Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c3.s2.t2.49

c3.s2.t2.49

Another really great king is Culaṇi-Brahmadatta mentioned in the Mahā-Ummagga Jātaka.¹⁰ We may be quite sure that this Culaṇi-Brahmadatta is identical with that mentioned in the Uttarādhyayana Sūtra,¹¹ the Svapnavāsavadattā, a play by Bhāsa¹² and in the Rāmāyaṇa,¹³ though the stories told about him in these works differ from one another. The Uttarādhyayana Sūtra seems to be more correct in interpreting the name of the king as *Brah-madatta*, born of (queen) Cūlaṇī,¹ than the *Rāmāyaṇa* which invents a fanciful story of the sage named Cūli who, through his austerities, bestowed upon a lady a son named Brahmadatta. The fact that he is a popular figure in all the various versions only strengthens our belief that he is a real historical personage. We cannot however ascertain at present whether he can be identical with the Brahmadatta of south Pañcāla found in Pargiter's dynastic list.² The least we can say is that the two, if not identical, were most probably connected with the same dynastic or lineal relation. This may gain confirmation by the fact that some of the direct descendants of the *Paurāṇic* Brahmadatta are, as will be shown, known to the *Jātakas*, though in a different garb.