Tribes in Ancient India c50.413

c50.413

The Jātakas are full of interesting information about Magadha. From them we learn that Magadha was famous for conch shells⁷; that white elephants were used there by the royal family⁸; that agriculture was prosperous, and that some Brahmins used to cultivate land themselves in Magadha.¹ The *Vinaya Piṭaka* states that the fields of Magadha were well divided for the purpose of cultivation.² We have already noted that there were stated to be 80,000 villages in Magadha in King Bimbisāra’s time. A story reminiscent of the Fools of Gotham is that of a particular village inhabited by fools who once went to the forest where they used to work for their livelihood. They had to pay the penalty for their foolishness by losing their lives while trying to destroy mosquitoes with bows and arrows.³