Aśmaka

Assaka (Pali) or Ashmaka (IAST: Aśmaka), was a region of ancient India (700–300 BCE) around and between the river Godavari. It was one of the shODasa (sixteen) mahajanapadas in the 6th century BCE, mentioned in the Buddhist text Anguttara Nikaya.

The capital is variously called Potali, or Podana, which now lies in the Nandura Tehsila.

The Buddhist text Mahagovinda Suttanta mentions about a ruler of Assaka, Brahmadatta who ruled from Potali.

The Matsya Purana (ch.272) lists twenty-five rulers of Aśmaka, contemporary to the Shishunaga rulers of Magadha.

Later, the people spread southward to the territory of the Rashtrakuta empire, which is now in modern Maharashtra.

Ashmaka is also identified as Assaka and Aśvakas in Buddhist literature and Gatha Saptashati of king Hāla. Ashmaka is derived from Sanskrit word "Ashma" which means Stone or Gem: In fact one finds thousands of hillocks and stones in this region and thus aptly called Ashmaka. There is a speculation that about 10 to 20 Million years back, there was a heavy Meteoroid fall in this Region.

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