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Lord Mahāvīra and His Times
Executive was probably the President of the Assembly also, a person whose main function was the general supervision of the administration. Besides, he was to ensure internal harmony by promoting concord and preventing quarrels. The general looked after the army. The treasury was in charge of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. There must have been also the portfolios of foreign affairs and of justice. In the course of time, the posts of Executive Members became more or less hereditary, and they assumed the title of Raja.
The members of the Executives of the Republic States must have been normally capable captains and dauntless leaders, competent to guide the State on occasions of emergency. In addition, they were men of tact and experience, energetic in action, firm in resolution and well grounded in the laws, customs, and traditions of the country. Chețaka, the Head of the Lichchhavi republic, was an influential leader of eighteen confederate kings (Ganarājā) of Kāśi and Kośala who were his vassals,1 His sister, Tisalā, was, as pointed out earlier, the mother of Mahāvīra, the son of Siddhārtha, a petty chief of Kundiyapura near Vaiśālī. Khanda and his son Simha, . who were competent enough, were elected to be Generals (Senāpati) in succession. The President of the Sākya republic bore the title of Rajā which in this connection does not mean king, but rather something akin to the Roman Consul or the Greek Archon. At one time, Bhaddiya, a young cousin of the Buddha, was Rajā, at another the Buddha's father, Suddhodana, held that rank.3 FEDERATION
The Lichchhavis, according to Buddhist documents, formed a league with the Videhas and were together called the Vajjis. We also know from a Faina Sūtra that the Lichchhavis had once formed a federation with their neighbour, the Mallas. 4 The Federal Council was composed of eighteen members, nine Lichchhavis and nine Mallakis. The members of 1. Nirya; Some Jaina Canonical Sūtras, p. 87. 2. IHQ, XXIII, p. 60. 3. Digha, II, 52. 4. SBE, XXII, p. 166. 5. Ibid.
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