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Lord Mahavira and His Times
Ajātaśatru's conquest of its most powerful member, the Lichchhavi republic, although the cause of the conflict between the two is differently stated in different texts.
(1) According to the Buddhists, a jewel mine was discovered at the foot of a hill at a port in the Gangā and it was agreed that Ajātaśatru and the Lichchhavís would have an equal share of the gems. The Lichchhavis violated this agreement and so brought on the conflict.
(2) According to the Jaina version, the bone of contention was the Magadha state elephant Sreyanāka and a huge necklace of eighteen strings of pearls which were given by Bimbisāra to his sons Halla and Vehalla. They carried off the elephant and the necklace to Vaiśāli and sought the protection of their grandfather, king Chețaka, against Ajātaśatru. Having failed to obtain them peacefully, Kūnika-Ajātaśatru declared war on Chețaka.?
(3) It is also stated that Pamāvatī incited her husband Ajātaśatru to this conflict.
. It was not easy to conquer the Lichchhavis who were then at the zenith of their power as the head of a vast confederacy. Their leader Chetaka actually mustered up the confederate powers, including the Gana-rājās (republican chicss) of Kāśı and Kosala and inspired them to fight.3 They all maintained their high traditions and were ready to stake everything for the success of the republic. Ajātasatru proved equal to his difficult task and took recourse to three mcans for the subjugation of the hostile state-machination, military strength, and strategy. He deputed his minister Vassakāra on the mission of sowing seeds of disunion among thc Lichchavis at Vaiśāli. Infected with jealousies and quarrels between the different classes, between the rich and the poor and the strong and the weak, the Lichchhavis became a changed, people, lacking the social unity of former days.
But Ajātasatru had to plan his military preparations for the conquest on a large scale. Rājagriha was too far inland 1. Uca, II, App. p. 7; B.C. LAT : Some Jaina Canonical Sūtras, (Niraga)
p. $7. 2. Arassaka, p. 684. 3. B.C. Law: SomJaina Canonical Sütras, (Niraya), p. 87.
