Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c12.s3.19

c12.s3.19

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.