; जनपदे न गदः पदभादधौ (janapade na gadaḥ padabhādadhau) R.9.4; दाक्षि- णात्ये जनपदे (dākṣi- ṇātye janapade) Pt.1; Me.48.

3) the country (opp. the town pura, nagara); जनपदवधूलोचनैः पीयमानः (janapadavadhūlocanaiḥ pīyamānaḥ) Me.16.

4) the people, subjects (opp. the sovereign); जनपदहितकर्ता त्यज्यते पार्थिवेन (janapadahitakartā tyajyate pārthivena) Pt.1.131.

5) mankind.

6) a. considering his subjects as authority; आपौरप्रकृतिजनपदो राजा (āpauraprakṛtijanapado rājā) Bhāg.5.4.5.

Derivable forms: janapadaḥ (जनपदः).

Janapada is a Sanskrit compound consisting of the terms jana and pada (पद).

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