Indian Antiquary Vol 45

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 17

JANUARY, 1916)
THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF MAGADHA
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predecessors on the throne of Kåói. The Satâpatha Brahmaņa mentions Bhadrasena Âjatasatrava i. e, as a son of Ajátasatru. A variant of the latter name is Bhadra Srênya mentioned in the Vayu P. as king of Benares. The name Bhadra Srenya occurs also in the Kurma, Linga and Brahma Puranas and in the Harivainsa. Srenya is a name for Bim bisâra in Jaina works. The name Bhadra occurs in Udayibhadra the founder of Pâtalîputra and in Bhadramukha one of the epithets of Darsaka in Bhâsa's Vasavadatta.
That Ajatasatru was a 6th Cent. (B o.) Harsha or Akbar is evident even from Buddhist records. He was a follower of the “ previous Buddhas" and built a hall for Devadatta at Gayâsisa 33 He was a devout Jaina, according to Behar tradition, who ruled the country for 80 years according to the laws of his father."34 One of his queens, Mallika, was a follower of the Buddha. The king himself is credited with building a hall at Rajagriha
for the Buddhists. In the light of the general attitude of this king towards Buddhists we may interpret this to mean a hall of religious discussion rather than an abode of peace. But the later Buddhists could not conceive of such a king, except as coming to the Buddha as a penitent sinner, though they do not definitely say that he gave up Devadatta and became a follower of the Buddha. The legend to the last effect is probably not more than a few centuries old. It is found in the Malálankira Vattu translated by Bigandet. It says that the first Buddhist Council was held with his consent, that he prepared a hall for holding it, that he clamoured for a share of the relics of the Buddha after the Nirvana, and that he inaugurated the Buddhist era.35 Even the latest addition to the Jataka literature says of the king, that but for his joining Dêvadatta "he would have won the Arhat's clear vision of the Truth ere he rose from his seat."36
Under Ajatasatru the territorial expansion of Magadha went on apace. His first war was probably with his uncle Pasenadi of Kosala, who resumed the village of Kasi given by Mahâkôsala for his daughter when she married Bimbisâra. The opposing armies met and the Kösala had the worst of it, when he was advised to change his tactics and feign a retreat. Posting his main army on a hill, and having his flank dominated by two hill forts which contained picked garrisons, Pasenadi allowed his enemy to pursue his retreat. Then Ajâtaśatru was caught by the retreating army turning right about, taken in front and rear, and compelled to give up his claim. But Pasenadi subsequently gave his sister's stepson his own daughter Vajirà in marriage with the same village as dowry as had been given to her aunt. For some years peaceful relations appear to have been maintained between the two kingdoms. But some unmentioned cause, perhaps the death of Pasenadi or Vajira, led to a breach between the two kingdoms, and Ajatasatru expanded his dominion at the expense of Kôgala.37
The next act of Ajátasatru was the war with Vaiśáli. He had been on terms of friendship with the Lichchhavi princes who were his relations on his mother's side, and constructed a hall at Patna for receiving them. Soon, however, he developed designs of conquering his grandfather's kingdom. It was with this intent that later in the reign he fortified Pataligrama3s on the northern bank of the Sôn near its confluence with the Ganges, and connected it by road with Kusinagara. This was planned by his ministers Sunidha and Vašsakâra 30 We hear of it as a frontier village of Magadha in the 33 Mahilamukha-Jataka. (No. 26).
* Ante. Vol. XXXI, p. 71. 35 Bigandet : Vol. II, pp. 97, 113.
36 Sanjiva-Jdtaka (Introduction). 37 The details have been made up from the Harita-Mata-Jataka (No. 239), the Vaddhaid-Salara J Ataka (No. 283), the Tachchha Sakara Jataka (No. 492.) The defeat of the Kosals is mentioned in the Kummara pinda-Jataka (No. 415).
> See S. B. E. XI, pp. 18-21. - Compare Fo Sho IV. 22 in Beal, S, B. E. XIX 249. Sep also Rockhill,
39 «To repel the Vajjians" (Mahdvagga VI. 28). But Hemachandra (Sthavirdvaļi-Charita) attributes the building of the fort to Udaya,
P. 127.