Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c9.s5.73

c9.s5.73

Raychaudhuri⁴ has identified the war of the *Nirayāvalikā Sūtra* with that referred to in the Buddhist sources as having taken place soon after the Buddha's death. The account of the preparations for the war is to be found in the *Mahāparinibbāna Sutta*,⁵ and that of the war itself in Buddhaghosa's commentary⁶ on the *Sutta*. Though much of the story is contained in a comparatively late source, the commentator is said to have been a Magadhan and thus may have had access to records or traditions about the earlier history of the region.⁷