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Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c12.s4: Section IV. Magadha Crescent—Bimbisāra

Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c12.s4

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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).

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