The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c10.47

c10.47

The ambition of Ajātasatru, not satisfied with the humiliation of Kosala, next induced him to undertake the conquest of the country to the north of the Ganges, now known as Tirhūt, in which the Lichchhavi clan, famous in Buddhist legend, and probably of Tibetan origin, then occupied a prominent position. The invasion was successful; the Lichchhavi capital, Vaisālī, was occupied, and Ajātasatru became master of his maternal grandfather's territory.¹ It may be presumed that the invader carried his victorious arms to their natural limit, the foot of the mountains, and that from this time the whole region between the Ganges and the Himalaya became subject, more or less directly, to the suzerainty of Magadha.