Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c9.s5.78

c9.s5.78

According to the Pāli records, the war flared up not over a splendid rutting elephant and a priceless neckless, but over an unnamed river port,¹ half of which was in Magadhan territory and half in that of the Licchavis. From the foot of a mountain there descended a very costly and fragrant material.² When Ajātasattu went to claim this strange substance he found that the clever Licchavis had preceded him and had taken it away. It was in order to gain possession of the scent-producing mountain that he planned the war against the Vajjians. The *Mahāparinibbāna Sutta* clearly indicates that his plans were carefully laid.³ Ajātasattu first sent his minister Vassakāra to the Buddha and sought his advice on the outcome of an immediate attack.⁴ Vassakāra visited the Buddha at Gijjhakūṭa near Rājagaha, just before the latter’s journey northwards which terminated with his death at Kusinārā. It is in this context that the Buddha spoke of the seven-fold conditions for the success and prosperity of the Vajjians.⁵ The commentator tells us that it was because of the Buddha's advice that Ajātasattu dropped his plans of immediate attack on the Vajjians and bided his time.⁶ The *Sutta* further states that as the Buddha proceeded northwards, he met once more with the minister Vassakāra. Together with another minister named Sunīdha, Vassakāra was supervising the erection of a fort at Pāṭaligāma.⁷ The Buddha then correctly prophesied the future greatness of the city that would rise on the site.