Tribes in Ancient India c9.25

c9.25

Buddhism was predominant in Mathurā for several centuries.³ The king of Mathurā in the Buddha’s time bore the title of Avantiputto, and was therefore related to the royal family of Ujjayinī in Avanti. In the *Majjhima Nikāya* (II, pp. 83ff.) we read that king Avantiputto went to Mahākaccāna, one of the Buddha’s most influential disciples, and discussed with him the pride of the Brāhmaṇas, and their view that they were vastly superior to all other castes. Mathurā was the residence of Mahākaccāna, ‘to whom tradition attributes the first grammatical treatment of the Pāli language, and after whom the oldest Pāli grammar is accordingly named’.⁴ In Kaccāyana’s Pāli Grammar we read that the distance from Mathurā to Saṅkassa was 4 yojanas.⁵ A famous stūpa was built at Mathurā in honour of Moggaliputta Tissa (*Cambridge History of India*, Vol. I, p. 506).