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SECTION IV. MAGADHA CRESCENT-BIMBISARA.
According to Jaina legend Pradyota went forth to attack Rajagriha even during the lifetime of Bimbisāra.1 The last-mentioned prince, the real founder of Magadhan imperial power in the historic period, was the son of a petty chief of South Bihar, whose very name seems to have been forgotten. Tradition tried to fill the lacuna possibly by an imaginary nomenclature. An early authority describes the family to which the prince belonged as the Haryanka-kula. As we have already seen, there is no reason to discard this evidence in favour of the later tradition of the Puranas. Young Bimbisara, who also bore the name or epithet of Seniya (Śreņika), is said to have been anointed king by his own father when he was only fifteen years old. The momentous event cannot fail to recall a solemn ceremony that took place some nine hundred years later when another king of Magadha clasped his favourite son in arms in the presence of the princes royal and ministers, in council assembled, and exclaimed, "Protect the entire land". JKOWĄ
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The new ruler had a clear perception of the political situation of his time. The military power of the Vriji Confederation was growing in the North. Aggressive monarchies under ambitious rulers were following a policy of expansion from their bases in Śrāvasti, and Ujjain. The cruel and unscrupulous ruler of the
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1 He was foiled by the cunning of Prince Abhaya (Annals of the Bhandarkar Institute, 1920-21, 3; cf. DPPN. 1. 128).
2 Among the names given by various late writes we find the following: Bhatiyo (Bhattiya, Bodhisa), Mahāpadma, Hemajit,. Kshemajit, Kshetroja or Kshetrauja.
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3 Supra p. 115ff,
4 Mahāvamsa (Geiger's trans.) p. 12.