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VĶIJIAN CONFEDERACY probably identical with the charming city called Viśālā in the epic.
Viśālām nagarīí ramyām divyāṁ svargopamām tadā.
We learn from the introductory portion of the Ekapanna Jātakao that a triple wall encompassed the town, each wall a league distant from the next, and there were three gates with watch-towers.
The Lichchhavi territory may have extended northwards as far as Nepāl where we find them in the seventh century A.D.
The Jñātņikas were the clan of Siddhārtha and his son Mahāvīra, the Jina. They had their seats at Kuņdapura or Kundagrāma and Kollāga, suburbs of Vaiśāli. In the Mahā-parinibbāna Suttanta, however, the abode of the "Nādikas” (identified by Jacobi with the Ñātikas or Jñātrikas)' is distinguished from Kotigāma(Kundagrāma?). Though dwelling in suburban areas Mahāvīra and his fellow clansmen were known as "Vesālie,'' i.e., inhabitants of Vaišāli. .
The Vșijis proper are already mentioned by Paņini. Kautilya? distinguishes them from the ‘Lichchhivikas'. Yuan Chwang8 too, draws a distinction between the Fu-li-chih (Vriji ) country and Fei-she-li (Vaiśāli ). It seems that Vriji was not only the name of the confederacy but also of one of its constituent clans. But the Vrijis, like the Lichchhavis, are often associated with the city of Vaiśāli (including its suburbs ) which was not only the capital of the Lichchhavi clan, but
1 Rām. Ādi, 45. 10.. . 3 Ch. 2.
4 S. B. E, XXII, Intro. 2 No. 149.
5. Hoernle Uvāsaga-dasão, 11, p. 4 n, 6 IV. 2. 131. 7. Arthaśāstra, Mysore Edition, 1919, p. 378.
8 Watters, II, 81. Cf. also DPPN, II. 814 ; Gradual sayings, III. 62 ; IV. 10. Accorindg to Smith (Watters, II. 340 ) the Vriji country is roughly equivalent to the northern part of the Darbhanga district and the adjacent Nepalese Tarāi.
