The Haryanka dynasty was the first ruling dynasty of Magadha, an empire of ancient India. Initially, the capital was Rajagriha. Later, it was shifted to Pataliputra, near present-day Patna in India during the reign of Udayin. Bimbisara is considered as the founder of the dynasty.

Magadha also called the Kingdom of Magadha or the Magadha Empire, was a kingdom and empire, and one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas, 'Great Kingdoms' of the Second Urbanization, based in southern Bihar in the eastern Ganges Plain, in Ancient India. Magadha was ruled by the Brihadratha dynasty, the Pradyota dynasty, the Haryanka dynasty, the Shaishunaga dynasty, the Nanda dynasty, the Mauryan dynasty, the Shunga dynasty and the Kanva dynasty. It lost much of its territory after being defeated by the Satavahanas of Deccan in 28 BC and was reduced to a small principality around Pataliputra. Under the Mauryas, Magadha became a pan-Indian empire, covering large swaths of the Indian subcontinent and Afghanistan.