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Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c12.s3: Section III. The Minor Principalities and the Great Monarchies

Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c12.s3

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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).

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