Early History
In ancient times the tract which corresponds to the district of Ranchi and the neighbouring parganas was in the undisturbed possession of Munda and Oraon tribes and was known to Aryans as Jharkhand or the 'forest territory'. The entire tract was presumably beyond the pale of the direct Hindu influence in ancient India. However, Jarasandha, the mighty emperor of Rajgriha in the Mahabharata period might have exercised some kind of loose supervision over the area. Similarly, Mahapadma Nanda of Magadha, who subdued the entire country up to Orissa, might have gained some control over Jharkhand as well .
Possibly, the area was included in the Magadh Empire during the reign of Ashoka ( 273-232 B.C. ). With the decline of Mauryan power, King Kharavela of Kalinga led on army through Jharkhand and ransacked Rajgriha and Pataliputra of Magadh. Later, Samudra Gupta (335-380 A.D.) must have passed through the area on his expedition to the Deccan.
Read more about this topic: Ranchi
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