________________
124 POLITICAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT INDIA the Vaiśālika rulers as Ikshvākuids. The Pāli commentary Paramatthajotikāl traces their origin to Benares. The comparison of the Lichchhavis to the “Tāvatimsa gods” hardly accords with the theory that represents them as kinsmen of snub-nosed peoples who lived beyond the Himalayas.2 “Let those of the brethren" we are told by a personage of great eminence "who have never seen the Tāvatimsa gods, gaze upon this company of the Lichchhavis, behold this company of the Lichchhavis, compare this company of the Lichchhavis--even as a company of Tāvatimsa gods." ... The date of the foundation of the Lichchhavi power is not known. But it is certain that the authority of the clan was well established in the days of Mahyāvīra and Gautama, in the latter half of the sixth century B.C., and was already on the wane in the next century.
Buddhist tradition has preserved the names of eminent Lichchhavis like prince Abhaya, Otthaddha (Mahāli), generals Siha and Ajita, Dummukha and Sunakkhatta. In the introductory portion of the Ekapannat and Chulla Kalingas Jātakas it is stated that the Lichchhavis of the ruling family numbered 7,707. There was a like number of viceroys, generals, and treasurers. Too much importance should not be attached to these figures which are merely traditional and may simply point to the large number of
1 Vol. I, pp. 158-65.
2 S. B. E., XI, p. 32 ; DPPN, II, 779.. | 3 Anguttara Nikaya, Nipāta III, 74 (P. T, S., Part 1, p. 220 f.); Mahalli Sutta, Dialogues of the Buddha. Part I, p. 198, Part III, p. 17. Mahāvagga, S. B. E., XVII, p. 108; Majjhima N., I. 234 ; 68; II. 252; The Book of the Kindred Sayings, I, 295. For a detailed account of the Lichchhavis, see now. Law, Some Kșatriya Tribes of Ancient India.
4 149. 5 301.
6 Another tradition puts the number at 68,000 (DPPN, II. 781 n). The Dhaminapada Commentary (Harvard Oriental Series, 30, 168) informs us that the rājās ruled by turns.
·
