Kingdoms of Pundra and Vanga were formed in Bengal and were first described in the "Atharvaveda" around 1000 BCE as well as in Hindu epic Mahabharata. Anga and later Magadha expanded to include most of the Bihar and Bengal regions. It was one of the four main kingdoms of India at the time of Buddha and was one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas. Under the Maurya Empire founded by Chandragupta Maurya, Magadha extended over nearly all of South Asia, including parts of Balochistan and Afghanistan, reaching its greatest extent under the Buddhist emperor Ashoka the Great in the 3rd century BCE.