Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c3.s2.t2.62

c3.s2.t2.62

Cūḷaṇi Brahmadatta must really have been a great conqueror as the title of ‘Universal Monarch’ given to him by the *Uttarādhyayana Sūtra* clearly suggests. It seems probable from this, that he lived during the period when the erstwhile powerful kingdom of Videha was on its wane and when Kāsī had not yet raised its head against the powers of the North and the East. On the other hand, it is interesting to note that two *gāthās* in our *Jātaka* seem to say that the kingdom of Kāsī was under the overlordship of Cūḷaṇi Brahmadatta, since the latter was prepared to give away eighty villages in Kāsī to Mahosadha by way of gifts.² This again is not impossible, in view of the fact that Kāsī, during this period, was an easy prey to the more powerful Kuru-Pañcāla kings.³