Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c9.s2.36

c9.s2.36

Yet even more revealing are some other passages in the *Pāṭika-Suttanta*.² They record a conversation between the Buddha and the wanderer Bhaggava about the former’s apostate disciple Sunakkhatta of the Licchavis who left the Buddhist *Saṅgha* for the Ājīvikas. During this dialogue the Buddha reports that Sunakkhatta the Licchavi has spoken in the praise of the Buddha and his *Dhamma* and *Saṅgha* “among the Vajjians.”³ This expression is used 4 times and whenever a reference is made to this disciple he is invariably called a Licchavi. Thus, there must have been a difference between the two and, as the context suggests, the word Vajji had the wider connotation.