Tribes in Ancient India c32.79

c32.79

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