Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c9.s1.58

c9.s1.58

We suggest, therefore, that the Licchavis, before descending to the Videhan country, stayed in the hills in some region of the Nepalese Terāi as if watching the political developments in Videha and the neighbouring region. They might have reached this region about the time that Janaka was ruling over Mithilā (8th-7th century B.C.). As they stayed in a region which abounded in bears and had broken off from their earlier folk, they dropped their older name and started calling themselves by a new name—the Licchavis. They soon advanced south towards the Ganges and first occupied the region of Videha, then Vesāli, the land previously controlled by the Videhas.¹ The Licchavian concentration of power at Vesāli was most probably the second and final stage in their search for a new home. Before the Licchavis occupied Vesāli it was an insignificant place, but it became the biggest city, the stronghold and the capital of the Licchavis. The Ganges separated them from the Magadhan Kingdom, and occasional feuds between these two great and rival powers persisted. They may well have annoyed the Magadhan king over a Ganges port held by them in common. This port is reported by Buddhaghosa to have been a bone of contention between the Licchavis and Ajātasattu.² Both Bimbisāra and his son are said to have been hostile to them.³ Ajātasattu’s fortification at Pāṭaligāma was mainly designed to check the Vajjian invasions⁴ and the campaigns against Ajātasattu were directed from Vesāli, the metropolis of the confederacy.⁵