Pradyota assents the throne of Avanti ending the Brhadratha Dynasty and commencing the Pradyota Dynasty of Magadha. The Mahavamsa states that Ajatasattu's son Udayabhadra succeeded Ajatasattu and ruled for the next sixteen years. He moved his capital to the bank of Ganges which was known as Pataliputra. The succession was followed by Udayabhadra's son Anuruddha and his son Munda in the same family tradition by slaying the father. Munda's son Nagadasaka slew his father and continued reigning through this dynasty of parricides'. The citizens angered by the rule of Haryankas, revolted against Nagadasaka and anointed Shishunaga as the king.
The political process in India started with semi-nomadic tribal units called janas which coalesced into janapadas. The first Vedic realm mentioned in the Vedas is Videha, but its existence mostly falls into the category of the religious-legendary. During the 6th century BCE, the janapadas had formed larger political entities, possibly through a process not unlike the Greek synoecism, in which smaller settlements combined to form city-states with their hinterlands (mahajanapadas). Among the mahajanapadas five cities gained special importance: Rajagriha or Rajgir in Magadha (modern Bihar), Varanasi (formerly called Benares) in Kasi, Kausambi in Vatsa, Sravasti in Kosala, and Champa in Anga. All of these states were in the Gangetic plain of northern India. Other important centers were Ujjain in Avanti and Taxila in Gandhara (today part of Pakistan).
