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THE MAGADHAS
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person who was able to pick out seeds of one colour only would become the merchant (i.e. his heir).
A certain merchant of Rājagrha built a vihāra for the bhikkhus. The Vinaya Pitaka 3 tells us a story of a trader who had made preparations to go on a journey from Rājagrha to Patiyāloka, when a bhikkhu on his begging tour came to the trader's house for alms. The trader exhausted the food which he had collected for the journey, by giving it to several bhikkhus. Not being able to start his journey when he had intended, he set out late and was killed by robbers on the way.
It is apparent from the foregoing references that many people of Magadha, and more especially of Rājagļha, were engaged in trade and commerce. There are numerous references in the Jātakas to big bankers of Magadha in the Buddha's time. In the Asampadāna Jātaka, for instance, we find that a Magadhan setthi or banker named Sankha was the master of eighty crores of wealth. He had a friend in Benares who was also a banker, having the same amount of riches. Sankha helped his friend greatly, but was repaid by base ingratitude. Hearing of this ingratitude, the king caused the setthi of Benares to give all his wealth to his benefactor; but the Magadhan banker was so honest that he refused to take back more than his own money. The Petavatthu Commentary tells us that there was a merchant at Rājagrha who was so very wealthy that his immense riches could not be exhausted even if 1,000 coins were spent every day.5
Rājagrha, the ancient capital of Magadha, had many names in the course of its long history, and many explanations of these names have been put forward by various authorities, indigenous and foreign. By some it was said that Rājagrha (Pāli Rājagaha) was so called because it was founded by a king, and every house in it resembled a palace. Buddhaghosa says, however, that the town was called Rājagaha because it was used as a residence (lit. seized) by Mandhātā, Mahāgovinda, and the rest.? Dhammapāla refers to another opinion accounting for the name Rājagaha as a prison for inimical kings (paţirājūnam gahabhūtattā). The town was also called Kuśāgrapura, 'the city of the superior reed-grass' which abounded there,' or 'city of (King) Kuśāgra' and Girivraja,
1 p. 309. 2 Vinaya Pițaka, II, p. 146.
3 IV, pp. 79-80. 4 Jätaka (Fausböll), I, pp. 466-7.
5 PP. 2-9. 6 Spence Hardy, Manual of Buddhism, p. 162, note. 7 Sumangalavilāsini, I, p. 132.
8 Udāna-vannanā, Siamese Ed., p. 32. Cf. Bhāgavatapurāņa, X, Chap. 7, according to which Jarāsandha imprisoned several kings in RājagȚha.
9 Watters, On Yuan Chwang, II, 148.
