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THE KOŚALAS
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Pāyāsi, enjoyed enormous wealth which had been given him by King Pasenadi. He was a false believer, but was converted by Kumārakassapa.1 The Buddha visited Parkadhā, and gave instruction to Kassapagotta, a bhikkhu who was dwelling there.2
In the Samyutta Nikāya 3 we find mention of a village named Toraṇavatthu, between Săvatthi and Säketa. In this village, the bhikkhuņi Khemā was observing lent, when Pasenadi spent one night there on his way from Sāketa to Sāvatthi. Hearing of Khemā, he went to her, and she answered to his satisfaction questions regarding life after death.4
The Jātakas and Vinaya texts are full of details about Kośala. In one Jātaka there is a vivid description of a drought in Kośala, when the crops were withered, and ponds, tanks and lakes were dried up. Gangs of burglars, highwaymen and murderers were not unknown in Kośala, and the inhabitants were often carried away and killed by them. Their activities could not easily be checked, for the Kośala country included the forest-clad hills and valleys of the outer spurs of the Himālayas.
In the Pabbajjā Suttanta of the Suttani pāta (p. 73), we read that the inhabitants of Kośala were healthy and powerful. One Jātaka story 8 says that in Kośala there was a Brahmin who by simply smelling a sword could say whether it was lucky or not.
The Kośalan kings and princes received a good education, usually being finished at Taxila. For instance, in the Brahāchatta Jātaka we read that Chatta, a son of the king of Kośala, fled to Taxila when his father was taken prisoner, and there he mastered the three Vedas and eighteen vijjās. While at Taxila he also learnt the science of discovering hidden treasure, and on his return he acquired his deceased father's buried wealth, engaged troops and reconquered the lost kingdom.King Pasenadi was also educated at Taxila; Mahāli, a Licchavi prince, and a Malla prince of Kuśīnārā were his class-mates. 10
Rhys Davids points out 11 that a conversational dialect, probably based on the local dialect of Srāvastī, was in general use among Kośala officials, among merchants and among the more cultured classes, not only throughout the Kośala dominions but east and west
1 Dĩgha Nikaya, II, pp. 356ff. 3 Vol. IV, pp. 374ff. 5 Tātaka, Vol. I, p. 329. 7 Vinaya Texts, Pt. I, p. 312. 9 Ibid., Vol. III, pp. 115-6. 10 Dhammapada Comm., Pt. I, pp. 337-8. 11 Rhys Davids, Buddhist India, P. 153.
9 Anguttara Nikaya, I, p. 236. 4 Samyutta Nikāya, IV, pp. 374f. 6 Ibid., Vol. II, p. 139. 8 Jataka, Vol. I, p. 455.
