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Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c12: Chapter II. The Rise of Magadha

Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c12

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English

Contents

Chapter II. The Rise of Magadha

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*Sarvamūrddhābhishiktānāmesha mūrddhni jvalishyati*
*prabhāharo' yaṁ sarveshāṁ jyotishāmiva bhāskaraḥ*
*enamāsādya rājānaḥ samṛiddha-balavāhanā*
*vināśamupayāsyanti śalabhā iva pāvakam.*
—*Mahābhārata.*¹

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¹ II. 19. 10-11.

Section I. General Character of the Period C. 544 B.C. to 324 B.C.

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The most remarkable feature of the age that commenced with the coronation of Bimbisāra c. 545—44 B.C.,² and ended with the retirement of Alexander from India and the accession of Chandra Gupta Maurya (324 B. C.), is the rise of a New Monarchy in the Eastern part of the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent which is already heralded by a *Brāhmaṇa* passage cited above³:

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² See below, Section VII.

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³ Pp. 156-7

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“In this eastern quarter (*prāchyāṁ diśi*), whatever kings there are of the eastern peoples, they are anointed for supreme kingship (*Sāmrājya*); ‘O supreme king (*Samrāṭ* they style them when anointed.”

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The eastern peoples, *prāchyas*, are not enumerated in the same manner as those of the southern, the northern and the central regions. But it may be safely assumed that the name used in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* stands for the Prasii of the Graeco-Roman writers. The most famous nations of the east in the *Brāhmaṇa-Upanishad* period were the Kāśis, the Kosalas and the Videhas. But a new star was soon in the ascendant. Under the vigorous kings of the race of Bimbisāra and Nanda Magadha played the same part in ancient Indian politics as Wessex did in pre-Norman England and Prussia in Hohenzollern Germany. Several circumstances contributed to the pre-eminence of the new aspirant for imperial power—its position of vantage between the upper and lower parts of the vast riparian plain of Northern India, the possession of an almost unassailable stronghold amidst five hills, and another at and near the confluence of several rivers, the arteries of commerce and navigation in those days, a superbly rich and fruitful soil, and resources including a powerful elephant corps which greatly impressed the classical writers and writers in polity.

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But strategic position and material wealth cannot suffice to raise a nation to greatness. As Burke says, it is the quality and spirit of the people 'that give all their life and efficacy to them'. As in several Atlantic lands, so in Magadha, we have a fusion of folks and cultures. Kīkaṭas mixed here with enterprising clans coming from upper India as Celts did with Latins and Teutons in Mediaeval France and some adjoining territories. It is not difficult to find out two strands in the cultural—no less than the racial—texture of the population. The same nation that produced relentless fighters and, 'exterminators of kings' and clans like Jarāsandha of epic legend, Ajātaśatru, Mahāpadma, Chaṇḍāśoka (the ruthless conqueror of Kaliṅga) and perhaps Samudra Gupta, hearkened at the same time to the devout teachings of Madhyama Prātibodhīputra, Varddhamāna Mahāvīra, and Gautama Buddha, and played a conspicuous part in the propagation of a world religion as it did in the establishment of an empire embracing nearly the whole of India. The birth of Ajātaśatru and the enlightenment of the Buddha took place in the same country and the same age, and they met in Rājagṛiha as Charles V and Martin Luther did at Worms. The symbol of aggressive imperialism stood face to face with the preacher of piety and morality, leader of a movement that was destined to convulse a continent. The two ideologies did not long remain apart. They were harmonised and the magician who worked the miracle was Dharm-āśoka who combined in himself the imperial tradition of his forbears as well as the spiritual fervour of the sage of the Śākyas.

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A characteristic of the people of Magadha was an elasticity of social behaviour which was absent in the system which developed on the banks of the Sarasvatī and the Dṛishadvatī. In their country Brāhmaṇas could associate with Vrātyas, the *Rājanya* could admit the Śūdra girl to the harem, the *Vaiśya* and even the *Yavana* could be promoted to gubernatorial office, hereditary rulers of aristocratic lineage could be expelled to make room for the offspring of a *nagara-śobhinī*, and the "royal throne of kings" was not beyond the reach of a barber.

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Magadhan rulers and chancellors like Vassakāra (Varshakāra) and Kauṭilya, were not over-scrupulous in their methods. Tradition credits some of them with the use of Machiavellian diplomacy in disintegrating kingdoms and republics, and invention of engines of destruction which worked with deadly effect. But they had the sagacity to evolve an administrative system in which princes royal, ministers of state as well as leading men of villages had their due share. Foreign diplomats and pilgrims in the fourth century B. C., as well as the fifth and seventh centuries A. D. speak of their sense of justice, their hospitals, charitable institutions and public works. They believed in ceaseless endeavour with the object of realising the dream of a united Jambudvīpa (Greater India) integrated by political as well as spiritual ties. In the *Māgadha* bards, the rulers of Girivraja and Pāṭaliputra had a body of devoted men who could rouse popular enthusiasm in a cause in which they believed. These singers and chroniclers have left a legacy which is invaluable to the student of ancient history.

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The rise of Magadha synchronised with, and may have been a contributory cause of, an exodus of people from the *Madhya-deśa* to the outlying parts of India, notably the west and the south. The displacement of the Yādavas in antiquity is vouched for by epic tradition. It is well-known that the Vṛishṇis and cognate clans of Dvārkā in Kāthiāwār and several peoples of the Deccan claimed Yadu lineage. It was in the period under review that the Far South of India comes definitely within the geographical horizon of the grammarians and foreign diplomats some of whom graced the *Durbar* of Magadhan kings. *Sapta-Sindhu* had at last developed into *Jam udvīpa*. And the time was not distant when a notable attempt would be made to impress the stamp of unity on it in the domain of culture and politics.

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In making their prowess felt throughout the vast sub-continent of India the great men of Magadha had at first to face three problems, *viz.*, those presented by the republics mainly on their northern frontier, the monarchies that grew up on the Rāptī, the Jumna and the Chambal and the foreign impact that made itself felt in the Punjab and Sind. We turn first to the republics.

Section II. Republics in the Age of Bimbisāra

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It was Rhys Davids who first drew pointed attention to the survival, side by side with the monarchies, of a number of small aristocratic republics in the age of the Buddha and of Bimbisāra.¹ The most important amongst these states were the **Vṛijians** of North Bihār and the **Mallas** of Kusinārā (Kuśīnagara) and Pāvā. An account of both these peoples has already been given.² Among the smaller republics we find mention of the **Śākyas** of Kapilavastu, the **Koliyas** of Devadaha and Rāmagāma, the **Bhaggas** (Bhargas) of Suṁsumāra Hill, the **Bulis** of Allakappa, the **Kālāmas** of Kesaputta, and the **Moriyas** of Pipphalivana.

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¹ *Buddhist India*, p. 1.

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² *Supra* pp. 118ff, 126ff.

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The **Śākyas** were settled in the territory bordered on the north by the Himālayas, on the east by the river Rohiṇī,³ and on the west and south by the Rāptī.⁴ Their capital, Kapilavastu, stood close to the western bank of the Rohiṇī, some eight miles to the west of the famous Lumbinīvana,⁵ the place of the Buddha's nativity, the site of which is marked by the Rummindeī pillar of one of the greatest of his followers.⁶ The city is possibly mentioned in the *Tīrthayātrā section* of the *Mahābhārata*⁷ under the name of *Kapilāvaṭa*. It was connected by roads with the capitals of the Kosalas and the Vṛijikas, and through them with the other great cities of the age. The Sākyas had a town called Devadaha which they appear to have shared with their eastern neighbours, the Koliyas. They acknowledged the suzerainty of the king of Kosala and, like him, claimed to belong to the solar (*Āditya*) race and Ikshvāku family.

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³ A tributary of the Rāptī (Oldenberg, *Buddha*, p. 96). Cunningham (AGI, new ed. 476) identifies it with the Kohāna.

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⁴ Rapson *Ancient India*, p. 161; Oldenberg, *Buddha*, pp. 95-96.

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⁵ AGI (new ed) 476.

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⁶ Kapilavastu is sometimes identified with Piprāwā in the north of the Basti district, or Tilaura Koṭ and neighbouring ruins in the Tarāi about 10 miles to the N.W. of Piprāwā. (Smith, *EHI*, third ed., p. 159.)

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⁷ III, 84, 31.

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The **Koliyas** claim to have been cadets from the royal house of Benares. Tradition connects them with the cities of Rāmagāma and Devadaha.¹ The river Rohiṇī separated their capital from that of the Sākyas, and helped to irrigate the fields of both the clans.² "Once upon a time in the month of *Jeṭṭhamūla* when the crops began to flag and droop, the labourers from amongst both the peoples assembled together." Then followed a scramble for water. Bloodshed was averted by the mediation of the Buddha.³ From the mutual recriminations in which they indulged, we learn that the Sākyas had the custom of marrying their own sisters. Cunningham places the Koliya country between the Kohāna and Aumi (Anomā) rivers. The Anomā seems to have formed the dividing line between the Koliyas on the one hand and the Mallas and Moriyas on the other.

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¹ DPPN, I. 689f. The Koliya capital stood close to the eastern bank of the Rohiṇī.

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² The *Kunāla Jātaka* (introductory portion).

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³ DPPN, I. 690, Cunn. AGI (new) 477; 491 ff.

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The **Bhaggas** (Bhargas) are known to the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa*⁴ and the *Ashṭādhyāyī* of Pāṇini.⁵ The former work refers to the Bhārgāyaṇa prince Kairiśi Sutvan. In the latter half of the sixth century B.C., the Bhagga state was a dependency of the Vatsa kingdom; for we learn from the preface to the *Dhonasākha Jātaka*,⁶ that prince Bodhi, the son of Udayana, king of the Vatsas, dwelt in Suṁsumāragiri and built a palace called *Kokanada*. The *Mahābhārata* and the *Harivaṁśa* also testify to the close connection between the Vatsas and the Bhargas (Bhaggas) and their proximity to the Nishādas. The testimony of the epic and the *Apadāna* seems to locate them in the Vindhyan region between the Jumna and the Śon.¹

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⁴ VIII. 28.

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⁵ IV. i. 111, 177.

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⁶ No. 353.

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¹ Mbh., II. 30. 10-11; *Hariv.*, 29. 73. DPPN, II, 345; *Supra* p. 133.

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Regarding the **Bulis** and the **Kālāmas** we know very little. The *Dhammapada commentary*² refers to the Buli territory as the kingdom of Allakappa, and says that it was only ten leagues in extent. From the story of its king’s intimate relationship with king Veṭhadīpaka it may be presumed that Allakappa lay not far from Veṭhadīpa, the home of a famous Brāhmaṇa in the early days of Buddhism, who made a cairn over the remains of the Buddha in his native land.³ The Kālāmas were the clan of the philosopher Āḷāra, a teacher of Gautama before he attained to *Sambodhi*.⁴ The name of their *nigama* (town) Kesaputta, reminds us of the Keśins, a people mentioned in the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa*⁵ and probably also in the *Ashṭādyāyī* of Pāṇini,⁶ and connected with the Pañchālas and Dālbhyas who appear in the *Rig-Veda*,⁷ as settled on the banks of the Gomatī. Kesaputta itself seems to have been annexed to Kosala,⁸ and no doubt acknowledged the suzerainty of the king of that powerful state.

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² Harvard Oriental Series, 28, p. 247.

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³ Majumdar Sastri connects Veṭhadīpa with Kasia (AGI, 1924, 714); *cf.* Fleet in JRAS, 1906, p. 900n; Hoey suggests that Veṭhadīpa is Bettiah in the Champaran District of Bihār.

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⁴ *Buddhacharita*, XII. 2.

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⁵ *Ved. Ind.*, Vol. I, p. 186.

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⁶ VI. 4. 165.

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⁷ V. 61.

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⁸ The *Aṅguttara* (P. T. S., I, 188; Nipāta III, 65).

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The **Moriyas** (Mauryas) were the same clan which gave Magadha its greatest dynasty.¹ They are sometimes spoken of as of Sākyan origin, but the evidence is late. Earlier evidence distinguishes between these two clans.² The name is derived, according to one tradition, from *mora* (*mayūra*) or peacock. The place where they settled down is said to have always resounded with the cries of these birds. Pipphalivana, the Moriya capital, is apparently identical with the Nyagrodhavana or Banyan Grove, mentioned by Hiuen Tsang, where stood the famous Embers Tope.³ Fa Hien tells us that the Tope lay four *yojanas* to the east of the river Anomā, and twelve *yojanas* (probably some 54 miles) to the west of Kusinārā.⁴

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¹ "Then did the Brāhmaṇa Cāṇakka anoint a glorious youth, known by the name Candagutta, as king over all Jambudīpa, born of a noble clan, the Moriyas." Geiger, *Mahāvaṁsa*, p. 27; DPPN, II. 673.

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² *Mahāparinibbāna Sutta*.

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³ Rhys Davids, *Buddhist Suttas*, p. 135; Watters, *Yuan Chwang*, II, pp. 23-24; Cunningham, *AGI.*, *new ed.*, pp. 491f, 496f.

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⁴ *AGI* (new) 491, Legge, *Fa Hien*, p. 79; Watters, I, 141; *cf.* JRAS., 1903. As Kasia (Kusinārā, Kuśinagara) lay 35 miles to the east of Gorakhpur (*AGI*, 493), the Moriyan city could not have been situated very far from the last-mentioned town. The Moriyas seem also to have been close neighbours of the Koliyas beyond the Anomā and the Mallas of Anupiyā on the banks of that river.

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It will perhaps not be quite out of place to say here a few words about the internal organisation of the republics. Space, however, forbids a detailed treatment of the subject. They fall mainly into two classes, *viz.*, those that were constituted by the whole or a section of a single clan (*kula*) *e.g.*, the Sākyas, the Koliyas, the Mallas of Kusinārā, the Mallas of Pāvā etc., and those that comprised several clans like the Vṛijis (Vajjis) and the Yādavas. The distinguishing feature of a state of this type is the absence of *one* single hereditary monarch who exercised *full* control over it. The *Basileus*, if he survived at all, must have done so as a mere magistracy or as a dignified part of the constitution.¹ The efficient part comprised a president (*chief, gaṇapati, gaṇajyeṣṭha, gaṇarāja, saṁghamukhya*) and a council of archons taken from the ruling class. Such a president was Cheṭaka of Vaiśālī and Akouphis of Nysa in later times, the terrestrial counterpart of Indra, in his capacity as the *Jyeṣṭha* of the Marud-gaṇa.² According to a Jaina tradition the number of members of the supreme executive in charge of foreign and military affairs was in some states nine.³ There were functionaries like *uparājās* and *senāpatis* who exercised judicial and military functions. All these Elders possibly answer to the *Mahallakas* of Pāli texts and *Mahattaras* of the *Vāyu Purāṇa*,⁴ whom it was the duty of the citizens to respect and support.

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¹ Cf. the case of Ugrasena among the Yādavas.

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² *Ṛig-veda* I. 23. 8; cf. II. 23. 1.

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³ *Nava Mallai, Nava Lechchhai* etc. *supra* p. 125. In Nysa the governing body consisted of 300 members. The number of "leading men of cities and provinces" entrusted by the Kshudrakas with power to conclude a treaty is not definitely stated.

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⁴ *Vāyu*, 96. 35.

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Some of the clans possibly had an elaborate system of judicial procedure with a gradation of officers. Others, notably the Koliyas, had a police force which earned notoriety for extortion and violence.⁵ Reverence for tradition, especially for traditional religion with its shrines and ministers, was a feature that recalls the part that ancestral religion played in ancient Babylonia and modern Nippon.

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⁵ *DPPN*, I. 690.

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Perhaps the most important institution of the free republics was the *Parishā*, the popular assembly, where young and old held frequent meetings, made their decisions and carried them out in concord. Kettledrums⁶ were used by an officer (styled *sabhāpāla* in the epic) to bring the people to the Mote Hall, called *Santhāgāra* in the Pali texts. The procedure is perhaps analogous to that followed in the Kuru-Pañchāla assembly mentioned in the *Jaiminīya Upanishad Brāhmaṇa*, in a palaver in Sakra's heaven described in the *Mahāgovinda Suttanta*, or in formal gatherings of the Chapters of the Buddhist Order referred to in the *Vinaya* texts. Members "are seated in a specified order. After the president has laid the proposed business before the assembly, others speak upon it, and recorders take charge of the unanimous decision arrived at."¹ If there is any disputation (*saṃvāda*) the matter is referred to a committee of arbitrators. It is possible that technical expressions like *āsana-prajñāpaka* (seat-betokener), *ñatti* (*jñapti*, motion), *śalākā-gāhāpaka* (ballot-collector), *gaṇa-pūraka* (whip), *ubbāhikā* (referendum) found in the Rules of the Order, were adopted from those in use in the assemblies of the free tribes or clans.

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⁶ *Kindred Sayings* II. 178 (reference to kettledrum of the Daśārhas; cf. *Mbh.*, I. 220. 11.

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¹ *Jaim. Up. Br.* III 7. 65. *Camb. Hist. Ind.* I. 176; cf., *Carm. Lec* 1918. 180ff.

Section III. The Minor Principalities and the Great Monarchies

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An important feature of Indian history throughout the ages is the presence of numerous petty *Rājās* holding their courts either in some forest region, mountain fastness, or desert tract away from the main currents of political life, or in a riperian or maritime district, each separated from his neighbour by a range of hills, a stream, a forest or an expanse of sandy waste. It is impossible to enumerate all such tiny states that flourished and decayed in the days of Bimbisāra. But a few deserve notice. Among these were Gandhāra ruled by Paushkarasārin or Pukkusāti, a remote predecessor of Āmbhi, Madra governed by the father of Khemā, a queen of Bimbisāra, Roruka (in Sauvīra or the Lower Indus Valley) under the domination of Rudrāyana,¹ Śūrasena ruled by Avantiputta (either a successor of, or identical with, Subāhu), and Aṅga under the sway of Dṛiḍhavarman and Brahmadatta.

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¹ *Divyāvadāna*, p. 545.

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It is difficult to say anything about the ethnic affiliation of these rulers. The form of the names indicates that they were either Aryans themselves or had come under the influence of Aryan culture. But there were certain principalities which were definitely styled Nishāda in the epic, and Ālavaka, (forest-folk of Yaksha-infested land) in the Pāli texts and were doubtless of non-Aryan origin.

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One of these, the realm of Ālavaka,² demands some notice as the relic of a past that was fast disappearing. This little state was situated near the Ganges and was probably identical with the Chanchu territory visited by Yuan Chwang (Hiuen Tsang). Cunningham and Smith identify it with the Ghāzīpur region.¹ The name is derived from the capital Āḷavī² (Sanskrit Aṭavī, *cf.* Āṭavika) or Ālabbhiyā³ which stood close to a large forest that doubtless suggested the particular nomenclature.⁴ In the *Abhidhānappadīpikā* Āḷavī finds a place in a list of twenty famous cities: Bārāṇasī, Sāvatthī, Vesālī, Mithilā, Āḷavī, Kosambhī, Ujjenī, Takkasilā, Champā, Sāgala, Suṁsumāragira, Rājagaha, Kapilavatthu, Sāketa, Indapaṭṭa, Ukkaṭṭha,⁵ Pāṭaliputtaka, Jettuttara,⁶ Saṁkassa⁷ and Kusinārā. The *Chullavagga*⁸ mentions the Aggālave shrine at Āḷavī which the Buddha honoured by his visits, as it lay on the way between the capitals of Kosala and Magadha. In the *Uvāsaga-dasāo* the king of Āḷabhiyā is named Jiyasattū (Jita-śatru, conqueror of enemies). But *Jiyasattū* seems to have been a common designation of kings⁹ like the epithet *Devānampiya* of a later age.¹⁰ The name is given also to the rulers of Sāvatthī, Kampilla, Mithilā, Champā, Vāṇiyagāma, Bārāṇasī and Polasapura, who were all contemporaries of Mahāvīra.¹ Buddhist writers refer to other "Yakkha" principalities besides Ālavaka.²

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² *Sutta Nipata* S. B. E., X, II, 29-30.

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¹ Watters, *Yuan Chwang*, II, pp. 61, 340.

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² *Sutta Nipāta* : *The Book of the Kindred Sayings*, Vol. I, p. 275.

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³ *Uvāsaga-dasāo* II, p. 103; Appendix, pp. 51-53.

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⁴ *Cf.* *The Book of the Kindred Sayings*, Vol. I, p. 160. The derivation of the name of the country from *aṭavi* was suggested by Hoernle who also pointed out the reference in the *Abhidhānappadīpikā*. *Cf.* also the references to forest peoples and kingdoms in the inscriptions of Aśoka and Samudra Gupta.

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⁵ A town in the Kingdom of Kosala (*Dialogues of the Buddha*, I, 108).

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⁶ Near Chitor (N. L. Dey).

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⁷ Sanskrit Sāṅkāśya or Kapitthikā which is identified by Cunningham with Sankisa on the Ikshumatī river, in the Farukhabad District, U. P. (Cunn, *AGI*, new ed. pp. 422f, 706).

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⁸ VI. 17; *cf.* also *Gradual Sayings*. IV. 147; *DPPN*, I. 295.

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⁹ *Cf.* *Amitrāṇāṁ hantā* of the *Ait. Br.* The Essay on Guṇāḍhya (189) mentions Hatthālavaka as the king of Āḷavī.

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¹⁰ In Babylon, however, the style "favourite of the gods" is found as early as the age of Hammurabi (*Camb. And. Hist*, I. p. 511; *I. C.*, April-June, 1946, p. 241).

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¹ *Cf.* Hoernle, *Uvāsaga-dasāo*, II, pp. 6, 64, 100, 103, 106, 118, 166. In the *Ārya Mañjuśrī Mūla Kalpa* (ed. G. Sāstri, p. 645), a king of Gauḍa is styled "*Jitaśatru*". It is absurd to suggest, as does Hoernle (p. 103 n), that Jiyasattū, Prasenajit and Cheḍaga were identical. *Cf. Indian Culture*, II. 806.

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² *Cf. Sutta Nipāta*, S.B.E., Vol. X. ii, p. 45.

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The most important factors in the political history of the period were, however, neither the republics nor the forest principalities but the **four Great Kingdoms** of Kosala, Vatsa, Avanti and Magadha.

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In **Kosala** king Mahākosala had been succeeded by his son Pasenadi or Prasenajit. As already stated, the Kosalan monarchy had spread its tentacles over a vast area extending perhaps from the Gumti to the Little Gaṇḍak and from the Nepalese Tarāi to the Ganges, possibly even to the eastern part of the Kaimur range. It counted amongst its vassals several *rājās*,³ including, doubtless, the rulers of the Kāśis, the Sākyas and the Kālāmas. Among its officials were two Mallas, Bandhula and his nephew Dīrgha Chārāyaṇa,⁴ who must have helped their sovereign to secure influence in the tiny state beyond the Little Gaṇḍak from which they came. "Nine Mallakis" appear as allies of the rulers of Kāsi-Kosala in Jaina texts. Friendship with the "Visālikā Lichchhavī" and with Seniya Bimbisāra,⁵ the master of Mgadha, must have favoured peaceful penetration in the east and left the king free to organise his kingdom and dealing drastically with robbers and savages who menaced the road from Sāketa to Sāvatthī, and interfered with the peaceful life of the monks.

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³ For the identification of the *Rājās*, see Part I *ante*, 155f.

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⁴ *Majjhima N.* II, p. 118. He is probably identical with the person of that name mentioned in the *Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra* and inscriptions (*nītivijita Chārāyaṇaḥ*, *Ep. Ind.* III. 210) as a writer on polity. and by Vātsyāyana as an authority on Erotics.

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⁵ *Majjhima N.* II, p. 101.

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The character of such a man, one of the leading figures of the age, who had received his education at Taxila, and became a friend of the Buddha, deserves study and we have an admirable exposition by Mrs. Rhys Davids. "He is shown combining like so many of his class all the world over, a proneness to affairs of sex with the virtues and affection of good 'family man', indulgence at the table with an equally natural wish to keep in good physical form, a sense of honour and honesty, shown in his disgust at legal cheating, with a greed for acquiring wealth and war indemnities, and a fussiness over lost property, a magnanimity towards a conquered foe with a callousness over sacrificial slaughter and the punishment of criminals. Characteristic also are both his superstitious nervousness over the sinister significance of dreams due, in reality, to disordered appetites, and also his shrewd politic care to be on good terms with all religious orders, whether he had testimonials to their genuineness or not."²

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² *Sage and King in Kosala-Saṁyutta*, *Bhandarkar Commemoration Volume*, p. 134.

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The family life of the king had its bearing on affairs of the state. He married a Magadhan princess which fact must have cemented his friendship with Bimbisāra, who got a Kosalan wife in return. Another queen of Pasenadi (Prasenajit) was the famous Vāsabhakkhattiyā, daughter of Mahānāman, the Sākyan, by a slave girl.³ The issues of this marriage were a son, Viḍūḍabha (Viduratha), who rose to be his father's *senāpati* (general)⁴ and afterwards his successor,¹ and a daughter Vajirā or Vajirī Kumarī² who became the queen of Ajātaśatru, the successor of Bimbisāra on the throne of Magadha. The careers of the prince and the princess are bound up with memorable events, *viz.*, the war of the Kosalan king with Ajātaśatru, the loss of his throne as a result of his son's revolt, and the terrible vengeance that the latter wreaked on the Śākyas for sending the offspring of a slave woman to the Kosalan harem to become the mother of the prince.

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¹ Mahāvagga, SBE, XIII, pp. 220, 261. Among the marauders was the notorious Aṅgulimāla.

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³ DPPN, II. 171; 857.

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⁴ For the employment of princes as *Senāpati*, see Kauṭilya (Mysore edition), 1919, p. 34; *cf.* 346.

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¹ Viḍūḍabha's name is generally omitted in Purāṇic manuscripts. The Purāṇas, however, mention a king named Suratha. Pargiter points out (*D. K. A.*, 12, n 63) that one manuscript of the *Vishṇu Purāṇa* gives the name *Vidūratha* instead of Suratha. But that prince is represented as the great-grandson of Prasenajit. Similarly, the Purāṇas represent Udāyin as the grandson of Ajātaśatru. These instances emphasize the need for a critical handling of the Purāṇic lists.

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² *Majjhima*. II, p. 110.

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When the Magadhan war brought disaster to the king's arms he married Mallikā, daughter of the chief of garland-makers, who sweetened his days till her death, and made herself famous by her benefactions. Among these was a garden, the Mallikārama, which was set apart for religious discussions.³ She leaned towards the Buddha and his order, though her husband, with great insight, extended his patronage to Brāhmaṇas as well.⁴ Mallikā and Sumanā, the king's sister,⁵ remind one of Kāruvākī and Rājyaśrī, famous for their charity and interest in Buddhist teaching in the days of Aśoka and Harsha respectively.

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³ *DPPN.* II. 455-7. A more famous place, Jetavana, is said to derive its name from a son of Prasenajit.

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⁴ *Dialogues of the Buddha*, I. pp. 108, 288. For Pasenadi's benefactions to the Buddha and his followers see *Gagga Jātaka*, no. 155. For preparations for a great sacrifice, see *Kindred saying*. I. 102.

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⁵ *DPPN*. II, 168 ff, 172, 1245.

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The internal organisation of the kingdom of Kosala presents some interesting features. There was a body of ministers at the centre, but they had little control over the king's whims. Those specifically mentioned by tradition were Mṛigadhara,¹ Ugga, Siri-Vaḍḍha, Kāla and Junha. The generals included the Crown Prince and some Malla chiefs. Police duties on roads were performed by soldiers. Portions of the royal domain were granted to Brāhmaṇas like Pokkharasādī, with power over them as it they were kings. The weakness of the system soon became apparent, and led to the downfall of the king. Ministers, who were lavish in their charity, were preferred to those who approved of a more economical policy, and one of the favourites is said to have actually been allowed to rule over the kingdom for seven days. The large powers granted to *Brāhmaṇa* donees must have promoted centrifugal tendencies, while the infidelity of some of the generals including the Crown Prince, and the cruel treatment by the latter, when he became king, of vassal clansmen contributed to the eventual downfall of the monarchy.

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¹ Hoernle, *Uvāsaga-dasāo*, II. Appendix. p. 56. *DPPN*, I, 332. 572, 960; II, 1146.

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In the **Vatsa** kingdom which, probably at this time, extended along the southern frontier of Kosala, king Śatānīka Parantapa was succeeded by his son Udayana who rivals Śrī Rāmachandra, Nala and the Pāṇḍavas in being the hero of many romantic legends.² The commentary on the Dhammapada gives the story of the way in which Vāsuladattā or Vāsavadattā, the daughter of Pradyota, king of Avanti, became his queen. It also mentions two other consorts of the Vatsa king, *viz.*, Māgandiyā,¹ daughter of a Kuru Brāhmaṇa, and Sāmāvatī, the adopted child of the treasurer Ghosaka. The *Milindapañho* refers to a peasant woman named Gopāla-mātā who also became his wife.² The *Svapna-Vāsavadatta* attributed to Bhāsa, and some other works, mention another queen named Padmāvatī who is represented as sister to king Darśaka of Magadha. The *Priyadarśikā* speaks of Udayana's marriage with Āraṇyakā, the daughter of Dṛḍhavarman, king of Aṅga. The *Ratnāvalī* tells the story of the love of the king of Vasta and of Sāgarikā, an attendant of his chief queen Vāsavadattā. Stories about Udayana were widely current in Avanti in the time of Kālidāsa as we learn from the *Meghadūta*: "*prāpy-Āvantīm Udayana-kathā-kovida grāmavṛiddhān*." The *Jātakas* throw some side-light on the character of this king. In the preface to the *Mātaṅga Jātaka* it is related that in a fit of drunken rage he had Piṇḍola Bhāradvāja tortured by having a nest of ants tied to him. The *Kathā-sarit-sāgara* of Somadeva, a writer of the eleventh century A.D., contains a long account of Udayana's *Digvijaya*.³ The *Priyadarśikā* of Śrī Harsha⁴ speaks of the king's victory over the lord of Kaliṅga, and the restoration of his father-in-law Dṛḍhavarman to the throne of Aṅga. It is difficult to disentangle the kernal of historical truth from the husk of popular fables. It seems that Udayana was a great king who really made some conquests, and contracted matrimonial alliances with the royal houses of Avanti, Aṅga and Magadha. But his career was meteoric. He left no worthy successor. Bodhi, his son by the chief queen, preferred a quiet life amidst the sylvan surroundings of Suṁsumāragiri to the troubles of imperial adventure. The kingdom, harassed by various wars, was at last overcome by its ambitious neighbour on the south-west, *viz.*, Avanti, and was governed by a prince of the royal line of Ujjain.¹

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² For a detailed account of the legends, see "*Essay on Guṇāḍhya and the Bṛihatkathā*," by Prof. Félix Lacote, translated by Rev. A. M. Tabard. *See also Annals of the Bhandarkar Institute.*, 1920-21; Gune, "*Pradyota, Udayana, and Sreṇika—A Jaina Legend*"; J. Sen, "*The Riddle of the Pradyota, Dynasty*" (I. H. Q., 1930, pp. 678-700); Nariman, Jackson and Ogden, *Priyadarśikā*, lxii ff,; Aiyangar Com. Vol., 352 ff; Malalasekera, *DPPN*. I. 379-80; II. 316, 859.

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¹ *Cf.* Anupamā, *Divyāvadāna*, 36.

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² IV. 8. 25; *DPPN*, I. 379-80.

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³ Tawney's Translation, Vol. I, pp. 148 ff.

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⁴ Act IV.

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¹ *Cf.* story of Maṇiprabha from *Āvaśyaka-Kathānakas*. Jacobi *pariśishṭaparvan*, 2nd ed. xii, Tawney, *Kathā-sarit-sāgara*, II. p. 481. According to the *Āvaśyaka-Kathānaka* IV, reproduced by Bhadreśvara in his *Kahāvali*, Maṇiprabha, great-grandson of Pradyota, ruled at Kauśāmbī, while his brother Avantīsena exercised sway at Ujjain (Avanti).

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The throne of **Avanti** was, in the days of Udayana, occupied by Chaṇḍa Pradyota Mahāsena whose daughter, Vāsavadattā, became the chief queen of the lord of the Vatsas. Regarding the character of Pradyota the *Mahāvagga* says that he was cruel.² The *Purāṇas* observe that he was “*nayavarjita*”, *i.e.*, destitute of good policy and add that “he will indeed have the neighbouring kings subject to him—*sa vai praṇata-sāmantaḥ*”. He had at one time made the Vatsa king a captive and had a close relation on the throne of Mathurā. The terror that he struck among his neighbours is apparent from a statement of the *Majjhima Nikāya*³ that Ajātaśatru, son of Bimbisāra, fortified Rājagṛiha because he was afraid of an invasion of his territories by Pradyota. He also waged war on Pushkarasārin, the king of Taxila.⁴

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² S.B.E., XVII, p. 187.

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³ III. 7.

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⁴ Pradyota was unsuccessful in this war and was only saved from disaster by the outbreak of hostilities between Pushkarasārin and the Pāṇḍavas (*Essay on Guṇāḍhya*, 176).

Section IV. Magadha Crescent—Bimbisāra

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According to Jaina legend Pradyota went forth to attack Rājagṛiha even during the lifetime of Bimbisāra.¹ The last-mentioned prince, the real founder of Magadhan *imperial* power in the historic period, was the son of a petty chief of South Bihār, whose very name seems to have been forgotten. Tradition tried to fill the lacuna possibly by an imaginary nomenclature.² An early authority describes the family to which the prince belonged as the *Haryaṅka-kula*. As we have already seen,³ there is no reason to discard this evidence in favour of the later tradition of the *Purāṇas*. Young Bimbisāra, who also bore the name or epithet of Seṇiya (Śreṇika), is said to have been anointed king by his own father when he was only fifteen years old.⁴ The momentous event cannot fail to recall a solemn ceremony that took place some nine hundred years later when another king of Magadha clasped his favourite son in arms in the presence of the princes royal and ministers, in council assembled, and exclaimed, “Protect the entire land”.

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¹ He was foiled by the cunning of Prince Abhaya (*Annals of the Bhandarkar Institute*, 1920-21, 3; *cf.* *DPPN*, I. 128).

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² Among the names given by various late writers we find the following: Bhāṭiyo (Bhaṭṭiya, Bodhisa), Mahāpadma, Hemajit, Kshemajit, Kshetrojā or Kshetrauja.

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³ *Supra*, p. 115ff.

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⁴ *Mahāvaṁśa* (Geiger's trans.), p. 12.

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The new ruler had a clear perception of the political situation of his time. The military power of the Vṛiji Confederation was growing in the North. Aggressive monarchies under ambitious rulers were following a policy of expansion from their bases in Śrāvastī, and Ujjain. The cruel and unscrupulous ruler of the last-mentioned city engaged in hostilities with Pushkarasārin of Taxila. The king of Taxila harassed by numerous enemies including the mysterious Pāṇḍavas who are known to have been in possession of Sākala (in the Punjab) in the days of Ptolemy, turned to the king of Magadha for help. Though ready to oblige his Gandhārian friend by receiving an embassy, Bimbisāra, who had to liquidate the long-standing feud with his eastern neighbour across the Champā, was in no mood to alienate Pradyota or any of the other military chiefs of the age.

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When the king of Avanti was suffering from jaundice he sent the physician Jīvaka. He also pursued a policy of dynastic marriages like the Hapsburgs and Bourbons of Europe and contracted alliances with the ruling families of Madra,¹ Kosala² and Vaiśālī. These measures were of great importance. They not only appeased the most formidable militarists of the age, but eventually paved the way for the expansion of the kingdom both westward and northward. Bimbisāra's Kosalan wife brought a Kāśi village producing a revenue of a hundred thousand for bath and perfume money.³ The Vaiśālian connection produced momentous consequences in the next reign.

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¹ Khemā, the princess of Sākala (Madra) is said to have been the chief consort of Bimbisāra. Was she connected with the Pāṇḍavas who are found in Sākala as late as the age of Ptolemy?

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² According to the *Dhammapada Commentary* (Harvard, 29, 60; 30, 225) Bimbisāra and Pasenadi were connected by marriage, each having married a sister of the other.

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³ *Jātaka*, Nos. 239, 283, 492. According to the *Thusa Jātaka* (338) and the *Mūshika Jātaka* (373) the Kosalan princess was the mother of Ajātaśatru. The preface to the *Jātakas* says, "At the time of his (Ajātaśatru's) conception there arose in his mother, the daughter of the king of Kosala, a chronic longing to drink blood from the right knee of king Bimbisāra". In the *Saṁyuktā Nikāya* (*Book of Kindred Sayings*, 110) Pasenadi of Kosala calls Ajātaśatru his nephew. In Vol. I, page 38n of the *Book of the Kindred Sayings*, however, Maddā (Madrā) appears as the name of Ajātaśatru's mother. A Tibetan writer, calls her Vāsavī (DPPN, I. 31.). The Jaina writers represent Chellaṇā, daughter of Cheṭaka of Vaiśālī as the mother of Kūṇika-Ajātaśatru. The Nikāyas call Ajātaśatru Vedehiputta (Vaidehīputra), *i.e.*, son of the Videhan princess. This is taken to confirm the Jaina tradition because Vaiśālī was in Videha. Buddhaghosha, however, resolves "Vedehi" into Veda-iha, *Vedena īhati* or intellectual effort (BKS, Vol. I, 109n) and seems to suggest that "Vedehiputta" simply means "Son of the accomplished princess". We should moreover remember that the Kosalan monarch Para Āṭnāra, had the epithet *Vaideha* and the name Kauśalyā was applied to several Kāśi princesses in the epic. The appellation Vaidehīputra, therefore, does not necessarily disprove the Kosalan parentage of the mother of Ajātaśatru. According to one authority "Chelā" (Chellanā) was styled "Vaidehī" "as she was brought from Videha" (AIU, II. 20).

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The shrewd policy of Bimbisāra enabled him to devote his undivided attention to the struggle with Aṅga which he annexed after defeating Brahmadatta.¹ The annexation of Aṅga by Bimbisāra is proved by the evidence of the *Mahāvagga*² and that of the *Soṇadaṇḍa Sutta* of the *Dīgha Nikāya* in which it is stated that the revenues of the town of Champā have been bestowed by King Bimbisāra on the Brāhmaṇa Soṇadaṇḍa. We learn from Jaina sources that Aṅga was governed as a separate province under the Magadhan Crown Prince with Champā as its capital.³ The king himself resided in Rājagṛiha-Girivraja.⁴ Thus by war and policy Bimbisāra added Aṅga and a part of Kāśi to the Magadhan dominions, and launched Magadha to that career of conquest and aggrandisement which only ended when Aśoka sheathed his sword after the conquest of Kaliṅga. We learn from the *Mahāvagga* that Bimbisāra's dominions embraced 80,000⁵ townships.

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¹ *JASB*, 1914, p. 321.

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² *SBE*, XVII, p. 1.

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³ Hemchandra, the author of the *Pariśishṭaparvan* VII. 22; *cf.* also the *Bhagavatī Sūtra* and the *Nirayāvalī Sūtra* (ed. Warren, p. 3). King (rāyā) Kūṇiya, son of King Seṇiya by Chellaṇādevī, ruled in Champā-nagari in Bhāratavarsha, which is in Jambudvīpa.

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⁴ *Sutta Nipāta*, *SBE*, X, ii 67.

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⁵ Apparently a stock number.

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The victories of Bimbisāra's reign were probably due in large measure to the vigour and efficiency of his administration. He exercised a rigid control over his High Officers,¹ dismissing those who advised him badly and rewarding those whose advice he approved of. The result of the 'purge' was the emergence of the type of official represented by Vassakāra and Sunītha. The High Officers (*Rājabhaṭa*) were divided into several classes, *viz.*, (1) *Sabbatthaka* (the officer in charge of general affairs), (2) *Senā-nāyaka Mahāmattas* (generals), and (3) *Vohārika Mahāmattas* (judges).² The *Vinaya* texts afford us a glimpse of the activities of these *Mahāmātras*, and the rough and ready justice meted out to criminals. Thus we have reference not only to imprisonment in jails (*kārā*), but also to punishment by scourging (*kaśā*), branding, beheading, tearing out the tongue, breaking ribs, *etc.* There seems to have been a fourth class of *mahāmātras* who were responsible like the village syndic and headmen (*grāmabhojaka* or *grāmakuṭa*) for the levy of the tithe on produce.³

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¹ *Chullavagga* of the *Vinayapiṭaka*, VII. 3. 5. See also *Vinaya*, I. 73; 74f. 207, 240.

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² Another judicial officer mentioned in Pali texts (*Kindred Sayings*, II. 172) is the *Vinichchay-āmachcha*.

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³ *Camb. Hist.*, I. 199.

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In provincial administration a considerable degree of autonomy was allowed. We hear not only of a sub-king at Champā, but of *maṇḍalika rājās*⁴ corresponding perhaps to the earls and counts of mediaeval European polity. But Bimbisāra, like William the Conqueror, sought to check the centrifugal tendencies of the system by a great gemote of village headmen (*grāmikas*) who are said to have assembled from the 80,000 townships of the realm.

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⁴ *DPPN*, II. 898,

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Measures were taken for the improvement of communications and the foundation of a new royal residence. Yuan Chwang (Hiuen Tsang) refers to Bimbisāra's road and causeway, and says that when Kuśāgrapura (old Rājagṛiha) was afflicted by fires, the king went to the cemetery and built a new city. Fa Hien, however, gives the credit for the foundation of New Rājagṛiha to Ajātaśatru. The patronage of Jīvaka shows that medical arrangements were not neglected.

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In one respect Bimbisāra was unfortunate. Like Prasenajit he was possibly the victim of the malevolence of the Crown Prince whom he had appointed to the vice-royalty of Champā,¹ and had perhaps even admitted to royalty, following the precedent of his own father.² The ungrateful son, who is variously called Ajātaśatru, Kūṇika and Aśokachanda³ is said to have put his father to death. The crime seriously affected the relations of Magadha with Kosala. Dr. Smith regards the story of the murder as 'the product of *odium theologicum*,' and shows excessive scepticism in regard to the evidence of the Pāli canon and chronicles. But the general credibility of these works has been maintained by scholars like Rhys Davids and Geiger whose conclusions seem to be confirmed directly or indirectly by the testimony of independent classical and Jaina writers.⁴

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¹ *Bhagavatī Sūtra*, *Nirayāvalī Sūtra*, *Pariśishṭaparvan* IV. 1-9; VI. 22. and the *Kathākośa*, p. 178.

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² *Chullavagga*, VII. 3. 5. Bimbisāra seems to have sought the assistance of other sons, too, in the work of government. One of these, Abhaya (son of Padmāvatī of Ujjain or of Nandā helped his father to foil the machinations of Pradyota. Other children, recorded by tradition were Vimala Koṇḍañña by Ambapālī, Halla and Vehalla by Chellanā, Kāla, Sīlavat, Jayasena and a girl Chundī by other wives.

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³ *Kathākośa*. The *Aupapātia sūtra* styles him *Devānuṁpiya* (*IA*, 1881 108) a title possibly identical with *Devānaṁpiya* of inscriptions of the third century B. C.

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⁴ *Cf.* the Jaina attempt to whitewash Kūṇika from the stain of intentional parricide (Jacobi referring to the Nirayāvalī Sūtra in his *Kalpa Sūtra* of Bhadravāhu, 1879. p. 5).

Section V. Magadha Militant—Kūṇika-Ajātaśatru

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Whatever may have been the mode by which he acquired the throne, Kūṇika-Ajātaśatru proved to be an energetic ruler. The defences of the realm were strengthened by fortifications at Rājagṛiha and the foundation of a new stronghold at Pāṭaligrama near the junction of the Son and the Ganges. Like Frederick II of Prussia he carried out the policy of a father with whom his relations were by no means cordial. His reign was the highwater mark of the power of the Haryaṅka dynasty. He not only humbled Kosala and permanently annexed Kāśi, or a part of it, but also absorbed the state of Vaiśālī. The traditional account of his duel with Kosala is given in Buddhist texts.¹ It is said that when Ajātaśatru murdered Bimbisāra, his father, the queen Kosalā Devī died of love for him. Even after her death the Magadhan King continued to enjoy the revenues of the Kāśi village which had been given to the lady for bath money. But Prasenajit, the sovereign of Kosala, determined that no parricide should have a village which was his by right of inheritance. War followed, sometimes the Kosalan monarch got the best of it, and sometimes the rival king. On one occasion Prasenajit fled away in defeat to his capital Śrāvasti; on another occasion he took Ajātaśatru prisoner but spared his life as he was his nephew. He confiscated the army of the captive prince but sought to appease him by the offer of the hands of his daughter Vajirā. The princess was dismissed with the Kāśi village in question, for her bath money. Her father could not enjoy the fruits of peace for more than three years.¹ During his absence in a country town, Dīgha Chārāyaṇa, the Commander-in-Chief, raised prince Viḍūḍabha to the throne.² The ex-king set out for Rājagṛiha, resolved to take Ajātaśatru with him and capture Viḍūḍabha. But he died from exposure outside the gates of the Magadhan metropolis.

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¹ *The Book of the Kindred Sayings*, I. pp. 109.-110. The *Saṁyutta Nikāya* and the *Haritamāta*, *Vaḍḍhaki-Sūkara*, *Kummā Sapiṇḍa Tachchha Sūkara* and the *Bhaddasāla Jātakas*.

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¹ *DPPN*, II, 172.

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² *Bhaddasāla Jātaka*.

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The traditional account of the **war with Vaiśālī** is preserved in part by Jaina writers. King Seṇiya Bimbisāra is said to have given his famous elephant Seyaṇaga (*Sechanaka*, the sprinkler), together with a large necklace of eighteen strings of jewels, to his younger sons Halla and Vehalla born from his wife Chellaṇā, the daughter of *Rājā* Cheṭaka of Vaiśālī. His eldest son Kūṇiya (Ajātaśatru), after usurping his father’s throne, on the instigation of his wife Paūmāvaī (Padmāvatī),³ demanded from his younger brothers the return of both gifts. On the latter refusing to give them up and flying with them to their grandfather Cheṭaka in Vaiśālī, Kūṇiya, having failed peacefully to obtain the extradition of the fugitives, commenced war with Cheṭaka.⁴ According to Buddhaghosha’s commentary the *Sumaṅgala-vilāsinī*,⁵ the cause of the war was a breach of trust on the part of the Lichchhavis in connection with a mine of precious gems or some fragrant material near a port on the Ganges over which a condominium was exercised by Ajātaśatru and his northern neighbours.

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³ The appellation Padmāvatī is of so frequent occurrence in connection with Magadhan royalty that it seems to be an epithet rather than a personal name. The mother of prince Abhaya, a queen of Ajātaśatru, and a sister of Darśaka, all have this name according to tradition. *Cf.* the name Padminī applied to the most commendable type of women in treatises on Erotics. It is also not improbable that the name belongs to the domain of mythology.

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⁴ *Uvāsaga-dasāo*, II, Appendix, p. 7; *cf.* Tawney, *Kathākośa*, pp. 176 ff.

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⁵ Burmese-Edition, Part II, p. 99. See now B. C. Law, *Buddhistic Studies*, p. 199; *DPPN*, II, 781.

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The preliminaries to the struggle between Magadha and Vaiśālī are described in several Pāli texts.¹ In the *Mahāvagga* it is related that Sunīd(t)ha and Vassakāra, two ministers of Magadha, were building a fort at Pāṭaligrāma in order to repel the Vajjis (Vrijis). The *Mahāparinibbāna Suttanta* says: "The Blessed One was once dwelling in Rājagaha on the hill called the Vulture's Peak. Now at that time Ajātasattu Vedehiputta, the king of Magadha, was desirous of attacking the Vajjians; and he said to himself, 'I will root out these Vajjians, mighty and powerful though they be, I will destroy these Vajjians, I will bring these Vajjians to utter ruin'".

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¹ *SBE*, XI, pp. 1-5; XVII. 101, *Gradual Sayings* IV. 14. etc.

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"So he spake to the Brāhmaṇa Vassakāra, the prime minister of Magadha, and said, 'Come now, Brāhmaṇa, do you go to the Blessed One, and...tell him that Ajātasattu...has resolved, 'I will root out these Vajjians'. Vassakāra hearkened to the words of the king..." (and delivered to the Buddha the message even as the king had commanded).

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In the *Nirayāvalī Sūtra* (*Nirayāvaliyā-Sutta*) it is related that when Kūṇika (Ajātaśatru) prepared to attack Cheṭaka of Vaiśālī the latter called together the eighteen Gaṇarājas² of Kāśi and Kosala, together with the Lichchhavis and Mallakis, and asked them whether they would satisfy Kūṇika's demands, or go to war with him. The good relations subsisting between Kosala and Vaiśālī are referred to in the *Majjhima Nikāya*.³ There is thus no reason to doubt the authenticity of the Jaina statement regarding the alliance between Kāśi-Kosala on the one hand and Vaiśālī on the other. It seems that all the enemies of Ajātaśatru including the rulers of Kāśi-Kosala and Vaiśālī offered a combined resistance. The Kosalan war and the Vajjian war were probably not isolated events but parts of a common movement directed against the establishment of the hegemony of Magadha. The flames fused together into one big conflagration.¹ We are reminded of the tussle of the Samnites, Etruscans and Gauls with the rising power of Rome.

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² Chiefs of republican clans. Cf. 125 ante.

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³ Vol. II, p. 101.

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¹ We are told that even Pradyota of Avanti made preparations to avenge the death of his friend Bimbisāra (*DPPN*, I. 34).

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In the war with Vaiśālī Kūṇiya-Ajātaśatru is said to have made use of the *Mahāśīlākaṇṭaga* and *ra(t)hamusala*. The first seems to have been some engine of war of the nature of catapult which threw big stones. The second was a chariot to which a mace was attached and which, running about, effected a great execution of men.² The *ra(t)hamusala* may be compared to the tanks used in the great world wars.

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² *Uvāsaga-dasāo*, Vol. II, Appendix, p. 60: *Kathākośa*, p. 179.

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The war is said to have synchronised with the death of Gosāla Maṅkhaliputta, the great teacher of the Ājīvika sect. Sixteen years later at the time of Mahāvīra's death the anti-Magadhan confederacy is said to have been still in existence. We learn from the *Kalpa Sūtra* that on the death of Mahāvīra the confederate kings mentioned in the *Nirayāvalī Sūtra* instituted a festival to be held in memory of that event.³ The struggle between the Magadhan king and the powers arrayed against him thus seems to have been protracted for more than sixteen years. The *Aṭṭhakathā* gives an account of the Machiavellian tractics¹ adopted by Magadhan statesmen headed by Vassakāra to sow the seeds of dissension among the Vaiśālians and thus bring about their downfall.²

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³ *S.B.E.*, xxii, 266 (para. 128). As pointed out by Jacobi (*The Kalpasūtra of Bhadravāhu*, 6 ff.) the traditional date of Mahāvīra's Nirvāṇa is 470 years before Vikrama (58 B. C.) according to the Śvetambaras, and 605 according to the Digambaras. It is suggested that Vikrama of the Digambaras is intended for Śālivāhana (78 A. D.). A different tradition is, however, recorded by Hemachandra who says that 155 years after the liberation of Mahāvīra Chandragupta became king:—

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¹ Diplomacy (*upalāpana*) and disunion (*mithubheda*), *DPPN*, II. 846; *JRAS*, 1931. *Cf. Gradual Sayings*, IV. 12. "The Vajjians cannot be overcome in battle, but only by cunning, by breaking up their alliance."

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² *Cf. Modern Review*, July, 1919, pp. 55-56. According to the *Ārya Mañjuśrī-Mūla-Kalpa* (Vol. I. ed. Ganapati Śāstrī pp. 603 f) the dominions of Ajātaśatru embraced, besides Magadha, Aṅga, Vārāṇasī (Benares), and Vaiśālī in the north. In the opinion of Dr. Jayaswal the Parkham statue is a contemporary portrait of king Ajātaśatru But Kūṇika of Parkham (Lüders List No. 150) is obviously not a king.

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