Page Text
________________
xii
GAINA SOTRAS.
that Siddhartha was but a baron; for he is frequently called merely Kshatriya — his wife Trisala is, so far as I remember, never styled Devî, queen, but always Kshatriyânî. Whenever the Grâtrika Kshatriyas are mentioned, they are never spoken of as Siddhartha's Sâmantas or dependents, but are treated as his equals. From all this it appears that Siddhârtha was no king, nor even the head of his clan, but in all probability only exercised the degree of authority which in the East usually falls to the share of landowners, especially of those belonging to the recognised aristocracy of the country. Still he may have enjoyed a greater influence than many of his fellow-chiefs; for he is recorded to have been highly connected by marriage. His wife Trisala was sister to Ketaka, king of Vaisâlîl. She is called Vaidehî or Videhadatta?, because she belonged to the reigning line of Videha.
Buddhist works do not mention, for aught I know, Ketaka, king of Vaisâlî; but they tell us that the government of Vesali was vested in a senate composed of the nobility and presided over by a king, who shared the power with a viceroy and a general-in-chief 3. In Gaina books we still have traces of this curious government of the Likkhavis; for in the Nirayâvali Sätrâ 4 it is related that king Ketaka, whom Kûnika, al. Agåtasatru, king of Kampa, prepared to attack with a strong army, called together the eighteen confederate kings of Kåsî and Kosala, the Likkhavis and Mallakis, and asked them whether they would satisfy Kûnika's demands or go to war with him. Again, on the death of Mahâvîra the eighteen confederate kings, mentioned above, instituted a festival to be held in memory of that events, but no separate mention is made of Ketaka, their pretended sovereign. It is therefore probable that Ketaka was simply one of these confederate kings and of equal power with them. In addition to this, his power was checked by the
* See Kalpa Sætra, my edition, p. 113. Keraka is called the maternal uncle of Mahavira.
* See Kalpa Sûtra, Lives of the Ginas, $ 110; Åkârânga Sûtra II, 15. $15. • Turnour in the Journal of the Royal As. Soc. of Bengal, VII, p. 992. • Ed. Warren, p. 27.
See Kalpa Sátra, Lives of the Ginas.
Digitized by Google
| SR No. | 007677 |
| Book Title | Saddharma Pundarika |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | H Kern |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1884 |
| Total Pages | 2546 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 46 MB |