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Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c3.s4: Chapter IV. The Mahājanapada Period (800-600 B.C.)

Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jātaka Stories c3.s4

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English

Contents

Chapter IV. The Mahājanapada Period (800-600 B.C.)

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THE MAHĀJANAPADA PERIOD

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(800-600 B. C.)

The Rise and Supremacy of Kāsī

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THE AGE OF THE GREAT Kuru-Pañcālas had passed away. The house of (Mahā-) Janaka had fallen to an unimportant position after Kalārajanaka, making room for the aristocratic republic of the Vajjis. Such was also probably the state prevailing in other Northern and North-Western states like Sivi, Madda, Kekaya and Maccha-Sūrasena. So that out of the sixteen ‘Great Kingdoms’ of this period—we call it the Mahājanapada Period—mentioned in the Aṅguttara Nikāya and the Bhagavatī Sūtra,¹ only the Eastern and Southern states seem to have been the more prominent ones. These were the growing kingdoms of Kāsī and Kosala, Aṅga and Magadha, Assaka and Avantī and Kaliṅga, and the predominant feature of Indian politics of this period appears to have been the frequent conflicts between these neighbouring kingdoms.

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¹ See Rhys Davids, B. I., p. 23; C. H. II., I, p. 172; Bhandarkar, C. L., 1918, p. 48: Raychaudhury, P. H. A. I., pp. 67-8.

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When we first cast a glance over the state of affairs prevailing at this period, Kāsī stands out to be the most powerful state. There seems to be much truth in Dr. Raychaudhury’s conjecture² that ‘Kāsī probably played a prominent part in the subversion of the Videhan monarchy.’ Already in the later Vedic period it tried hard to raise its head against the powerful monarchies of the North, including Videha itself. It had failed.³ Time was not yet ripe for it. It was only after the weakening of the Northern Powers that it again ventured to push forward its Imperialistic policy. Indications are not wanting to show that its capital city Benares became ere long the chief city in all India.⁴ It extended over twelve leagues,⁵ whereas Mithilā and Indapatta were each only seven leagues in extent.⁶ Though these figures cannot absolutely be relied upon, they nevertheless show the proportionate greatness of the city. Greatness of Kāsī is also recognised in the Mahāvagga.⁷

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² P. H. A. I., pp. 59, 68.

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³ Dhṛtarāṣṭra Vaicitravīrya was defeated by the Kuru king Śatānīka Sātrājita: Vedic Index, 1, p. 403.

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⁴ J., I, p. 262; II, p. 250; IV, p. 245.

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⁵ J., VI, p. 160—‘dvādasayojanikaṃ sakal a-Bārāṇasīnagaram’.

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⁶ J., III, p. 365; V, p. 484.

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⁷ X, 2, 3,—‘Bhūtapubbaṃ Brahmadatto nāma kāsīrājā ahosi addho mahaddhano mahā-bhogo mahadbalo etc. Vinaya Texts (S. B. E.), XVII, pp. 293-4.

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The chief dynasty of Kāsī of this period known to the Jātakas is called Brahmadatta, and we hear of many Brahmadattas who are, obviously, impossible to be identified, and are more often than not useless for historical purpose.

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The chief struggle that the Kāsī kings had to carry on for many a generation was with their neighbours, the Kosalas (anantarasāmanto). We have several vivid, if not wholly historical, instances of these struggles. Thus from one Jātaka¹ we learn that Brahmadatta once went against the king of Kosala with a large army. He took the king of Sāvatthī prisoner after entering the city. He set up loyal officers as governors (rājayutte thapitvā) and himself returned with a large booty. The Kosala prince Chatta had however escaped in disguise, and by strange tactics speedily recovered the lost kingdom. He restored the walls and watch-towers and made the city impregnable against any possible attack from outside. In another place² again a Brahmadatta of Kāsī, owing to his having an army (sampannabalavāhano), seized the Kosala city, slew its king and carried off his chief queen to Benares and there made her his queen-consort. King Manoja of Kāsī is said to have begun his victorious career of conquests by first capturing the Kosala kingdom.³ Two more Jātakas⁴ relate an invasion by another Brahmadatta, when Dīghīti was King at Sāvatthī. Brahmadatta slew Dīghīti and took his kingdom of Kosala. Dīghīti's son Prince Dīghāyu escaped in disguise and in course of time became very friendly with Brahmadatta. The Kāsī king, highly pleased with his conduct, gave him his daughter in marriage and restored his father's kingdom. Could this Dīghāyu be identified with the one mentioned in the Mahābhārata?.⁵

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¹ J., III, pp. 115 ff.

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² J. VI, pp. 426 ff.

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³ J. V, pp. 315-6.

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⁴ J., III, p. 487; ibid, pp. 211-3. Cf. Mahāvagga, X, 2, 3-20—“Dīghīti nāma Kosala-rājā ahosi daliddo appadhano appabhogo appabalo appavijito aparipuṇṇakoṭṭhāgāro” etc.

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⁵ VII, 93, 27-8.

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Infatuated with their victories over the neighbouring kingdom of Kosala, the Kāsī monarchs now turned their arms towards the South and the North. We can hear their footsteps resounding past across the Vindhyas, where the paramount power of Daṇḍaka was no more and the smaller states of Vidarbha, Kaliṅga and Assaka had probably begun weakening themselves through mutual quarrels. Taking advantage of this, one Kāsī king captured Poṭali, the capital of Assaka on the Godāvarī, and made the Assaka king his vassal.⁶

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⁶ J., II, p. 155.

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Aspirants for an All-India sovereignty (sabba rājūnaṃ aggarājā) several Kāsī monarchs are described to have led extensive campaigns, strengthening their forces as they proceeded.⁷ The Crown of their glory must have been reached when king Manoja, of all, carried out a successful campaign throughout India and earned the title of ‘aggarājā.’ The incidents of this campaign are preserved in the Soṇa-Nanda Jātaka.⁸ He is there said to have first subdued the Kosala king and then, reinforced with the defeated army, he marched against Aṅga and conquered it. Similarly he brought Magadha, Assaka and Avantī under his sway.⁹ Thus he practically became an All-India Sovereign.¹⁰ “*Rājābhirājā Manoj o va jayatam pati.*”¹ : such must have been his eulogies prevalent at the time. His capital Bārāṇasī was then styled Brahmavaddhana.² He is once³ addressed as *Bhārata*.

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⁷ J., III, pp. 159-61.

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⁸ J., V, pp. 315 ff.

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⁹ Ibid., p. 317-G. 99.

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¹⁰ Ibid., p. 316—“etena upāyena sakala-Jambūdipe rājāno attano vase vattetvā”.

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¹ Ibid., p. 322-G. 127.

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² Ibid., pp. 312, 313, 314, 316.

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³ Ibid., p. 317-G. 94.

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Several Kāsī monarchs are said to have been daring enough to go as far as Gandhāra in the extreme North-west of India, and attack the capital city, Takkasilā. But their power was effectively checked there. Twice⁴ we hear of them preparing for an attack on the city, and arousing their soldiers with martial words.⁵ But they had to return without achieving their object, because the city of Takkasilā itself was formidable and impregnable to enemies.

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⁴ J., II, pp. 217-8; III, pp. 159-60.

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⁵ J., II, pp. 217-GG, 156-7.

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However, the political influence of Kāsī was established, as we saw, in a considerable portion of the east and the south of India. Naturally enough Benares became an eyesore to other kings and we hear, quite frequently, of a ‘leaguer of seven kings’ drawn around this enviable city but it was of no avail.⁶ “All the kingdoms round coveted the kingdom of Benares”, says the *Bhojājānīya Jātaka*.⁷ And the lustful remark of the ex-minister of Kāsī in the *Mahāsīlava Jātaka*⁸ that ‘Sire, the kingdom of Benares is like a goodly honeycomb untainted by flies’, is a glorious tribute to Kāsī. Thus, as remarked by Raychaudhury,⁹ “Benares in this respect resembled ancient Babylon and medieval Rome, being the coveted prize of its more warlike but less civilized neighbours.”

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⁶ J., I, pp. 178, 181; II, p. 90.

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⁷ J., I, p. 178.

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⁸ J., I, p. 262.

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⁹ P. H. A. I., p. 70.

Naga Ascendancy

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The supremacy of Kāsī, however, does not appear to have been of long duration. We are now coming to a stage when, if however we read the indications correctly, Kāsī is coming in a close grip both from the North and from the East. In the North its old adversary Kosala was only waiting for a suitable opportunity. But before we advert to that struggle which paved the way for the down-fall of Kāsī, let us have a look on the other growing factor from the East, viz., Aṅga and the allied Nāgas. Under Manoja, the most powerful of the Kāsī monarchs, as we saw, Aṅga was a vassal state. The *Dadhivāhana Jātaka*¹⁰ presents before us, though in a curious garb, a king named Dadhivāhana as occupying the throne of Benares. This Dadhivāhana is probably a reminiscence of, if not identical with, the king of Aṅga, Dadhivāhana, known to the *Purāṇas* and to the Jaina Literature.¹¹

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¹⁰ J., II, pp. 101 ff.

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¹¹ See Raychaudhury, P. H. A. I., p. 77; for Jaina references see C. J. Shah, *op .cit.*, pp. 93, 96.

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But far more important than the Aṅga kings in this connection were the allied Nāgas, who, occupying the river settlements on the Yamunā and the Campā, seem to have begun, at this time, to take a prominent part in the political conflicts raging around them.

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The Nāgas were a branch of the Asuras.¹ The Asuras—the Assyrians—in India had a remarkable history reaching back to the so-called pre-historic times. Their history, so eminently traced by Dr. Banerji Śāstri, gives us an idea of their conflicts with the advancing Āryans and their consequent spread from the North-West and west to the Eastern confines of India and still further East beyond the seas. "The Vedic struggle drove the Asura from the Indus valley; the epic conflict routed them in the Madhyadeśa, and the subsequent re-adjustment lost them the Gangetic valley and pushed them southwards. The Nāgas were the spearhead and backbone of the Asura people in India. With the downfall of the Nāgas ended the organised Asura supremacy in India. And the remnants of Nāgas who once ruled Gośṛṅga in Khotān, had to seek shelter in places still bearing their name e.g., Nāgpur, Choṭā Nāgpur, and are completely absorbed and assimilated in the now firmly established Ārya-Asura-Dāsa body politic of India".²

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¹ Ananta Prasad Banerji Sastri, *Asura India*: The work was originally published in the form of a series of articles contributed to the J. B. O. R. S. Vol. XII. See also Fousböll, "In-dian Mythology", p. 1.

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² A. Banerji Śāstri, op. cit., pp. 96-8; "The Dāsas were the earliest settlers, next the Asuras, the latest the Aryans." *Ibid*., p. 34.

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The Jātakas, as is well known,³ in common with the Hindu mythology, represent the Nāgas in their animal character, not unoften blended with the human. Concealed behind these avowedly mythological legends lies a faint reminiscence of the Ārya-Asura conflict of the remotest period. What else does the Kulāvaka Jātaka⁴ signify in describing the war between the Asuras and the Devas? It is interesting to note that this conflict is said to have taken place round about the Sumeru mountain in the Trans-Himālayan region where the Asurabhavana-Asura realm—was situated. The Devas (Āryans) hurled the Asuras down, so says the story. The Asuras rose again. "Sakka (Āryan Indra) went into the great deep (samuddapiṭṭhe) to give them battle". But being worsted in the fight he turned back and fled away along crest after crest of 'the southern deep' reaching thence the Simbalivana (Śālmalidvīpa? Chaldia).⁵ He soon returned to his original place and the two camps were again ready:—

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³ Cf. J. Vogal, *Indian Serpent Lore*, pp. 132 ff.

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⁴ J., I, pp. 202 ff; cf. Rāmāyaṇa, I, 45, 15-45; MBH., I, 17 ff.

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⁵ See J. Przyluski in *Pre-Aryan and Pre-Dravidian in India*, pp. 7-8; N. L. De, *I. H. Q.*, II, p. 535; A. Bannerji Śāstri, *Asura India*, pp. 86-7.

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"Impregnable both cities stand between
In five-fold guard, watch Nāgas and Garulas
Kumbhāṇḍas, Goblins and the Four Great Kings".⁶

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⁶ J., I, p. 204-G. (?) The original gāthā has the mysterious names of the 'guards'; Uraga, Karoṭi, payassa ca hāri, madanayutā and the cature mahantā, which have been explained by the commentator and followed by the translator as above. These five guards do not all seem to be on the side of Sakka, but were divided between the Devas and the Asuras, the first four being the Asura tribes, and the four great kings the Devas (or Āryas). For a really interesting parallelism, cf. *Pāñcajanāḥ* of the Ṛgveda and later Vedic literature. *Ved. Ind.*, I, pp. 466-8.

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How remarkably this conflict corresponds to the Ārya-Asura conflict on the Sindhu-waterways terminating in the Dāsarājña battle on the Paruṣṇī (Rāvī), as described by Dr. Banerji?¹ To notice further: The North-western outpost of the Nāgas is also known to the *Daddara Jātaka*,² which locates them in the Daddara mountains. These mountains are evidently connected with the present Dārdistān, to the north of Kāśmīr.³ Then again Varuṇa, the Vedic Sea-god of the Asuras⁴—an Asura *par excellence*—is familiar to the *Jātakas*.⁵ The intimate connection of the Nāgas with water, whether in lakes, rivers, islands or seas, is known.⁶ "My children are of a watery nature," says the Nāga mother in the *Bhūridatta Jātaka*.⁷ Their repute as great builders is sung in many a *gāthā* of the *Jātakas*.⁸ At the same time their terrible nature is recognised.⁹ The names of individual Nāga kings are sometimes given: Canda, Maṇikaṇṭha, Saṅkhapāla, and Dhataraṭṭha.¹⁰ Thus we see that the *Jātakas* preserve, in not a small degree, faint traces of a remarkable, though much-neglected, chapter of Ancient Indian annals.

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¹ *Asura India*, pp. 38 ff.

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² J., III, pp. 16-17.

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³ Cf. "The Nilamata Purāṇa records the occupation of Kāśmir by the Nāgas" *Asuar India*, p. 92.

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⁴ Ibid., pp. 76 ff.

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⁵ J., VI, pp. 257 ff.

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⁶ J., I, p. 472; II, p. 111; III, pp. 87-8; IV, pp. 454 ff; VI, p. 164-G. 750

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⁷ J., VI, p. 160.

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⁸ J., IV, p. 464-GG, 244-7; VI, pp. 173-4 GG. 767-71, 269-GG. 1164-70 Cf. *Asura India*, pp. 20-1.

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⁹ J., VI, p. 162.

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¹⁰ J., I, p. 472; II, p. 283; V, p. 162;

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Let us proceed with our narrative. We had stopped at a point where Kāśī was beginning to show signs of decline. It was most probably at this time, as we said, that the Nāga settlers on the Ganges-Jumna Valley—their eastern-most river settlement—must have again been roused to activity and tried to assert their erstwhile personality by interfering with the political conflicts of the time. The invasion of Benares by a Nāga king narrated in a story is in point. Dhataraṭṭha, the Nāga king, wanted to marry the Benares Princess Samuddajā. He marched with a great host towards the city and:

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"Benares city prostrate lay
Before these wild invading bands
Rising their arms all begged
And prayed: give him the daughter he demands.¹¹"

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¹¹ J., VI, pp. 165-6-GG, 753-9.

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The marriage was duly accomplished, and the two kings became intimate friends. It appears thus, that the Nāgas had as yet no direct aim at power, but wanted simply the alliance with other Royal powers. For, the same thing can be discerned from another incident, where the Nāga king Campeyya intercedes in the Aṅga-Magadha conflict, sets the Magadhan king over both the kingdoms, and receives from him a tribute in return of his services.¹²

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¹² J., IV, pp. 454-5.

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We cannot however say with certainty as to whether we are to read here the rise of the Śiśunāgas—the so-called ‘first historical dynasty of Magadha, as there is a division of opinion among scholars regarding the origin of the Śiśunāgas.¹ It is not our business here to enter into the merits of the controversy. But what is of immediate importance for our present purpose is to recognise the fact that the Jātakas do preserve a record, though a dim one, of the period when Kāsī’s power was fast declining and the Nāgas were beginning to establish their influence on the Magadhan politics. This influence, it is possible, and even probable, might have later on terminated in the final occupation of Magadha by the Śiśunāgas. These findings, if proved correct, would seem to favour the view that makes the Śiśunāgas as coming after Bimbisāra, who was, according to that view, a scion of the Haryaṅkakula.² But the problem still remains unsolved.

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¹ Jayaswal, J. B. O. R. S., I, pp. 67 ff; J. A. S. B., 1913, accepts the Paurāṇic accounts making the rise of the Śiśunāgas prior to Bimbisāra. His view is challenged by others who relying mainly on the Ceylonese accounts, take the Śiśunāgas as coming later than Bimbisāra, Bhandarkar, C. L., 1918, pp. 67 ff; Pradhan, Chronology of Ancient India, pp. 211 ff; Raychaudhury, P. H. A. I., pp. 81-2.

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² Ibid. Haryaṅka was a king of Aṅga: See A.B.O.R.I. xix, p. 82.

The Fall of Kāsī and the Rise of Kosala

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We may now revert to the Kāsī-Kosala relations and reach the logical, and also the Chronological, finale. Several successful invasions of Kāsī by the Kosalan monarchs are recorded. Thus two unnamed Kosala kings are said to have invaded and successfully captured the kingdom of Benares.³ The Ghaṭa Jātaka⁴ again informs us that, earred by the banished minister of Kāsī, the Kosala king Vaṅka seized the kingdom of Benares and took king Ghaṭa prisoner. He was however set free. The combined evidence of the Mahāsīlava⁵ and the Ekarāja Jātakas⁶ shows that the Kosalan king Dabbasena captured the ruler of Benares, Mahāsīlava, while he was seated in the midst of his ministers, and subjected him to severe physical tortures as a punishment. Here also the Benares king, who is represented as a very pious and religious king with no desire of kingly power, is said to have regained his kingdom. In all these instances, as rightly judged by Dr. Sen,⁷ we can mark ‘a spirit of propagandism which deliberately seeks to protect the sanctity of specially favoured country like Kāsī, where the Master turned the Wheel of Law, even though the forces of history have already begun to operate in a reverse direction by proclaiming its political downfall.’ Other Kosala kings who can perhaps be located during this period may be mentioned here: Mallika, who was ‘rough to the rough and mild with mildness swayed’, mastered the good with goodness and paid the bad with badness, was an equal with the Kāsī king Brahmadatta ;⁸ Sabbamitta is said to have abolished wine-drinking from his kingdom;¹ and Elakamāra² who is probably identical with Avimāraka of Bhāsa, the dramatist³, is reported to have been brought up by a goatherd and afterwards married Kuraṅgavī, the Princess of Benares. The final conquest of Kāsī, however, was, probably, the work of Kaṃsa as the epithet ‘Bārāṇasigaho’, i.e., conqueror of Benares, is a standing addition to his name.⁴ “The interval of time between Kaṃsa’s conquest of Kāsī and the rise of Buddhism could not have been very long because the memory of Kāsī as an independent kingdom was still fresh in the minds of the people in Buddha’s time and even later, when the Aṅguttara Nikāya was composed.”⁵ And by the time of Mahākosala, in the sixth century B.C., Kāsī formed an integral part of the Kosalan monarchy.⁶ We have thus reached a stage which is chronologically the last in our Jātakas. The next age with its settled order, so transparently reflected in the early Buddhist literature, is dominated spiritually by Gotama Buddha and Mahāvīra and politically by Mahākosala and Pasenadī of Kosala, Bimbisāra and Ajātasattu of Magadha, Udayana of Kosambī and Caṇḍapajjota of Ujjenī. As regards this age, we may note finally, much valuable light is thrown by the Introductory episodes of our Jātakas which, though compiled much later, embody earlier tradition and have been ably analysed by B. C. Sen.⁷

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³ J., I, pp. 409-10; V, p. 430.

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⁴ J., III, p. 168-GG. 29-30.

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⁵ J., I, pp. 263 ff.

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⁶ J., III, pp. 13-4-G. 10.

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⁷ op. cit., p. 9.

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⁸ J., II, pp. 3, ff-G. 1.

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¹ J., V, pp. 13 ff.-G. 59.

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² J., V, pp. 428-30.

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³ Cf. A. Venkatasubbhiah, I. A., 1931, pp. 113-5..

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⁴ J., II, p. 403-G. 96; V, p. 112-G, 2; Rhys Davids, Buddhist India, p. 25; Raychaudhury, P. H. A. I., p. 110.

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⁵ Ibid. See also Rhys Davids, op. cit., pp. 24-5; C. H. I., I, p. 180.

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⁶ Ibid.
7. op-cit. pp. 21 ff.

Assaka and Kaliṅga

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Of the conflicts between neighbouring kingdoms, which were the predominent feature of this Mahājanapada Period, those of Kāsī and Kosala and Aṅga and Magadha have been already noticed. We have now finally to notice the relations between the Southern states of Assaka and Kaliṅga as recorded in the Cullakāliṅga Jātaka.⁸

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⁸ J., III, pp. 3-8—GG. 1-4.

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The gāthās of this interesting Jātaka contain a bardic narration of the feud between those two prominent states in the South—once the vassal kings of Daṇḍaka. The Assaka king named in this Jātaka is Aruṇa,⁹ while no name of the Kaliṅga king is unfortunately mentioned. The Assaka king had his capital at Poṭali and the king of Kaliṅga ruled at Dantapura. The war was an aggressive one ‘inflicted on the king of Assaka by the Kaliṅga king who suffered from the mania for war and love of conquests over the whole of India.’ It was fought on the frontiers of the two kingdoms (Ubhinnam rajjūnam antare) The Kaliṅga king had come with a large army (sampannbalavāhano, mahatī-senāya) but the valuable direction of Nandisena,¹⁰ the Assaka commander-in-chief, succeeded in gaining victory for his master and drove away the enemy from the battlefield. Peace was ultimately restored between the two kings, which probably lasted until the reign of Khāravela who, in the 1st century B. C., according to some scholars, seems to have marched upon Assaka in his victorious career.¹

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⁹ J., III, p. 3—G. 1:—“Vivaratha imāsam nagaram pavisantu, Aruṇarājassa sihena susatthena surakkhitam Nandisenena.”

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¹ See Barua, Old Brāhmi Inscriptions, p. 176.

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The very facts, if they are truly embodied, that Poṭali and Dantapura are mentioned as the capitals of the Assaka and Kaliṅga kingdoms respectively, would seem to be enough to regard this episode of Assaka-Kaliṅga war as much earlier than the time of the Nanda kings,² but later than that of Manoja who had subdued Assaka as we have alread seen³.

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² The Hāthigumphā Inscription of Khāravela informs us that the capital of Kaliṅga before the advent of king Nanda of Aṅga-Magadha was Pithuḍaga. See Barua, op cit., 21.

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³ Dr. Barua, however, with his no doubt ingenuous analysis of the facts embodied in the Jātaka, has tried to apply them to those mentioned in Khāravela's Inscription, equating Kaliṅga king with Khāravela and seeing in the Jātaka story only a later replica of the incidents of the life-story of Khāravela. He regards the name of Aruṇa as a later addition and the verse itself as a later manipulation. Barua, op cit., pp. 213-5. The evidence is not, however, conclusive and the similarities of incidents may as well be accidental only.

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Our task has now practically ended. In final, we should note down other kingdoms mentioned in the Jātakas which must have flourished together during this period, but for which we have no historical matter in the Jātakas themselves. Vaṃsa, with its capital Kosambī ruled over by Kosambika kings,⁴ of whom Udena—the contemporary of the Buddha—is once⁵ mentioned; Dasaṇṇa, in the Madhyadeśa or Cental India;⁶ Sindha famous for its horses;⁷ Sovīra, with Roruva as its capital;⁸ and Suraṭṭha Janapada;⁹ Avanti with its capital Ujjeṇī;¹⁰ Mahimsaka on the Kaṇṇapeṇṇā,¹¹ Seriva and Andha separated by the river Telavāhā,¹² and Damilaraṭṭha with its seaport town Kavirapaṭṭana.¹³

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⁴ J., IV. pp. 28; 56;
5. J., III, p. 385;
6. J., III p. 338-G. 39; VI. p. 238-G. 1065.

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⁷ J., I, pp. 178, 181; II, p. 166; V. p. 259-G. 46; VI, pp. 47-G. 170, 49-G. 201, 265.

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⁸ J. III, p. 470;
9. J., III, p. 463.

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¹⁰ J., IV, p.

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¹¹ J., V, p. 337; I, p. 356;
12. J., I, p. 111.

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Thus in the preceding pages, let us say in conclusion, we have tried to link up the stray and detached and loose data of political history into a kind of continuity which is or should be the essence of all historical narratives. Our findings are bound to be dubious in character. Our sole resort has been the Jātaka stories from out of which we had to sift and separate historical ingredients from legendary and purely imaginary chaff. Recourse had to be taken to other literary sources to supplement the knowledge thus acquired. Unfortunately no archaeological or epigraphical records survive which, with their definite and certain character, can help us in our way through that dreary, labyrinth-like past from across which we have presently had a flittering experience. We must await light from further research.

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³⁹⁰ As to Caṇḍapajjota being earlier than the Buddha, see Jyotirmoy Sen, I. H. Q., VI, pp. 686-9.

Cites (9)