Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c12.s3.25

c12.s3.25

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.