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Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c11.s1: Political History

Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c11.s1

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English

Political History

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According to the *Ācārāṅga Sūtra*, Mahāvīra’s parents were worshippers of Pārśva,² and in Hoernle’s opinion, “with them probably the whole clan of Nāya-Kshattriyas were followers of the tenets of Pārshwanātha.”³ The *Kalpa Sūtra* also gives an account of Pārśva who is often referred to in the text as *Purisānīya* or the “favourite of the people.”⁴ The Jaina tradition puts the date of Mahāvīra’s predecessor Pārśva, whose cult Mahāvīra reformed, about 250 years before the latter.⁵ The Nāyas being the followers of Pārśva and later of Mahāvīra kept up a religious establishment (*ceïya*) for their accomodation on periodical visits with their disciples to Kuṇḍapura or Vesāli.¹ We may doubt the accuracy of the tradition with regard to Pārśva's early date, but it seems fairly certain that the Nāyas, before Mahāvīra, had been followers of Pārśva² and that he was a historical figure. This inevitably shows that despite the absence of any mention of the Nāyas in the Vedic literature, they existed well before the time of Mahāvīra.

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² *Ācār. Sū.*, ii, 15, 16.

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³ *Uvāsagadasāo*, ii, p. 6 fn. 8.

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⁴ *Kalpa Sūtra*, secs. 149-69.

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⁵ Cf. Hoernle, in *Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics*, i, p. 265.

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¹ *Uvāsagadasāo*, ii, p. 6.

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² *Uvāsagadasāo*, vi, sec. 179, p. 104.

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The antiquity of the Nāyas can be pushed back even further by a careful study of the *Uvāsagadasāo*. This text gives an account of the religious profession of Jaina lay disciples (*Uvāsagas*). It is set out in ten lectures (*adhyayanas*). At the end of each lecture, save one, it is stated that "he will attain perfection in the Great-Videha Country" (*Mahāvidehe vāse sijjhihië*).³ In the *Ācārāṅga Sūtra* the same formula is repeated in connection with Mahāvīra's parents.⁴ Yet in the following section Mahāvīra is called a "Videha, son of Videhadattā, a native of Videha, a prince of Videha who lived 30 years amongst the Videhas".⁵ The constant emphasis on Mahā-Videha and Videha suggests, to our mind, that in spite of the Licchavi newcomers and their establishment of power at Vesāli, the Jainas still called the whole territory to the north of the Ganges by its much older name, Mahā-Videha. The Nāyas occupied a region in Mahā-Videha, and thought of themselves as Videhas. They probably came from the Madhyadeśa along with the Videhas.⁶

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³ *Ibid.*, i, secs. 90, 125, 144, 154, 162, 230, 266, 274, 277; Appx. p. 40.

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⁴ *Ācār. Sū.*, ii, 15, 16.

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⁵ *Ibid.*, ii, 15, 17.

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⁶ Cf. above, pp. 60ff.

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The Nāyas are directly mentioned in the Buddhist Pāli works in connection with the *Nigantha Nātaputta*.⁷ The northern traditions in Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese sources also make mention of the *Nirgrantha Jñātaputra*⁸ but mainly in connection with the chief opponents of the Buddha at the time. Buddhist sources do not enlighten us further on the political history of the Nāyas. The Jaina Prākrit texts, as already noted, also mention the Nāyas and occasionally allude to their republican or quasi-republican institutions.

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⁷ *Aṅguttara*, iii, p. 74; *Majjhima*, i, p. 56.

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⁸ Cf. Rockhill. *op. cit.*, pp. 79, 96, 104, 259, etc.

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It is a fair inference that the Nāyas were also defeated along with other Vajjian Confederates and later assimilated in the Magadhan population. We do not hear of them as a political entity after the break-up of the Vajjian Confederation, and the region lying along the north of the Ganges to the foothills of Himālayas must certainly have been finally annexed during the reign of the first Mauryan emperor. No source gives us any further help in writing the political history of the Nāyas. The histories of Jainism and its founder have been written,¹ but in the present state of our knowledge we are unable to give a full-length political history of the clan which gave India one of her greatest sons.

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¹ *CHI*, i, pp. 150-57; S. Stevenson, *Heart of Jainism*; B. C. Law, *Mahāvīra: His Life and Teachings*; Hoernle, in *Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics*, *Mahāvīra* and Jainism, etc.

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