Local Government in Ancient India c8.37.2

c8.37.2

It may perhaps be very reasonably assumed that the association of these merchant-princes with the Buddha acted as an effective adventitious aid in advertising the solitary and self-absorbed ascetic, until even the attentions of crowned heads and emperors, like Bimbisāra and Ajātaśatru of the Magadha throne, were drawn to that divine beggar. It was again their munificent financial support and endowment of Buddhism in its very early stages that probably paved the way for its popularity and propagation among the masses. The Buddha’s conversion of the upper classes of society easily established his influence and made it felt among the lower classes or the masses.¹ sermon at Benares he speaks of the supreme religious enlightenment for the sake of which 'the sons of noble families (*kulaputtā*) leave their homes and go into homelessness', for here were '*young Brahmans* like Sāriputta, Moggallāna, Kaccāna, *nobles* like Ānanda, Rāhula, Anuruddha, sons of the greatest *merchants* and highest municipal dignitaries, like Yasa, invariably men and youths of the most respectable classes of society, and with an education in keeping with their social status'. 'Prominent among the "adherents" stand also the two *royal friends* of Buddha, Bimbisāra, the ruler of Magadha, and Pasenadi, the ruler of Kosala, both approximately of the same age as Buddha, and throughout their lives true protectors of his church.