Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c10.s2.29

c10.s2.29

The Buddhist texts reveal something about the early history of the Videhas as well. According to the *Mahāgovinda Sutta*, it was king Reṇu who, with the help of Mahāgovinda Jotipāla, founded the Videhan kingdom.¹² The commentator Buddhaghosa also informs us that Videha was colonized by settlers who were brought from *Pubba*-Videha by king Mandhātā.¹ In this term we must assume that *pubba* implies "former" (*prācīna*) rather than "eastern." This is an unmistakable preservation of the Brāhmaṇic tradition, but the foundation of the kingdom is accredited to the kings usually idealized in the Buddhist texts. The commentator, if we can trust his statement, presupposes an older Videha. The sources are not at variance with regard to the fact that the Videhas were not the indigenous people of Videha. The Buddhist tradition in no way contradicts the *Brāhmaṇa*, that they came from the west, *Madhyadeśa*, and were of the same stock as the Kurus and Pāñcālas. Like the Kosalas, Kāsīs, Magadhans, Aṅgas and Licchavis, etc., they had moved eastwards beyond what was then considered the "home of genuine Brāhmanism."² In this connection one should also take into account the influence of earlier non-Aryan inhabitants of the region on the customs of the Aryans, with whom they no doubt intermarried.³