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ancient kingdom in India
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Aśmaka or Assaka was a Mahajanapada in ancient India which existed between 700 BCE and 425 or 345 BCE according to the Buddhist texts and Puranas. It included areas in present day Telangana and Maharashtra in south-central India. In Gautama Buddha's time, many of the Assakas were located on the banks of the Godavari River (south of the Vindhya mountains).The capital of Aśmaka was the city variously named Podana, Potali, Paudanyapura, and Potana. Most scholars identify it with present-day Bodhan in Telangana.
In ancient India, during the 6th century BCE, there were sixteen Mahajanapadas. Among them, Ashmaka (or Assaka) was the only Mahajanapada located in South India.
Aśmaka was located on the Godāvarī river, between Mūlaka and Kaliṅga. The capital of Aśmaka was the city variously named Podana, Potali, Paudanyapura, and Potana, which corresponds to modern-day Bodhan in Telangana.
Panini who lived in about the seventh century B.C. makes mention of Asmaka which was in the interior of the Deccan watered by the Godavari, which is identified with modern Nizamabad district.
Aśmaka annexed the small kingdom of Mūlaka located to its west during the Mahajanapada period, after which it became the southern neighbour of the kingdom of Avanti.
The Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela (2nd century BCE) mentions Kharavela's threat to a city variously interpreted as "Masika" (Masikanagara), "Musika" (Musikanagara) or "Asika" (Asikanagara). N. K. Sahu identifies Asika as the capital of Asmaka. According to Ajay Mitra Shastri, "Asika-nagara" was located in the present-day village of Adam in Nagpur district (on the Wainganga River). A terracotta seal excavated in the village mentions the Asmaka janapada. Asmaka also included Mulaka area around Paithan known in ancient times as Pratishthana. According to Sutta Nipata Saketa or Ayodhya was first halting place on the southward road (Dakshinapatha) from Shravasti to Pratishthana.
Anguttara Nikaya like the Puranas tells that Assaka was one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas of Jambudvīpa. It had abundance of food and gems. It was wealthy and prosperous. One of the oldest works of the Pali-Buddhist literature, the Sutta-Nipata (verses 976-7) speak of a Brahman guru called Bavarl, as having left the Kosala country and settled near a village on the Godavari in the Assaka territory in the Dakshinapatha.
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Text from the Wikipedia article “Asmaka”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.