Māgadha, Son of Pṛthu
Māgadha, “the one of Magadha”
Māgadha is the king from whom the rulers of Magadha begin. The Pratisarga Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa tells of his birth and of how he divided the Ārya land.
His birth and rule
Sūta tells Śaunaka and the ṛshis that Ārya Pṛthu was king in the land named Rājyaputra. From him Māgadha arose, and having anointed his son Māgadha, Pṛthu departed. When the ṛshis asked which Māgadhas ruled in the Kaliyuga, Sūta said that in the land of Magadha, Māgadha, the son of Kāśyapa, took from his father the burden of the kingdom.
He divided off the Ārya land. East of Pāñcāla lay the land of Magadha; then Kaliṅga; then a land in the south whose name is lost; in the west Sindhu-deśa; in the north-west Kaikaya-deśa; in the north Madra-deśa; and in the north-east Kulinda-deśa. Thus he divided the Ārya land. The king then pleased Balarāma with a yajña, and as its fruit Śiśunāga was born from an aṃśa of Balabhadra.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapter 6
Per the fourth Khaṇḍa
Jagannātha tells that Kaṇva Maharshi, pleased with Ācārya Pṛthu, made him a kshatriya king by the vara of the devas and gave him Rājaputrapura. Pṛthu’s wife Rājanyā bore a son named Māgadha, and to him Kaṇva gave the Māgadha country in the east.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 21
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapter 6; Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 21