Tribes in Ancient India c50.68

c50.68

The annexation of Aṅga was the turning point in the history of Magadha. As V. A. Smith says, it marked ‘the first step taken by the kingdom of Magadha in its advance to greatness and the position of supremacy which it attained in the following century, so that Bimbisāra may be regarded as the real founder of the Magadhan imperial power. He strengthened his position by matrimonial alliances with the two neighbouring states, viz. Kośala and Vaiśālī. He took one consort from the royal family of Kośala and another from the influential Licchavi clan at Vaiśālī.¹ A third queen of Bimbisāra, as mentioned in the *Therīgāthā Commentary* (p. 131) was Khemā, daughter of the king of Madda (Madra) in the Punjab. According to the Jaina *Nirayāvalīya Sutta*, the mother of Vehalla or Vihalla, one of the sons of Bimbisāra, was a daughter of Ceṭaka, the then king of Videha.² There is also mention of Udumbarikā-devī, a royal lady, whose relation with Bimbisāra is not precisely known. The Jātakas tell us that Bimbisāra married Mahākośala’s daughter, Kosaladevī, to whom her father gave as a wedding gift a village of Kāśī yielding a revenue of a hundred thousand, for bath and perfume money.³ The *Mahāvagga* says that Bimbisāra had 500 wives.⁴