Panchala (Mahajanapada)

Panchala was one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas of ancient India. It sat in the Ganga-Yamuna Doab, roughly today’s western Uttar Pradesh.

What are the key facts?

• Region: the Ganga-Yamuna Doab, in western UP.
• Capitals: Ahichhatra in the north and Kampilya in the south.
• Peak era: the epic age of the Mahabharata.
• Famous for: Draupadi and Painted Grey Ware pottery.

What do the key words mean?

• A Mahajanapada was one of sixteen large kingdoms or states named in early Buddhist texts, around the 6th century BCE.
• A swayamvara was an old custom where a princess chose her own husband, often through a contest set by her father.

How was the kingdom laid out?

• Its neighbours were Kuru, Surasena, and Matsya to the west, and Kosala to the east.
• The kingdom split into two halves: North Panchala and South Panchala. The river Bhagirathi, another name for the Ganga here, divided them.
• North Panchala’s capital was Ahichhatra, near modern Ramnagar in Bareilly district. South Panchala’s capital was Kampilya, in modern Farrukhabad district.
• People lived at Ahichhatra for well over two thousand years. Digs there turned up nearly five thousand old coins.
• Some later texts say Panchala moved toward a group-run style of rule, alongside its older kingship. This claim rests on thinner proof than confirmed group-run states like Vajji, so treat it with care.

What is the memory hook?

Think “A for Ahichhatra, A for Above”. Ahichhatra is the northern capital.

The Mahabharata gives Panchala a powerful opening story. It starts with two boyhood friends.

What happened between Drupada and Drona?

• Per the Mahabharata, Drupada, king of Panchala, and Drona once studied together as boys, under the sage Bharadwaja. They became close friends.
• Young Drupada promised to share half his future kingdom with Drona. Once Drupada became king, he broke that promise.
• Drona later became teacher to the Kuru princes, including Arjuna. With his students’ help, he defeated Drupada in battle and took half of Panchala as his fee.
• Shamed, Drupada performed a yajna, a fire ritual, seeking a son able to kill Drona.
• Two children came out of that fire: Dhrishtadyumna, meant to fulfil that goal, and his twin sister, Draupadi.

What did each man keep?

• Drona’s share was the northern half. Its capital was Ahichhatra.
• Drupada kept the southern half. He lived at Kampilya.
• This is why Panchala had two capitals in the epic.

What is the memory hook?

Think “promise, fee, fire”. The promise was broken, half the land became the fee, and the fire made the children.

Draupadi’s swayamvara is the best-known scene in Panchala’s story. It tied the kingdom to the Pandavas.

How did the contest work?

• Drupada held Draupadi’s swayamvara at Kampilya, South Panchala’s capital.
• Suitors had to string a heavy bow, then hit a spinning target while looking only at its reflection.
• Versions of the story differ on Karna. In one, Draupadi stopped him from even trying, because of his lower birth. In another, he strung the bow, but she still refused him.
• Arjuna, disguised as a Brahmin along with his brothers, won the contest and Draupadi’s hand.
• This marriage tied Panchala closely to the Pandavas. That tie later became a real alliance, not just a family bond.

What came after the contest?

• The other princes were angry. A poor Brahmin had won a Kshatriya princess.
• Draupadi chose Arjuna by garlanding him. The brothers then took her home as their wife.

What is the memory hook?

Think “Kampilya, bow, reflection”. Those three words hold the whole scene.

Panchala fought on the winning side. The old promise came full circle there.

What did Dhrishtadyumna do?

• When the Kurukshetra War began, Panchala fought for the Pandavas. Drona fought against them, for the Kauravas.
• On Krishna and Arjuna’s advice, Dhrishtadyumna was made commander-in-chief of the Pandava army.
• He beheaded Drona in battle, completing the very purpose his birth was meant for.
• Drupada himself was killed by Drona earlier in the same war. He never saw his son finish that revenge.

How does the whole chain fit together?

• Drona breaks Drupada and takes half his kingdom.
• Drupada’s yajna produces Dhrishtadyumna and Draupadi.
• Draupadi’s swayamvara ties Panchala to the Pandavas.
• Dhrishtadyumna kills Drona in the Kurukshetra War.

Where does real history enter?

Ahichhatra, Panchala’s own capital, also holds a special place in real digging history. It is where diggers first found Painted Grey Ware pottery, now used to date a whole period of history across northern India. See Painted Grey Ware Culture for more.

This article covers Panchala on its own. For the wider sixteen-state picture, see The Mahajanapadas and the Rise of Magadha.

What is the memory hook?

Think “promise, fire, fee, revenge”. It runs from Drona’s first bargain to his last battle.

Panchala is more than an epic kingdom. Old Vedic books name its peoples and kings too.

Which old peoples fed into Panchala?

• A University of Lucknow report on Kampil lists five old families linked to the area.
• These are the Krivis, Turvasus, Keshins, Srinjayas and Somakas.
• The name Panchala is often read as “five peoples joined together”. The lists differ from book to book, so treat the idea with care.

Which kings do the books name?

• The Shatapatha Brahmana names a king called Keshin.
• It also says that kings Kaivya and Durmukha held an Ashvamedha at Kampil. An Ashvamedha was a horse sacrifice that showed a king’s power.
• Pravahana Jaivali is the best-known Panchala king of the Upanishads.

How does the Chandogya Upanishad show Panchala?

• In the Chandogya Upanishad, Shvetaketu goes to the court of the Panchalas.
• King Pravahana Jaivali asks him whether his father has taught him.
• He says yes. The king then puts five questions to him, and the young man cannot answer one.
• This tale leads into the teaching on the five fires.

What is the memory hook?

Think “five peoples, five questions”. Five clans made Panchala, and five questions stumped Shvetaketu.

Kampil in Farrukhabad district is the old Kampilya. Spades have told a quieter story than the epic.

What is the site like?

• The mound lies on the old bed of the Ganga, called the Burhi Ganga.
• Alexander Cunningham visited it in March 1878 and linked it with Kampilya.
• The Archaeological Survey of India listed it as a protected site in 1920, along with Ahichhatra and Hastinapur.

What did the University of Lucknow dig find?

• The dig went down through 7.15 metres of layers.
• The diggers split them into five periods: before Painted Grey Ware, Painted Grey Ware, Northern Black Polished Ware, Kushana and Gupta, and medieval.
• The oldest layer was about 60 centimetres thick.
• Later pits had disturbed the Kushana and Gupta layers. Clay figures still point to people living there.

What did an Italian team add?

• An Italian team surveyed the site in 1997 and 1999.
• Its report says the fort walls it dug date from after the Mauryas, with Kushana repairs.
• It also says the town was left empty around the 1st century CE, as the Ganga moved away.

What is safe to say?

• The digs show an old town with several periods of life.
• They do not prove the events of the epic.

What is the memory hook?

Think “Kampil: five periods, one old river”. The layers run from pre-Painted Grey Ware to the medieval age.

Ahichhatra is the star site of Panchala. It gave archaeology a new kind of pottery.

What is the site like?

• The ruins sit near Ramnagar in Bareilly district.
• A brick wall shaped like a rough triangle runs about 6 km around.
• The site shows eight cultural phases, from Ochre Coloured Pottery to the early medieval age.
• People lived there until the 11th century CE.

What made it famous?

• Digs between 1940 and 1944 first found Painted Grey Ware here.
• Painted Grey Ware is a mark of the early Iron Age in northern India.
• The site grew largest in the Mitra-Panchala period, from about the 3rd century BCE to the 4th century CE.

What do later visitors tell us?

• The Chinese monk Xuanzang came in the 7th century CE.
• He reported twelve monasteries with about a thousand monks, and nine Hindu temples.
• In the Gupta age the city was a hub for clay sculpture. A fine Ganga figure from here is now in the National Museum, Delhi.
• A Jain account links the city’s name to Parshvanatha, the 23rd Tirthankara. A serpent king is said to have sheltered him from a flood.
• Seals found at the site suggest the Guptas ruled it as a division of their empire.

What is the memory hook?

Think “1940 to 1944, Ahichhatra, first grey pots”. The first Painted Grey Ware came from here.

After the epic age, Magadha took over Panchala. Later local kings brought it back, and their coins survive.

Who were the Mitra kings?

• Panchala was absorbed by Magadha. It was later rebuilt under a line of kings with Mitra in their names.
• Their coins are among the earliest Indian coins to carry written names, in Brahmi script.
• Names include Vangapala, Dhruvamitra, Suryamitra, Bhanumitra, Agnimitra and Phalgunimitra.
• Experts place the main series between about 150 BCE and 125 CE. The exact dates are debated.

How do the coins look?

• Each coin has a sunken square stamp. It holds the king’s name and three Panchala symbols.
• The front often shows the god in the king’s name.
• Agnimitra’s coins show Agni, the fire god. Bhanumitra’s show the sun, called Bhanu.

How did Panchala end?

• Achyuta was the last Panchala king. Samudragupta defeated him.
• His coins show a wheel with eight spokes. In one study of 400 coins, 399 had eight spokes.
• After that, Panchala became part of the Gupta empire. Ahichhatra stayed a Gupta division.

What is the memory hook?

Think “Mitra names, deity faces”. The god on the coin matches the king’s name.

Panchala has a few easy traps. Each one is a favourite for exam writers.

What are the traps?

• North or south? Ahichhatra is the capital of North Panchala. Kampilya is the capital of South Panchala.
• Epic or evidence? The fire-born twins belong to the epic. Painted Grey Ware at Ahichhatra is a dig result.
• Where did the swayamvara happen? Kampilya, not Hastinapura or Indraprastha.
• Whose pottery? Painted Grey Ware was first found at Ahichhatra, not at Kampil.
• Who killed Drona? Dhrishtadyumna, the fire-born son of Drupada.

Misconception: Panchala ended with the Mahabharata war. In fact the kingdom lasted for centuries. Mitra kings struck coins into the early centuries CE, and Achyuta fell to Samudragupta much later.

What are the quick answers?

• Which two capitals did Panchala have? Ahichhatra for the north and Kampilya for the south.
• What broken promise started the rivalry between Drupada and Drona? Drupada’s boyhood promise to share half his future kingdom.
• Who won Draupadi’s swayamvara at Kampilya? Arjuna, disguised as a Brahmin.
• Which pottery is linked to Ahichhatra? Painted Grey Ware, first found there.

What is the memory hook?

Think “A is above, K is key”. Ahichhatra is the north, and Kampilya is the south and the swayamvara site.