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then Kundagrama was scarcely more than an outlying village of Vaisali, it is evident that the sovereign of that village could at best have been only a petty chief. Indeed, though the Gainas fondly imagine Siddhartha to have been a powerful monarch and depict his royal state in glowing, but typical colours, yet their statements, if stripped of all rhetorical ornaments, bring out the fact constitution of Vessli.. So we are enabled to understand why the Bddhists took no notice of him, as his influence was very great, and besides, was used in the interest of their rivals. But the Gainas cherished the memory of the maternal uncle and patron of their prophet, to whose influence we must attribute the fact, that Vaisali used to be a stronghold of Gainism, while being looked upon by the Buddhists as a seminary of heresies and dissent.
That Sidhartha was but a baron; for he is frequently called merely Kshatriya his wife Trisala is, so far as I remember, never styled Devi, queen, but always Kshatriyani. Whenever the Gnatrika Kshatriyas are mentioned, they are nerer spoken of as Sidhartha's Samantas or dependents, but are treated as his equals. From all this it appears that Sidhartha 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 Vasal! She is called Vaidehi or Videhdatta' because she belonged to the regning line of Vidcha
Buddhist works do not mention, for aught I know, Ketaka, King of Vaisal, but they tell is that the government of Vesali was vested in a senate composed of the nobility and presided over a king, who shared the power with a viceroy and a general-in-chief. In Gaina books we still have traces of this curious government of the Likkhavis; for in the Nirayavalı Sutra it is related that king Ketaka, whom Kunika, al. Agatasatru, king of Kampa, prepared to attack with a strong army, called together the eithteen confederate kings of Kasi and Kosala, the Likkhavis and Mallakis, and asked them whether they would satisfy Kunika's demands or go to war with him. Again, of the death of Mahavira 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
| SR No. | 010082 |
| Book Title | Bhagwan Mahavir ka Janmasthal Kshatriyakunda |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Hiralal Duggad |
| Publisher | Jain Prachin Sahitya Prakashan Mandir Delhi |
| Publication Year | 1989 |
| Total Pages | 196 |
| Language | Hindi |
| Classification | Book_Devnagari |
| File Size | 8 MB |