The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c12.s1.t3.35

c12.s1.t3.35

He had great interest in the welfare of the Vajjian Confederacy and was almost the political and spiritual adviser of its council of elders. During the last days of this republic, while it was singing the swan-song of its sovereign existence owing to the threat of Ajataśatru, King of Magadha, that he would extirpate the Vajjians "mighty and powerful though they be", it was Śâkya's anti-monarchism and republican fervor that kept up the spirit of resistance among the Senators sufficiently high to enable them to accept the royal challenge. For they were heartened by Sâkya's judgment that the Vajjians could not be overcome by the king in battle as long as their federation was unbroken.³