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________________ THE PRE-BUDDHISTIC ANCIENT HISTORICAL TRADITIONS OF THE VAISALI REGION PROFESSOR S. C. SARKAR, M. A. (CAL.), D. PHIL. (OXON.), DIP. ED. (OXON.) About seven or eight generations before the Ailas and Aiksvakas started their respective famous dynasties (with the main branches at Pratisthana or Prayaga and at Ayodhya), that is about ninety generations before the Bharata War (which took place in the middle of the tenth century B. C. when the last edition of the Vedic texts was being drawn up by KtsnaDvaipayana),-in other words, near about the twenty-third century B. C., in the concluding epoch of the so-called Mohenjo-Daro' or pre-Aryan (pre-Aila') civilization (cir. 3750 to 2000 B. C.),-a large part of northern India, including Himalayan and Gangetic regions, began to be ruled over not by 'kings' but by chosen 'Manus' (=Mentors or Monitors, Planners or 'Law-givers'). In about two centuries, from the twenty-third to the twenty-first, there were six 'Manu's, most of whom belonged to one family, that of the first Manu and his son, Priyavrata.-The first mention of the Vaisali region in ancient historical tradition occurs in connexion with the episodes recorded in the Puranas regarding the 'Manus' of this family and period. The first Manu's grandson, the famous Uttana-pada, had by his second consort a son called Uttama, who was married to Behula of the Babhravya family. She was a great beauty, but did not respond to Uttama's love; tired of her coldness, he banished her. One of his subjects, Susarman, a brahmana of Visala town, had a plain-looking shrew for a wife (the daughter of Atiratra, a brabmana), who was kidnapped by a handsome Raksasa (named Valaka, son of Adri) of Utpalavatal (i.e., 1. I.e. Prayaga (Allahabad). There is a "ghata' called Brahmavartta at Prayaga associated with Uttanapada, who is also said to have ruled Brahmavartta between Sarasvati and Drsadvati.--which
| SR No. | 012088 |
| Book Title | Vaishali Abhinandan Granth |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Yogendra Mishra |
| Publisher | Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology and Ahimsa |
| Publication Year | 1985 |
| Total Pages | 592 |
| Language | Hindi, English |
| Classification | Smruti_Granth |
| File Size | 17 MB |