Jain Journal 1967 04

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 37

168
JAIN JOURNAL
We learn from the introductory portion of the Ekapanna Jatakas that a triple wall encompassed the city, each wall a league distant from the next, and there were three gates with watch-towers.
The Jnatrkas were the clan of Siddhartha and his son Mahavira, the Jina. They had their seats at Kundapura or Kundagrama and Kollaga, suburbs of Vesali. In the Mahāparinibbana Suttānta®, however, the abode of the 'Nadikas' (identified by Jacobi with the Natikas or Jnatrkas) is distinguished from Kotigama (Kundagrama ?). Though dwelling in suburban areas, Mahavira and his fellow clansmen were known as 'Vesalie', i.e., inhabitants of Vesalis.
The Vajjis or Vrjis are mentioned by Panini”. Kautilya10 distinguishes the Vrjikas or Vajjis from the Licchayikas. Yuan Chwang11 also distinguishes the Fu-li-chih (Vrji) country from Fei-she-li (Vaisali). It seems that Vrjika or Vajji was not only the name of the confederacy but also that of one of the constituent clans. But the Vajjis, like the Licchavis, are often associated with the city of Vesali which was not only the capital of the Licchavi clan, but also the metropolis of the entire confederacy12. A Buddhist tradition quoted by Rockhill13 mentions the city of Vesali as consisting of three districts. These districts were probably at one time the seats of three different clans. The remainder of the confederacy resided in suburbs and villages like Kundagrama, Kollaga, 'Nadika', Vaniyagama, Hatthigama, etc.14
• No. 149. 6 Ch. 2.
SBE, XXII, Intro. 8 Hoernle, Uvasagadasao, II, p. 4 n. . IV. 2.131. 10 Arthasastra, Mysore Edition, 1919, p. 378. 11 Watters, II, 81.
12 Cf. Majjhima Nikaya, II, 101 : the Book of the Kindred Sayings, Samyutta Nikaya, by Mrs. Rhys Davids, pp. 257, 259.
13 Life of Buddha, p. 62.
14 For the Ugras and Bhogas see Hoernle, Uvasagadasao, II, p. 13, 139 (8210); Brhadaranyaka Upanisad III. 8.2 ; SBE, XLV, 71n. In the Anguttara Nikaya, I. 26 (Nipata I. 14.6), the Ugras are associated with Vaisali (Uggo gahapati Vesalike). In IV. 212 they are associated with Hatthigama. A city of Ugga is mentioned in the Dhammapada Commentary, Harvard Oriental Series, Vol 30, 184. Hoernle points out (Uvasagadasao, II, App. III, 57) that a place called Bhoganagara, or 'City of the Bhogas' lay not very far from Vesali and Pava. The association of a body of Kauravas with the Vajjian group of clans is interesting. Kuru Brahmanas, e.g., Usasti Cakrayana had begun to settle in North Bihar long before the rise of Buddhism. For the Aikasvakas of North Bihar, see Pargiter, Ancient Indian Historical Tradition, 95-97.