What is the oldest state in India?

The concept of the “oldest state” in India can be interpreted in various ways, including the oldest continuously inhabited region, the oldest archaeological state, or the oldest administrative or political entity recognized in the form of a state.

In terms of continuous habitation and civilization, the region of Bihar is often cited as one of the oldest. It was the center of power, learning, and culture in India for 1000 years. The ancient city of Patliputra, now known as Patna, was the capital of the Magadha Empire, which later evolved into the Mauryan Empire under the leadership of Chandragupta Maurya, and it reached its zenith under Ashoka.

If we consider the oldest administrative or political entity in terms of the current state structure in the Republic of India, West Bengal has a claim due to its political and cultural history as part of the Bengal region. Prior to India’s independence, Bengal was a major political and cultural center during British rule. However, the formal state as an administrative unit under the Republic of India was only established after independence in 1947, with West Bengal taking its current shape after the Partition of Bengal in 1947.

For the oldest archaeological evidence of a structured state, we can look at the Indus Valley Civilization (around 2500 BCE), which covered regions in modern-day northwest India and Pakistan. While not a state in the modern sense, it was one of the world’s earliest urban civilizations and had advanced state-like structures, with planned cities like Harappa and Mohenjo-daro.

It’s important to note that the current states of India were largely formed after the country’s independence from British rule in 1947 and were reorganized significantly during the States Reorganisation Act of 1956 and beyond, based on linguistic and ethnic identities. Therefore, in the context of India’s long history, the concept of a “state” is relatively modern. The “oldest” therefore depends on the criteria used—whether it is the antiquity of civilization, the continuity of cultural and political identity, or the age of the administrative state structure as defined by the Constitution of India.