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50 MAHĀVĪRA : HIS LIFE AND TEACHINGS appointed to govern Anga as a viceroy, and while he was the viceroy of Anga, he picked up a quarrel with the Licchavis of Vaiśālī. The Pāli scholiast Buddhaghosa says that the first quarrel arose on account of the arbitrary action of the Licchavis in violation of the term of a treaty by which half the mineral products of a mine was to be received by them, and the other half by Ajātaśatru.'
The Bhagavatī-Sūtra, however, suggests that some sixteen years before Mahāvira's demise, a quarrel arose between Kunika and his brother or half-brother Vaihalya over the succession to the throne of their father In this quarrel, the Licchavis lent their support to Vaihalya's claim. The result was that Kunika had to fight a battle with the Licchavis who allied themselves with the Mallas and others ? Kunika must have suffered a defeat, although he succeeded in usurping the throne of Magadha The alliance of the Licchavis and the Mallas existed till the demise of Mahāvīra The Licchavis and the Aallas were indeed the two peoples to whom the rise of Mahāvīra was an object of national pride Accordingly we read in the Kalpa-Sūtra that when Mahāvīra died at Pāvā,
1 Law, Some Ksatriya Tribes of Ancient India, P 113. 2 Barua, The Ājivikas, p 28.
