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TRIBES IN ANCIENT INDIA
kingdom of Videha had 16,000 villages, storehouses filled, and 16,000 dancing girls. Magnificent royal carriages could be seen, drawn by four horses; and the Videhan king was driven in state around his capital.2
In the Si-Yu-Ki (Buddhist Records of the Western World) we find that the Chinese traveller Hsüan Tsang, describing the kingdom of Fo-li-shi (Vrji), says that the capital of the country was Chenshu-na. Beal quotes V. de St. Martin who connects the name Chen-shu-na with Janaka and Janakapura (= Mithilā).3
From very early times, Videha was frequented by merchants. At the time of Buddha Gautama we find people coming from Srāvasti to Videha to sell their wares.
The Videhas were a charitable people. Many institutions of charity were in existence in their country, and we are told that six hundred thousand pieces were spent daily in alms-giving.5
The Jātaka stories often make extravagant demands upon popular credence, as when they relate how the average length of human life at the time of the Buddha Gautama was thirty thousand vears. More fortunate than the average mortal. King
the average mortal, King Makhādeva of Mithilā had a lease of life of eighty-four thousand years, 6 in the earlier portion of which he amused himself as a royal prince. Later on, he was appointed a Viceroy, and last of all became king. We come to a more sober estimate when we find it related that there lived in Mithilāa Brāhman named Brahmāyu, aged one hundred and twenty years, who was well versed in the Vedas, Itihāsas, Vyākarana, Lokāyata, and was endowed with all the marks of a great man.?
Polygamy appears to have been in vogue among the kings of Videha. Brahmadatta, king of Benares, had a daughter named Sumedhā whom he declined to give in marriage to a Videhan prince who had a large number of wives, fearing that her co-wives would make her life miserable.8
Many writers bear testimony to the devotion and faithfulness of Videhan princesses. The story of Sītā is too well-known to be repeated. Again, it is stated in the Amitāyurdhyāna Sūtra that when Ajātaśatru arrested his father Bimbisāra at the instigation of
1 Jataka (Fausböll), Vol. III, p. 365.
2 Ibid., Vol. II, p. 39. 3 Beal, Records of the Western World, Vol. II, p. 78, n. The actual words are: ... Janaka and Janakapura, capital of Mithila'; but, as we have seen, Mithilā is identified with Janakapura.
4 See, e.g. Dhammapāla's Paramatthadīpani on the Theragāthā, Pt. III, pp. 277-8. 5 Jataka (Fausböll), Vol. IV, p. 355. See also Makhadeva Jataba. 6 Ibid., vol. I, p. 139. 7 Majjhima Nikaya, Vol. II, pp. I33-4. 8 Jätaka (Fausböll), Vol. IV, PP. 314 foll.
