The period from about 1000 BC to 600 BC is considered to be the post-Vedic period. It is in this period that the janapadas came into existence. Janapadas were the many small States that spread from today’s Afghanistan which is to the northwest of the Indian subcontinent to Bengal and Odisha in the east and to Maharashtra in the south. The janapada called ‘Ashmak’ occupied a part of today’s Maharashtra. The names of these janapadas can be found in Sanskrit, Pali and Ardhamagadhi literature.