Tribes in Ancient India c32.86

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.