Book Title: Agama And Tripitaka Comparative Study
Author(s): Nagaraj Muni
Publisher: Today and Tomorrows Printers and Publishers

Previous | Next

Page 529
________________ 489 "Such and such Vajji told me". Thus, within a short time, the split among the Vajjis was complete, and no two of them would use the same road. To be further sure, one day Vassakafahad the bugle sounded, but not a single Vajji turned up. Then he was con ced that it would be easy now to overthrow the Vajjis. A secret message was sent at once to Ajātasatru to launch an attack. Ajatasatru did the same with his vast army. In the face of this imminent danger, the bugle was sounded asking the people not to allow the enemy to cross the Gangā, but not a single Vajji responded. The bugle was sounded again calling upon the people to shut the entrances to the city, but nobody turned up. Some of them said, "We are too poor to fight". Other said, "We are too weak to fight". Still others said, "Let those who are heroic fight". And so on. - So the city gates lay open. Ajātasatru entered the city without resistance, ravaged it to a complete ruin and went back (144). According to the Pariniyvāņa Sutta, two great ministers of Ajātasatru, Sunidha and Vassakāra, erected the city of Pāțaliputra on the bank of the Gangā in order to remain at a safe distance from the Vajjis. When the city was being erected, by chance, the Buddha came there. On an invitation from Sunidha and Vassakāra he took his meal at their house. In the course of a conversation, the Buddha praised the city of Pataliputra, and pointed to three difficulties of a city, viz., fire, water and mutual split among the people. According to the Buddha's advice, the two ministers consulted the Trayastrimsa gods about the construction of the city. : Review Both the sources give, in their respective ways, the account of the victory of Magadha and the destruction of Vaisali, but the cause of the war and the description of battles are wholly different. In the Jaina tradition, Cetaka figures as the leader of the Vajji (Licchavi) Confederacy; but in the Buddhist account, the Confederacy figures by its elf. Some details of the Jaina account, 33 crores constituting the army of Kūnika and 57 crores that of Cetaka, the collaboration of Sakrendra and Camarendra, death of

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 683 684 685 686 687 688 689 690 691 692 693 694 695 696 697 698 699 700 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714 715 716 717 718 719 720 721 722 723 724 725 726 727 728 729 730 731 732 733 734 735 736 737 738 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748 749 750 751 752 753 754 755 756 757 758 759 760 761 762 763 764 765 766 767 768 769 770 771 772 773 774 775 776 777 778 779 780 781 782 783 784 785 786 787 788 789 790 791 792 793 794 795 796 797 798 799 800 801 802 803 804