In which one of the following sources mentioned the Sixteen Mahajanapadas in Ancient India is found?

The Mahajanapadas were sixteen kingdoms or oligarchic republics that existed in Northern ancient India from the sixth to fourth centuries BCE during the second urbanization period.

Key Points

The Anguttara Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the fourth of the five Nikayas.

• Sixteen states or Mhajanpadas are mentioned in the Buddhist Jatakas, Anguttar Nikaya.
• The Janapadas and Mahajanapadas represent the state system of 600BC.
• The processes of emergence of Mahajanpadas were initiated by certain important economic changes and the consequent socio-political developments witnessed during the period.
• The period from the fall of the kingdom of Videha early in the sixth century B.C. till the rise of the kingdom of Magadha in the middle of the same century is known as the Age of sixteen Mahajanapadas.
• The list of the sixteen Mahajanapadas given by the Buddhist Angauttara Nikaya:
  • Kasi, Kosala, Anga, Mgadha, Vajji, Malla, Chedi, Vatsya, Kuru, Panchala, Matsya, Surasena, Asmaka, Avanti, Gandhara, Kamboja.

Hence, the correct answer is Anguttar Nikaya.