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Tribes in Ancient India c32: Chapter XXVIII. The Kośalas

Tribes in Ancient India c32

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Chapter XXVIII. The Kośalas

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In the earliest Vedic literature, no mention is made of Kośala as the name of a people. It is only in some of the later Vedic works, like the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* and the *Kalpasūtras*, that we find Kośala referred to as a country. Kośala is also mentioned in the Pāli Buddhist literature as one of the sixteen great countries (*Mahājanapadas*) of Jambudīpa or India.¹ Pāṇini, too, mentions Kośala in one of his Sūtras.² In the *Atthasālinī*,³ mention is made of Kośala as one of the great Kṣatriya tribes in Buddha's time.⁴

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¹ Aṅguttara Nikāya, Vol. I, p. 213; IV, pp. 252, 256, 260; cf. Viṣṇupurāṇa, Chap. IV, Aṃśa 4.

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² VI, I, 17.

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³ Khuddakapāṭha Comm., pp. 110-11; cf. Papañcasūdanī (P.T.S.), Vol. I, pp. 59-60. Kośala is mentioned as a beautiful place, attractive, pleasant, full of good things, and prosperous as the home of the gods.

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⁴ Atthasālinī (P.T.S.), p. 305.

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Kośala lay to the east of the Kurus and Pañcālas, and to the west of the Videhas, from whom it was separated by the river Sadānīrā, probably the great Gaṇḍak.⁵ In the *Cambridge History of India*,⁶ we read that the northern frontier of Kośala must have been in the hills in what is now Nepal; its southern boundary was the Ganges; and its eastern boundary was the eastern limit of the Śākya territory. According to Macdonell and Keith, Kośala lay to the north-east of the Ganges, and corresponds roughly to the modern Oudh.⁷ Rhys Davids states that the Kośalas were the ruling clan in the kingdom whose capital was Sāvatthī (Śrāvastī), in what is now Nepal, seventy miles north-west of the modern Gorakhpur. He thinks that it included Benares and Sāketa, and probably had the Ganges for its southern, the Gaṇḍak for its eastern, and the mountains for its northern boundary.⁸

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⁵ Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, p. 308; cf. ibid., p. 117, and Rapson, Ancient India, p. 164; also Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, I, 4, II.

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⁶ Vol. I, p. 178.

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⁷ Vedic Index, Vol. I, p. 190.

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⁸ Buddhist India, p. 25.

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In the *Cambridge History of India*,⁹ we read that the Kośalans were almost certainly of the Aryan race, in the main at least. They belonged to the solar family, and were supposed to have derived directly from Manu through Ikṣvāku. A family of princes bearing this name is known from Vedic literature, and it is quite possible that the solar dynasties of Kośala and other kingdoms to the east of the middle country were descended from this family. If so, Ikṣvāku must be regarded as an eponymous ancestor; and as his superhuman origin had been explained, a myth founded on a far-fetched etymology of his name was invented, viz. that he was so called because he was born from the sneeze of Manu.¹ Vedic literature points out that the Ikṣvākus were originally a branch of the Purus.² Kośala is known to the Buddhists as the land of the Kośala princes,³ tracing their descent from Ikṣvāku. The descent of those ruling princes of Kośala from Ikṣvāku is borne out by the genealogies in the *Rāmāyaṇa* as well as the Purāṇas.⁴ Buddhaghoṣa narrates an anecdote giving a fanciful origin of the name of Kośala, from ‘kuśala’ (well, healthy, in good condition).⁵

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⁹ Vol. I, p. 190.

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¹ Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, p. 305.

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² Ibid., p. 308.

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³ Sumaṅgalavilāsinī, I, p. 239.

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⁴ Ray Chaudhuri’s Political History, 4th Ed., p. 86.

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⁵ Sumaṅgalavilāsinī, I, 239.

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In the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* (I, 4, 11), the Kośala-Videhas appear as coming later than the Kuru-Pañcālas under the influence of Brahmanism. In the same work,⁶ the Kauśalya or Kośala king, Para-ātnāra Hiraṇyanābha, is described as having performed the great Aśvamedha or horse sacrifice. Hiraṇyanābha Kauśalya and Āśvalāyana Kauśalya figure in the *Praśna Upaniṣad* (I, 1) as two contemporary seekers of truth belonging to Kośala. The connection between Hiraṇyanābha of the *Praśna* and Para-ātnāra Hiraṇyanābha of the *Śatapatha* is uncertain.⁷ A passage in the *Sāṅkhyāyana Śrauta Sūtra* (XVI, 9, 13) shows the connection of Kośala with Kāśī and Videha.

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⁶ XIII, 5, 4, 4.

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⁷ In the dynastic list of kings, occurring in the Purāṇas of doubtful authority, Hiraṇyanābha is mentioned as the immediate predecessor of Prasenajit (Pasenadi) who was a contemporary of Buddha. According to Buddhist tradition, Mahā-kosala was the father and immediate predecessor of Pasenadi.

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It is in the Epic period that Kośala emerges into importance. The scene of action of the *Rāmāyaṇa* is in Kośala, the princes of which country carried Aryan civilisation to the south as far as the island of Ceylon. Pargiter observes that it is remarkable that in the *Rāmāyaṇa* the friendliest relations of Kośala were with the eastern kingdoms of Videha, Aṅga and Magadha, the Punjab kingdoms of Kekaya, Sindhu and Sauvīra, the western kingdom of Surāṣṭra, and the Dākṣiṇātya kings, for these are especially named among the monarchs who were invited to Daśaratha’s sacrifice, and no mention is made of any of the kings of the middle region of N. India except Kāśī.⁸ Pargiter is of the opinion that it was under King Dilīpa II and his immediate descendants that the country acquired the name of Kośala.¹

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⁸ Ancient Indian Historical Tradition, p. 276.

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¹ *Ancient Indian Historical Tradition*, p. 275.

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We may form some idea of the extent of the Kośala country in the Epic period from the story of the exile of Rāma. Therein we find that, after setting out from Ayodhyā (then the capital of Kośala), the young princes accompanied by Sītā proceeded in a chariot. Evidently, then, there were good roads in the Kośala country, as we may also gather from the Jātaka stories, where we read that merchants loading as many as 500 wagons with their merchandise went from Magadha and the Licchavi countries through Kośala up to the western and north-western frontiers of India. Rāma made his first halt at the river Tamasā (the modern Tons). On the other side of the Tamasā, his chariot reached the Mahāmārga or the ‘great road’, which was evidently a trade-route. Following this, the party reached the river Śrīmatī Mahānadī. After crossing the river Vedaśruti, Rāma turned his course towards the south. After proceeding a long distance, he crossed the Gomatī and the Syandikā. Having crossed the Syandikā, Rāma pointed out to Sītā the wide plain given by Manu to Ikṣvāku. This region was evidently considered by the people of Kośala as the cradle of their race, the country with which Ikṣvāku began his career of conquest. This country was highly prosperous (*sphītā*) and populous (*rāṣṭravṛtā*). Proceeding through the extensive Kośalan plains, Rāma left behind him the country of the Kośalas, and reached the Ganges, up to which river the Kośala dominion evidently extended. Here he arrived at Śṛṅgaverapura which was the seat of the Niṣāda king Guha. Sir Alexander Cunningham has identified Śṛṅgaverapura with the modern Singror or Singor on the left bank of the Ganges and 22 miles to the north-west of Prayāga or Allahabad.²

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² *Arch. Survey Report*, Vols. XI, 62 and XXI, 11. For further geography of Rāma's exile, see Pargiter, J.R.A.S., 1894, pp. 231 *et seq.*

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In the *Ādiparvan* of the *Mahābhārata*³ we read that Janamejaya, one of the earliest kings of the Paurava family, was the son of Puru and Kauśalyā. Most probably this Kauśalyā was the daughter of a king of Kośala. When Yudhiṣṭhira was about to perform his Rājasūya sacrifice, setting himself up as paramount sovereign over the whole of N. India, and his brothers went out on their expeditions of conquest, it is said that Arjuna, Kṛṣṇa and Bhīma started from the Kuru kingdom and reached Mithilā after crossing pūrva (eastern) Kośala.⁴ Afterwards, the second Pāṇḍava brother, Bhīmasena, conquered Bṛhadbala, king of Kośala,⁵ and this Bṛhadbala attended the Rājasūya sacrifice.¹ Karṇa, too, conquered Kośala and proceeded southwards after exacting tribute from the country.² Evidently the conquest of Kośala by Karṇa was later than that by Bhīmasena, for we find the Kośala king Bṛhadbala, led by Duryodhana, marching against the Pāṇḍavas.³ Perhaps it was because the Kośalas were smarting under the defeat inflicted on them by Bhīmasena that they embraced the Kaurava side in the Kurukṣetra war, in the course of which we find ten warriors including King Bṛhadbala of Kośala fighting in the van of the Kuru army.⁴ Bṛhadbala fought with Abhimanyu against whom the greatest leaders of the Kuru army led a united attack ⁵; and in the *Karṇaparvan* ⁶ we read that Bṛhadbala was killed by Abhimanyu. Sukṣetra, the son of the king of Kośala, also fought in the great war between the Kurus and the Pāṇḍavas.⁷ After the war was ended, Kośala was again attacked and conquered by Arjuna before the performance of the Aśvamedha by Yudhiṣṭhira.⁸

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³ Chap. 95, p. 105.

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⁴ *Sabhāparvan*, Chap. 25, p. 240.

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⁵ *Ibid.*, Chap. 30, pp. 241-2.

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¹ Sabhāparvan, Chap. 34, p. 545.

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² Vanaparvan, Chap. 253, p. 513.

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³ Udyogaparvan, Chap. 97, p. 807.

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⁴ Bhīṣmaparvan, Chap. 16, pp. 827-8.

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⁵ Ibid., Chap. 45, p. 916. See also ibid., Chap. 57, pp. 924-5; Chap. 87, p. 957.

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⁶ Chap. 5, pp. 1167-8.

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⁷ Droṇaparvan, Chap. 22, pp. 1012-13.

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⁸ Aśvamedhaparvan, Chap. 42, p. 2093.

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As in the Epics, so also in the Purāṇas, the Kośalas are given great prominence among the Aryan Kṣatriya tribes of N. India. According to Purāṇa and Epic accounts, the Kośala line of kings derived from Ikṣvāku produced a large number of sovereigns who held the glory of the family very high, and some of them, like Māndhātā, Sagara, Bhagīratha and Raghu, occupied the highest position amongst the kings of ancient India.

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Most of the Purāṇas ⁹ state that Ikṣvāku had a large number of sons who divided the whole of India amongst themselves. The *Viṣṇupurāṇa* says that Ikṣvāku had a hundred sons of whom fifty, with Śakuni at their head, became the protectors of N. India, and forty-eight established themselves as rulers over S. India.¹⁰ The *Vāyupurāṇa* says that it was not the sons of Ikṣvāku who divided the country among themselves, but the children of Ikṣvāku’s son Vikukṣi. Though the number of Ikṣvāku’s immediate descendants as given in the Purāṇas is obviously fanciful, yet it seems worthy of credence that the family sprung from Ikṣvāku spread their rule far and wide over India, as many of the ruling families of India trace their descent to him.

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⁹ E.g., *Viṣṇupurāṇa*, IV, 2, 3; *Vāyupurāṇa*, 88, 8-11.

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¹⁰ *Viṣṇupurāṇa*, IV, 2, 3.

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The Purāṇas state that Vikukṣi incurred the displeasure of his father, Ikṣvāku, by the violation of some ceremonial rule, but later ascended the throne and reigned according to law and custom (*dharmataḥ*). A mythical story is related of the next king, Parañjaya. It is said that his aid was sought after by the Devas who were hard pressed by the Asuras; but the king imposed the condition that he would do so if borne on the shoulders of Indra himself. The king thus obtained the name of Kakutstha.

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Sixth in descent from Kakutstha was King Śrāvasta, the founder of the city of Śrāvastī¹ which afterwards became the capital of northern Kośala. Śrāvasta’s grandson, Kuvalayāśva, is credited with the overthrowing of an Asura, Dhundhu, which seems to signify the control of a natural phenomenon. According to the account given in the Purāṇas and the *Mahābhārata*,² the Ṛṣi Utaṅka complained to king Bṛhadaśva that his hermitage, which was situated on the sea-coast in the west, was disturbed by the Asura Dhundhu, who caused him much trouble, from a subterranean retreat (*antar-bhūmigataḥ*). From the description that follows, it is manifest that this subterranean retreat (*asura*) was really a small volcanic pit near the western sea-coast which occasionally caused earthquakes and emitted smoke, ashes and fire. The old king Bṛhadaśva sent his son Kuvalayāśva to destroy the ‘asura’. The prince went to the spot with an army of 21,000 men, who are said to be his sons, and whom he set to dig up the earth all around. After the excavation had proceeded for a week, the flaming body of Dhundhu became visible to all, but with disastrous consequences to the soldiers, who perished in the smoke and flames, only three surviving. The excavation, however, appears to have opened a subterranean channel or reservoir of water, which rushed into the volcanic pit and extinguished it for ever; for we read that after Dhundhu had reduced to ashes the 21,000 sons of Kuvalayāśva, streams of water flowed out of his body, and by means of this water the prince put out the fire, and acquired the appellation of Dhundhumāra for this achievement.³

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¹ Viṣṇupurāṇa, IV, 2, 12.

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² Vanaparvan, Chaps. 201-3.

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³ Vāyupurāṇa, Chap. LXXXVIII.

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A few generations after Kuvalayāśva came the great monarch, Māndhātā, who became a cakravartin or emperor exercising suzerain sway. In Māndhātā’s dominions, it was said, the sun never set: ‘From where the sun rises to where it sets, all this is the land of Māndhātā, the son of Yuvanāśva.’⁴ As in the cases of Ikṣvāku and Kakutstha, fanciful stories based on a literal derivation of the name are narrated in the Purāṇas, which state that the name Māndhātā was due to what Indra said¹ when the prince was born. The *Bhāgavata-purāṇa* adds that Māndhātā acquired the designation of Trasadasyu on account of the fear that he struck into the minds of the Dasyus. Māndhātā’s daughters were given in marriage to the Ṛṣi Sauvari, and Purukutsa, one of the king’s sons, married a Nāga girl (evidently a girl of a non-Aryan tribe).

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⁴ Viṣṇupurāṇa, IV, 2, xviii.

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¹ ‘Mām dhātā’, ‘he will suck me’.

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Trasadasyu, the son of this Nāga queen, ascended the throne on his father’s death. His son Anaraṇya is said to have been killed by Rāvaṇa. Several generations after this, Prince Satyavrata, son of the Kośala king, Trayyāruṇa, was in disfavour with his father as well as with the family priest Vasiṣṭha, and was given the name of Triśaṅku. Vasiṣṭha’s rival, Viśvāmitra, however, espoused his cause, and placed him on the throne of Kośala. Triśaṅku’s son Hariścandra was a very great monarch of the Kośalas; he celebrated a Rājasūya sacrifice and became famous as a *samrāṭ* or emperor.² The story of how Hariścandra promised to sacrifice his son to Varuṇa, and how finally Śunaḥśepa, a Brāhmaṇ lad, was sacrificed instead, is told in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* and *Bhāgavatapurāṇa*. The latter also adds that there was a long-standing quarrel between Vasiṣṭha and Viśvāmitra over this Kośala king Hariścandra. The *Mahābhārata*³ also speaks of the surpassing glories of King Hariścandra of Kośala.

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² *Vāyupurāṇa*, Chap. 88, verse 118.

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³ III, Chap. 12. See also *Mbh.*, *Anuśāsanaparvan*, XIII, 65; XII, 20, XIII, 3.

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With Vāhu, who came to the throne of Kośala several generations after Hariścandra, the Kośala power suffered a great reverse. Vāhu was defeated by his enemies, a confederacy of the Haihayas, Tālajaṅghas and other allied Kṣatriya tribes, and was forced to abdicate. He repaired to the forest where after his death his wife gave birth to a son, who was reared with great care by Ṛṣi Aurva, near whose hermitage the king had taken refuge and built his woodland home. This young prince, Sagara, had in him the making of a great king, and when he came of age he sought to revive the glories of Kośala and place it once more in the high position of suzerain power in India. Sagara almost exterminated the Haihayas. A fanciful Purāṇa story says that Sagara had one son Asamañjas by one of his queens, and sixty thousand sons by another. Abandoning Asamañjas on account of his bad conduct, Sagara employed the sixty thousand sons to defend against all aggressors the horse of the Aśvamedha in its unbridled career over the earth. In the course of their journey, they insulted Ṛṣi Kapila, and, as a result, they were reduced to ashes by him. Sagara then sent Asamañjas’ son, (mokṣa). Khaṭvāṅga’s grandson was the great Raghu, and Raghu’s grandson was Daśaratha, the father of Rāma, in whom the glory of the Kośalan royal house reached its culmination.

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After Rāma, the extensive Kośalan empire is said to have been divided amongst the sons of himself and his three brothers. The sons of the youngest brother, Śatrughna, ruled at Mathurā; the sons of Lakṣmaṇa established two kingdoms in the far north, in the neighbourhood of the Himālayas, while Bharata’s sons founded the cities of Takṣaśilā and Puṣkarāvatī in the Gandhāra country, as the Vāyupurāṇa¹ tells us. The Kośala country proper is said to have been divided into two. In southern Kośala, Kuśa, the elder of the two sons of Rāma, became king, and transferred his capital from Ayodhyā to Kuśasthalī which he built on the Vindhya range.² Lava, the younger, became the ruler of the northern Kośala country and set up his capital at the city of Śarāvatī or Śrāvastī which was still the seat of the Kośala sovereigns in the Buddha’s time.

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¹ 88, 189-90.

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² Vāyupurāṇa, 88, 198: ‘Vindhya-parvata-sānuṣu.’

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Among the kings that followed Kuśa in the main line of the Kośala monarchs we do not meet with any great name until we come to Hiraṇyanābha Kauśalya who is said to have been a disciple of Ṛṣi Jaimini, from whom he learnt the science of Yoga, and imparted it in his turn to Yājñavalkya.³ This distinction of proficiency in the Yogaśāstra is, however, transferred by some of the Purāṇas to Hiraṇyanābha’s son, whom the Vāyupurāṇa⁴ calls Vasiṣṭha, and the Viṣṇupurāṇa,⁵ Puṣya. The fifth in descent from Puṣya was Maru or Manu who is said to be living in the village of Kalāpa in a state of yoga, waiting to be the progenitor of the Kṣatriyas in the next cycle. Several generations down from this monarch was Bṛhadbala who led the Kośala troops to the Kurukṣetra war.

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³ Bhāgavatapurāṇa, IX, 12.

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⁴ 88, 207-8.

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⁵ IV, 4, 48.

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Many of the Purāṇas end their enumeration of the Kośala kings with Bṛhadbala, while some others, like the Bhāgavata,⁶ add a few more names of men who are called the future kings of the Ikṣvāku family. The Vāyupurāṇa also in a later chapter (Chap. 99) gives a list of the kings in the Ikṣvāku line after Bṛhadbala, whom it calls here Bṛhadratha. Five generations after this Bṛhadratha, the Vāyupurāṇa says that Divākara ‘is at present ruling the city of Ayodhyā’, and after Divākara it speaks of the so-called future kings of the line. This list is substantially the same as the one in the Bhāgavata, and one peculiar feature of these lists is that they include Śuddhodana and Rāhula, of Buddhist fame. The list in the *Matsyapurāṇa* (Chap. 12) from Kuśa to the Bhārata war is considerably shorter than the others already referred to. It speaks of Śrutaya as the king who fell in the Bhārata war.

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⁶ IX, 12, 16.

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The history of Kośala in later times is known chiefly from Jaina and Buddhist literature. In the *Jaina Kalpasūtra* we read that on the death of Mahāvīra, the eighteen confederate kings of Kāśī and Kośala, the nine Mallakis and nine Licchavis, on the day of the new-moon instituted an illumination on the Posada (fasting day)¹. Jacobi observes²: ‘According to the Jainas, the Licchavis and the Mallakis were the chiefs of Kāśī and Kośala. They seem to have succeeded the Aikṣvākas who ruled there in the time of the *Rāmāyaṇa*.’

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¹ *Kalpasūtra*, §128, S.B.E., Vol. XXII, p. 266.

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² *Jaina Sūtras*, Pt. II, p. 321, n. 3.

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The Pāli Buddhist literature is full of information about Kośala, which occupied a very prominent position at the time of the Buddha, though it was already being eclipsed by the growing power of Magadha.

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The Pāli legends preserve the memory of kings of Kośala such as Kālasena, Dīghiti, Dīghāyu, Mallika and Vatika. One of these had his capital at Ayodhyā, some at Sāketa and the rest at Śrāvastī.³ No connected chronology of Kośalan kings can as yet be made out of these stray names; but the legends are nevertheless important, first, as clearly indicating a succession of three capitals in the kingdom of Kośala, Ayodhyā, Sāketa and Śrāvastī; and, secondly, as broadly outlining the four main stages in the historical process which culminated at about the time of the rise of Buddhism in the unquestioned supremacy of Kośala over Kāśī.

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³ Ray Chaudhuri’s *Political History*, 4th Ed., p. 90.

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With regard to the first of these questions, we have already seen that Ayodhyā is mentioned in the *Rāmāyaṇa* as the earlier capital of Kośala, and Śrāvastī as its later capital.⁴ Ayodhyā was an unimportant town in Buddha’s time, while both Sāketa and Śrāvastī stood out prominently among the six great cities of India.⁵

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⁴ *Ibid.*, p. 90. Cf. *Ghata Jātaka* (No. 454) and *Nandiyamiga Jātaka* (No. 385).

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⁵ Dīgha Nikāya, II, p. 146. Ray Chaudhuri, *op. cit.*, p. 90.

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The story of the rivalry between Kāśī and Kośala has already been treated at some length in our chapter on the Kāśīs, so that a summary will suffice here. In the first stage, as brought out in the canonical legend of Dīghiti and his son Dīghāyu Kumāra, King Brahmadatta appears as the powerful king of Kāśī invading the kingdom of Kośala, led by a love of conquest, easily defeating the Kośalan king Dīghiti, and ordering the execution of the Kośalan king and queen when they were detected in the realm of Kāsī living harmlessly in disguise.¹ We then see how the Kośalan prince Dīghāyu, after having gained the favour of the king of Kāsī and risen to the position of a general, tried to avenge his parents, and was re-established in his father’s kingdom.²

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¹ Vinaya Piṭaka, Mahāvagga, pp. 342–9.

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² See also Jātaka, III, 211f., 487; and Kāsī chapter of the present work, where this story and the similar one of Prince Chatta are dealt with.

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In the second stage, as portrayed in the *Rājovāda Jātaka* (Fausböll, No. 334), Kāsī and Kośala appear as two equally powerful kingdoms, flourishing side by side, each with its inner circle, outer districts, and border-lands, one ruled over by its king, Brahmadatta, and the other by King Mallika. We see the ruler of Kāsī following the religious principle of ‘conquering wrath by wrathlessness’ (*akkodhena jine kodhaṃ*), and the ruler of Kośala following the strong administrative principle of ‘applying hardness for the hard and softness for the soft’ (*daḷhaṃ daḷhassa khipati Malliko mudunā mudum*).

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In the third stage, as disclosed in the *Mahāsīlava Jātaka* (Fausböll, No. 51), the king of Kośala appears as taking advantage of the goodness of the king of Kāsī and invading the neighbouring kingdom, and the king of Kāsī as remaining passive in the consciousness of his superior dignity and religious security.³

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³ Jātaka (Fausböll), I, 262f.; see also I, 409; Udāna Comm., 123; and see Kāsī chapter.

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Finally, in the fourth stage, Kāsī was absorbed by Kośala, and we find King Mahākośala, father and immediate predecessor of Pasenadi, wielding sovereign power over the extended realm of Kāsī-Kośala. Mahākośala gave his daughter Kosaladevī in marriage to King Bimbisāra of Magadha, and gave her a village in Kāsī yielding a revenue of a hundred thousand for bath and perfume money.⁴ When Ajātaśatru put his father Bimbisāra to death, Kosaladevī died of grief. For some time after her death, Ajātaśatru continued to enjoy the revenues of the village, but Pasenadi, king of Kośala, resolved that no parricide should have a village which had been given to his sister and so confiscated it. A war ensued between Ajātaśatru and Pasenadi, in which Ajātaśatru was at first victorious, but was afterwards taken prisoner by the Kośalan king. After he had been subdued, however, he was treated generously by Pasenadi who gave him his daughter in marriage, and even bestowed the disputed village on her as a wedding gift.⁵

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⁴ Jātaka, II, p. 237; IV, 342ff.

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⁵ Saṃyutta Nikāya, I, pp. 82–5. See Kāsī and Magadha chapters, and Jātaka, Vol. IV, p. 343.

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In addition to the stories of the rivalry between Kāśī and Kośala which we have already dealt with in the Kāśī chapter, two more may be mentioned,—the stories of Dabbasena, king of Kośala, who seized a holy king of Benares, and was discomfited by a mystic experience¹; and of Manoja, king of Benares, and a king of Kośala. The latter story is related in the *Sonananda Jātaka*. Manoja pitched his camp near the city of Kośala (i.e. Śrāvastī?), and sent a message to the king of Kośala asking him either to give battle or to surrender. The king accepted the challenge, and a fierce fight ensued, in which the king of Kośala was defeated, but he was allowed to retain his kingdom.²

c32.83

¹ *Jātaka*, III, p. 13.

c32.84

² *Ibid.*, V, pp. 315-16.

c32.85

From the Jātaka stories of the two neighbouring countries of Kāśī and Kośala, it is evident that there was great mutual jealousy between the two kingdoms actuated by a constant spirit of hostility. Each was looking out for an opportunity to inflict a defeat on the other, and annex either the whole or at least a part of the other's dominions. Sometimes they also appear to have been connected by matrimony, and it is probable that the two countries were united sometimes by conquest and sometimes perhaps by a common heir succeeding to the throne of both countries. Even in Vedic times they were closely associated, as is shown by the phrase Kāśī-Kośala, which occurs in Vedic literature.

c32.86

In the *Dīgha Nikāya* we read that Pasenadi, king of Kāśī-Kośala, used to collect taxes from the inhabitants of these two countries. He used to share his income with his subordinates. The *Mahāvagga*, however, mentions a Kāsika-rājā (king of Kāśī?) who sent a robe to Jīvaka.³ Buddhaghoṣa says that he was a brother of Pasenadi, and son of the same father.⁴ He was probably a sub-king of Pasenadi,⁵ who managed to extend his rule so far as to reign as a supreme monarch with four sub-kings under him.⁶ Later, before the end of Ajātaśatru's reign, some parts of Kośala were annexed to the kingdom of Magadha,⁷ and Kośala finally disappears from history as an independent kingdom, evidently being absorbed by Magadha.⁸ There is nothing surprising about this course of events, for, as the *Cambridge History of India*⁹ points out, India appeared as a number of kingdoms and republics with a constant tendency towards amalgamation.

c32.87

³ *Vin.*, I, 281.

c32.88

⁴ *Vinaya Texts*, II, 195, n. 2.

c32.89

⁵ Malalasekera, *Dictionary of Pāli Proper Names*, s.v. Kāśī.

c32.90

⁶ See article, ‘Kośala’, B. C. Law, *Indian Culture*, Vol. I, No. 3.

c32.91

⁷ Bhandarkar, *Carmichael Lectures*, 1918, p. 79.

c32.92

⁸ Smith, *Early History of India*, 4th Ed., p. 45.

c32.93

⁹ I, p. 190.

c32.94

In the north, the Kośala country bordered on the region occupied by the Śākyas, and there were mutual jealousies between the two peoples, often developing into war. When Pasenadi was at the height of his power, the Śākyas became his vassals, and he received homage from them.¹ The story of how Pasenadi acquired a Śākyan bride (Mallikā, a Vāsabhakhattiyā) has been related in our Śākya chapter. Pasenadi had a great admiration for the Buddha, and many stories are told of his dealings with the Buddha and his disciples. The king became the Buddha’s disciple after meeting him at Jetavana.²

c32.95

¹ Dīgha Nikāya, II, p. 83.

c32.96

² Saṃyutta Nikāya, I, pp. 68-70.

c32.97

Pasenadi was famous for his charity. While Buddha was residing at Śrāvastī in the ārāma of Anāthapiṇḍika at Jetavana, the king made gifts for a week on an immense scale. These gifts were known as asadadāna (incomparable charity).³ The king of Kośala provided Kuṇḍa-Dhāna with all necessaries when the latter left the world after hearing the Buddha preach.⁴ A great preaching hall (Saddhamma Mahāsālā) was built by Pasenadi for the Buddha. On another occasion, Pasenadi performed a great sacrifice in which 500 bulls, 500 calves, 500 goats, and other animals were offered. Buddha, when requested to attend, expressed his disapproval of this sacrifice, as he was against the taking of life by slaughter.⁵

c32.98

³ Pithavimāna, Vimānavatthu Comm., pp. 5-6.

c32.99

⁴ Psalms of the Brethren, pp. 19-20.

c32.100

⁵ Saṃyutta Nikāya, I, p. 76.

c32.101

After the death of his wife, Mallikā, Pasenadi went to the Buddha at Jetavana, and He consoled him in his grief.⁶ Pasenadi was also consoled by the Buddha when his grandmother died.⁷

c32.102

⁶ Aṅguttara Nikāya, III, p. 57.

c32.103

⁷ Saṃyutta Nikāya, I, p. 97.

c32.104

The Buddhist texts contain many stories about eminent men and women of Kośala, and many of these are in some way associated with Pasenadi. For instance, Mallikā, queen of Pasenadi, built an ārāma at the Kośala capital, Śrāvastī, known as Mallikārāma, where the teacher Poṭṭhapāda went to live.⁸ The Dīgha Nikāya tells us that Pokkharasādi, a famous Brāhmaṇ teacher of Kośala, enjoyed some property given to him by Pasenadi. The king did not allow him to enter his presence, but used to consult him behind a screen.⁹ Buddhaghoṣa also furnishes some details about this sage. Pokharasāti or Pokkharasādi, says he, was a Brāhmaṇa, living at Ukkaṭṭhanagara, which had been given him by the king of Kośala, Pasenadi, as Brahmadeyya (i.e. as a Brahmin’s fee). He was well versed in the Vedas and in the arts, and the king bestowed Ukkaṭṭhanagara upon him because he was satisfied by a display of his learning.¹ A certain Aggidatta was the purohita or royal chaplain of Mahākosala, father of Pasenadi, and Pasenadi also accepted him as his purohita. Later, Moggallāna converted Aggidatta and his disciples to Buddhism.²

c32.105

⁸ Dīgha Nikāya, I, pp. 178ff.

c32.106

⁹ Ibid., I, p. 103.

c32.107

¹ Sumaṅgalavilāsinī, I, pp. 244-5.

c32.108

² Dhammapada Comm., Pt. III, pp. 241ff.

c32.109

Another chaplain of Pasenadi was Bāvarī who was the son of the chaplain of Pasenadi’s father. Pasenadi bestowed honour and wealth upon Bāvarī, and learnt the arts (sippa) from him in his youth. Bāvarī later took ordination and lived in the royal garden, many Brāhmaṇas becoming his disciples. Pasenadi served him daily with the four requisites. Afterwards Bāvarī and his disciples went to the Deccan.³ Pasenadi also invited two prominent merchants, Meṇḍakaseṭṭhi and Dhanañjayaseṭṭhi, to settle in Kośala.⁴

c32.110

³ Suttanipāta Comm., II, pp. 579ff.

c32.111

⁴ Dhammapada Comm., Pt. I, pp. 384ff. For further references to Pasenadi, see Dhammapada Comm., II, pp. 1ff.; Saṃyutta Nikāya, I, pp. 78-93; Aṅguttara Nikāya, V, pp. 65ff.

c32.112

The story of the conversion of the Kośala country to the Buddhist faith is told in some detail in the Majjhima Nikāya. Here we read that, in the course of his journey over N. India, on one occasion, the Buddha was sojourning in Kośala, and went to Sālā, a Brahmin village of Kośala. The Brahmin householders of Sālā went to see him and asked him various metaphysical questions which he answered to their satisfaction, and they became his life-long disciples.⁵ Once the Buddha went to Nagaravinda, a Brahmin village of Kośala. There many Brāhmaṇa householders came to see him, attracted by reports of his fame as a great teacher. After listening to his preaching, they became converted to the new faith.⁶ Another Brahmin village visited by the Buddha in Kośala was Veṇāgapura. Here, too, the Brāhmaṇa householders went to pay their respects to him and talk with him.⁷ Buddha spent much of his time at Śrāvastī and most of his sermons were delivered there.⁸

c32.113

⁵ Majjhima Nikāya, I, pp. 400ff. For another story of the Buddha and Kośala, see Majjhima Nikāya, II, pp. 45ff., and Aṅguttara Nikāya, I, pp. 205ff.

c32.114

⁶ Majjhima Nikāya, III, pp. 290ff.

c32.115

⁷ Aṅguttara Nikāya, I, pp. 180ff. See also Saṃyutta Nikāya, V, pp. 352ff.

c32.116

⁸ Saṃyutta Nikāya, V, pp. 349ff.

c32.117

As we have seen, the capital cities of Kośala were Śrāvastī (Pāli Sāvatthī) and Sāketa. Many fanciful explanations of the name Sāvatthī have been suggested. For instance, it was said that Sāvatthī was so called because the sage Sāvattha resided there. The author of the Papañcasūdanī holds that everything required by human beings is to be found there: hence it is called Sāvatthī (sabba and atthi).¹ According to the Purāṇas, Śrāvastī is said to have been built by king Śrāvasta, eighth in descent from Vivakṣu, son of Ikṣvāku.²

c32.118

¹ Papañcasūdanī, I, pp. 59-60; B. C. Law, Śrāvastī in Indian Literature, M.A.S.I., No. 50, p. 19.

c32.119

² Viṣṇupurāṇa, Chap. 2, Aṃśa 4; cf. Bhāgavatapurāṇa, 9th skandha, Chap. 6, śl. 21; Matsyapurāṇa, Chap. 21, śl. 30; Kūrmapurāṇa, Chap. 23, śl. 19; Liṅgapurāṇa, Chap. 95.

c32.120

Sāvatthī was situated in what is now the province of Oudh.³ It is now known as Maheṭh of the village group Saheṭh-Maheṭh on the borders of the Gonda and Bahraich districts of the United Provinces.⁴

c32.121

³ Edkins, Chinese Buddhism, p. 290.

c32.122

⁴ Carmichael Lectures, 1918, p. 51.

c32.123

The Pāli Buddhist literature is full of facts regarding the glories of Sāvatthī. Many of the Buddha’s most edifying discourses were delivered at the Kośala capital, which was the place of residence of two of the most munificent benefactors of the Buddhist Saṃgha, viz. Anāthapiṇḍika, the great merchant, and Visākhā Migāramātā, the most liberal-hearted of the ladies figuring in the Buddhist literature. Sāvatthī is mentioned in the Mahāparinibbāna Suttanta of the Dīgha Nikāya as a great city. It was the resort of many wealthy nobles, Brahmins, heads of houses and believers in the Tathāgata. In one of the Jātakas we read that there was at Sāvatthī a rich merchant who was worth eighteen crores ⁵; in another we read that at Sāvatthī, in the house of Anāthapiṇḍika, food was always ready for 500 brethren, and the same thing is told about Visākhā and the king of Kośala.⁶ In the Vimānavatthu we read that the Kosalas and especially the inhabitants of Sāvatthī were remarkable for their charity, which, they believed, was one of the principal ways of obtaining heavenly bliss.

c32.124

⁵ Jātaka, VI, p. 68.

c32.125

⁶ Ibid., IV, p. 144; see also pp. 236-7.

c32.126

References to the connection of the Buddha and his disciples with Sāvatthī are too numerous to be dealt with in full. Some famous names in the annals of Buddhism which are associated with the Kośalan capital are those of Nandaka,⁷ Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī,⁸ Sāriputta ⁹ and Ānanda.¹⁰ Sāvatthī contributed a fair number of bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs to the Order. For instance, Mahāsuvaṇṇa, a banker of Sāvatthī, had two sons, the elder of whom became a bhikkhu under the Buddha and was known as Cakkhupāla.¹¹ Thullatissa, the Buddha’s cousin, lived at Sāvatthī as a bhikkhu.¹ Paṭācārā was the daughter of a rich banker of Sāvatthī. She afterwards became a bhikkhunī.² Kisāgotamī, also the daughter of a seṭṭhi of Sāvatthī, became a bhikkhunī after the death of her only child.³ Nanda, the son of Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, was made a bhikkhu by the Buddha at Sāvatthī.⁴ Others who became bhikkhus were Anitthigandhakumāra,⁵ Vakkali,⁶ Kaṇhārevata,⁷ Vīra,⁸ Kuṇḍadhāna⁹ and Ajita.¹⁰ In the Therīgāthā we read that Sumanā was born at Sāvatthī as the sister of the king of Kośala. She heard the Master preach the doctrine to King Pasenadi. She put faith in the Buddha, entered the Order, and afterwards became an arahant.¹¹ In the Suttanipāta Commentary we read that there lived at Sāvatthī a paribbājaka named Pasura who was a great disputant. He held discussions with Sāriputta, Lāludāyi and the Buddha, and was finally converted to Buddhism.¹²

c32.127

⁷ Majjhima Nikāya, III, pp. 270ff.; Aṅguttara Nikāya, I, pp. 193ff.

c32.128

⁸ Ibid.

c32.129

⁹ Aṅguttara Nikāya, I, pp. 63ff., 118ff.

c32.130

¹⁰ Ibid., pp. 215ff.; Dīgha Nikāya, I, pp. 204ff.

c32.131

¹¹ Dhammapada Comm., I, pp. 3ff.

c32.132

¹ Dhammapada Comm., I, pp. 37ff.

c32.133

² Ibid., II, pp. 26off.

c32.134

³ Ibid., pp. 270ff.

c32.135

⁴ Ibid., I, pp. 115ff.

c32.136

⁵ Ibid., III, pp. 281ff.

c32.137

⁶ Ibid., IV, p. 118.

c32.138

⁷ Psalms of the Brethren, p. 7.

c32.139

⁸ Ibid., pp. 13 14.

c32.140

⁹ Ibid., pp. 19-20.

c32.141

¹⁰ Ibid., p. 25.

c32.142

¹¹ Psalms of the Sisters, pp. 19-20.

c32.143

¹² Suttanipāta Comm., II, pp. 538ff.

c32.144

As we may gather from the various accounts, there were many merchants at Sāvatthī. They used to go to Videha with cartloads of merchandise to sell there, and take Videhan commodities in exchange.¹³ Some merchants of Sāvatthī went to Suvarṇabhūmi in a ship,¹⁴ and others went to the northern regions (Uttarāpatha), taking with them 500 cartloads of merchandise.¹⁵

c32.145

¹³ Buddhist Conception of Spirits, 2nd Ed., p. 63.

c32.146

¹⁴ Ibid., p. 64.

c32.147

¹⁵ Ibid., p. 96.

c32.148

Śrāvastī was visited by the two famous Chinese Pilgrims, Fā-Hien, and Hsüan Tsang, but the glories of the once splendid capital of Kośala had departed at the time of their visit. When Fā-Hien went to Śrāvastī (in the fifth century A.D.), the inhabitants of the city were few, amounting in all to little more than two hundred families. The pilgrim refers to King Prasenajit of Kośala, and he saw the place where the old vihāra of Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī was built, the wells and walls of the house of Anāthapiṇḍika, and the site where Aṅgulimāla attained arahantship. Topes were built at all these places.¹⁶

c32.149

¹⁶ Legge, Travels of Fā-Hien, pp 55-6.

c32.150

Cunningham points out on the authority of Hsüan Tsang that five centuries after Buddha or one century after Kaniṣka, Vikramāditya, king of Śrāvastī, became a persecutor of the Buddhists, and the famous Manorhita, author of the Vibhāsaśāstra, committed suicide after being defeated in argument by the Brāhmaṇas. During the reign of Vikramāditya’s successor, the Brāhmaṇas were overcome by Vasubandhu, the eminent disciple of Manorhita. In the third century A.D., Śrāvastī seems to have been under the rule of its own kings, for we find Khīradhāra and his nephew mentioned as rājās between A.D. 275 and 319. Still later, Śrāvastī was a dependency of the powerful Gupta dynasty of Magadha, as the neighbouring city of Sāketa is especially said to have belonged to the Guptas. From this time Śrāvastī gradually declined.

c32.151

A famous Buddhist site at Śrāvastī was the Jetavana, where Anāthapiṇḍika built a vihāra which was originally of seven storeys. This vihāra was dedicated to Buddha and the Buddhist Church by Prince Jeta.¹

c32.152

¹ Legge, Travels of Fā-Hien, pp. 56-7; Khuddakapāṭha Comm., pp. 110-2.

c32.153

In later times, North Kośala itself came to be known as Śrāvastī in order to distinguish it from South Kośala. Hsüan Tsang, who visited India in the seventh century A.D., says that Śrāvastī, i.e. North Kośala, was about 600 li in circuit. Although it was mostly in ruins, there were some inhabitants. The country had good crops and an equable climate, and the people were honest in their ways, and given to learning, and fond of good works. There were some hundreds of Buddhist monasteries, most of which were in ruins. The brethren, who were very few, were Sammatiyas. There were a hundred deva-temples, and the non-Buddhists were very numerous. The preaching hall built by Pasenadi for the Buddha still survived, and there were several topes,² many Buddhist monasteries, and many Mahāyānist brethren.³

c32.154

² Watters, On Yuan Chwang, Vol. I, p. 377.

c32.155

³ Ibid., Vol. II, p. 200.

c32.156

Another important town of Kośala was Sāketa, which was the capital in the period immediately preaching the Buddha’s time.⁴ The road from Sāketa to Śrāvastī was haunted by robbers, who were dangerous to passers-by. Even the bhikkhus, who had very little in their possession, were robbed of their belongings and sometimes killed by the robbers. Royal soldiers used to come to the spot where robbery was committed, and used to kill those robbers whom they could arrest.⁵

c32.157

⁴ Carmichael Lectures, 1918, p. 51.

c32.158

⁵ Vinaya Texts, Pt. I, pp. 220-1.

c32.159

Besides Sāvatthī and Sāketa, we find mention of other towns in the Kośala country, e.g. Daṇḍakappaka, Nalakapāna, Setavya and Paṅkadhā. Once the Buddha gave a discourse to Ānanda at Daṇḍakappaka,⁶ and he also visited Nalakapāna, where he dwelt at Palāsavana, and gave religious instruction to the bhikkhus on an uposatha night.⁷ On another occasion Kumārakassapa went to Setavya with a large number of bhikkhus. The chief of Setavya, Pāyāsi, enjoyed enormous wealth which had been given him by King Pasenadi. He was a false believer, but was converted by Kumārakassapa.¹ The Buddha visited Paṅkadhā, and gave instruction to Kassapagotta, a bhikkhu who was dwelling there.²

c32.160

⁶ Aṅguttara Nikāya, III, pp. 402ff.

c32.161

⁷ Ibid., V, pp. 122ff.

c32.162

¹ Dīgha Nikāya, II, pp. 316ff.

c32.163

² Aṅguttara Nikāya, I, p. 236.

c32.164

In the *Saṃyutta Nikāya*³ we find mention of a village named Toraṇavatthu, between Sāvatthī and Sāketa. In this village, the bhikkhunī Khemā was observing lent, when Pasenadi spent one night there on his way from Sāketa to Sāvatthī. Hearing of Khemā, he went to her, and she answered to his satisfaction questions regarding life after death.⁴

c32.165

³ Vol. IV, pp. 374ff.

c32.166

⁴ Saṃyutta Nikāya, IV, pp. 374ff.

c32.167

The Jātakas and Vinaya texts are full of details about Kośala. In one Jātaka there is a vivid description of a drought in Kośala, when the crops were withered, and ponds, tanks and lakes were dried up.⁵ Gangs of burglars, highwaymen and murderers were not unknown in Kośala,⁶ and the inhabitants were often carried away and killed by them.⁷ Their activities could not easily be checked, for the Kośala country included the forest-clad hills and valleys of the outer spurs of the Himālayas.

c32.168

⁵ Jātaka, Vol. I, p. 329.

c32.169

⁶ Ibid., Vol. II, p. 139.

c32.170

⁷ Vinaya Texts, Pt. I, p. 312.

c32.171

In the *Pabbajjā Suttanta* of the *Suttanipāta* (p. 73), we read that the inhabitants of Kośala were healthy and powerful. One Jātaka story⁸ says that in Kośala there was a Brahmin who by simply smelling a sword could say whether it was lucky or not.

c32.172

⁸ Jātaka, Vol. I, p. 455.

c32.173

The Kośalan kings and princes received a good education, usually being ‘finished’ at Taxila. For instance, in the *Brahāchatta Jātaka* we read that Chatta, a son of the king of Kośala, fled to Taxila when his father was taken prisoner, and there he mastered the three Vedas and eighteen *vijjās*. While at Taxila he also learnt the science of discovering hidden treasure, and on his return he acquired his deceased father’s buried wealth, engaged troops and reconquered the lost kingdom.⁹ King Pasenadi was also educated at Taxila; Mahāli, a Licchavi prince, and a Malla prince of Kuśinārā were his class-mates.¹⁰

c32.174

⁹ Ibid., Vol. III, pp. 115-6.

c32.175

¹⁰ Dhammapada Comm., Pt. I, pp. 337-8.

c32.176

Rhys Davids points out¹¹ that a conversational dialect, probably based on the local dialect of Śrāvastī, was in general use among Kośala officials, among merchants and among the more cultured classes, not only throughout the Kośala dominions but east and west from Delhi to Patna, and north and south from Śrāvastī to Avanti. Jacobi observes that the *Rāmāyaṇa* was composed in Kośala on the basis of ballads popularly recited by rhapsodists throughout the district. Kośala was also the very centre of Buddhist literary activity.¹

c32.177

¹¹ Rhys Davids, Buddhist India, p. 153.

c32.178

¹ Rhys Davids, *Buddhist India*, p. 183.

Linked texts (42)