Lord Mahavira and His Times

SR No.: 011080
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Kailashchandra Jain
Publisher: Motilal Banarasidas
Publication Year: 1974
Total Pages: 427
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

Page 221

Political Conditions and Institutions
201
Vesālie, i.e. inhabitants of Vaiśālı." The remaining people of the confederacy, viz., the Ugras, Bhogas, Kauravas, and Aikshvakavas, resided in the suburbs, andin villages or towns like Hatthigāma and Bhoganagara.?
The Lichchhavis were on friendly terms with king Prasenajit of Kosala. Their relation with the neighbouring Mallas was on the whole friendly. The Jaina Kalpasūtra3 refers to the nine Lichchhavís as having formed a league with the nine Mallakis and eighteen clan-lords of Kāśi-Kosala. We learn from the Nirayāvali Sūtra that an important leader of this alliance was Chețaka whose sister Trišalā or Videha-dattā was the mother of Mahāvīra, and whose daughter Chellanā or Vaidehi was, according to Jaina writers, the mother of KūņikaAjātaśatru. The great rival of Vaiśālı was Magadha. According to tradition, the Vaiśālians sent an army to attack Magadha at the time of Bimbisāra.4 The matrimoninl alliance was, according to D.R. BHANDARKAR, the result of the peace concluded after the war between Bimbisāra and the Lichchhavis. In the reign of Ajātasatru, this great confederacy Vriji was utterly destroyed. MALLA
Originally, the Mallas had a monarchical form of Government, but at the time of Mahāvira, they were a Samgha or corporation, of which the members were called Rajās. The Jaina Kalpasūtras refers to the nine clans of the Mallas, and each of them ruled over a separate territory. Among these, two were prominent : one with its headquarters at Kuśnārā and the other with Pāvā as its chief town. The river Kakutstha (Kakutthā) formed the boundary between the two territories. Kuśınārā is identified with Kāsia on the smaller Gandak about 56 km. to the cast of Gorakhpur, and Pāvā with Padaraona 19 km. to the north-cast of Kasiã.6 In the Sangili Suttanta, we 1. HOERXLE. Urā, II, p. 4 n. 2. PHAI, p. 12. 3. SBE, XXII, p. 266. 4. HTB, II, 166. 5 SBE. XXII, p. 200.
CAG, p. 498. CARLLEYLE, however, proposes to identify it with Fazilpur, 10 miles S.E. of Kasia.