Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c9.s4.62

c9.s4.62

It was probably on this occasion that the *uparājās* whose fathers had died during the year, or had become too old to perform their duties, were given their sacred bath and anointed *rājās*. The auspicious *Pokkharaṇī* was the tank wherein the representatives of the Kṣatriya families of Vesālī were also anointed.⁶ The existence of such a tank has been confirmed by the recent excavations carried out at the site by the late Professor Altekar.⁷ These revealed the "periphery of an ancient tank about half a mile to the northwest of the ruins of the fortified city of Vaiśālī (*rājā Viśāla kā gaḍa*). The site of the tank (now called Kharaunapokhrā) with a length of 1,420 feet and a width of 660 feet is locally believed to represent the ancient ‘Abhiṣeka-Puṣkariṇī’ of the Licchavis in which none but the Licchavi chiefs were allowed to bathe . . .”. The excavations proved that “while no wall existed at the top of the tank-embankment, there had been one, 3 feet 4 inches wide along its slope, very near the present-day water level during the month of March . . .”. “The original tank of the Licchavis might have been a smaller one, which was subsequently enlarged and surrounded by a wall, represented by its present remains, in about the 2nd century B.C. when the Licchavis might have once more become powerful after the fall of the Mauryan Empire.”¹