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810 THE LICCHAVIS
301
whom the highest-born princes of eastern India considered it an honour to enter into matrimonial alliance. The powerful king Ajātaśatru was always designated 'Vedehiputto', the family name of his mother in the Pali Buddhist Tripitaka. Even two centuries later, in the time of Candragupta Maurya, the Licchavis were of equal rank and position with the great Kṣatriya peoples of Northern India, viz. the Madras in the north-west, the Kuru-Pañcālas in the central region, and the Mallas and others in the east-the tribes who were organised as corporations of warriors and lived upon their position as rājās, that is as owners of land deriving an income from their
tenants.
At the time when the present code of Manu was composed, we find that the Licchavis were still looked upon as Kṣatriyas, though of the Vratya variety.1 Regarding the Vratyas, Manu says: "Those (sons) whom the twice-born have by wives of equal caste, but who, not fulfilling their sacred duties, are excluded from the Savitri, one must designate by the appellation Vratyas.' 2 Here 'not fulfilling their sacred duties' stands for 'avrataḥ', which means not being initiated at the proper time', on the authority of what Manu himself states in an earlier chapter, where he fixes the upper limits of the age before which the initiation of the twiceborn castes must take place. After those periods, men of the three upper castes who had not received the sacrament become Vratyas (outcastes) excluded from the Savitri (initiation) and despised by the Aryans. Here Manu is in agreement with the earlier lawgivers, Gautama, Apastamba, Vasistha and Baudhāyana.3 There is no question, then, that the Licchavis were pure Ksatriyas by origin but were not very careful in obeying the regulations about initiation and perhaps similar other matters.1
From what we know of the religious history of the Licchavis as a people, it is natural to expect that they would depart from the strict observance of the Brahmanic regulations. We have seen that Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, was of their very kin, and we also know that he had many followers among the residents of Vaiśālī, even among the highest officers. Then again, between the sixth century B.C. and 200 B.C., the earliest estimated date
1 Manu, X, 22; Bühler, Laws of Manu, p. 406.
2 Manu, X, 20; Bühler, Laws of Manu, pp. 405-6.
3 See Bühler, Laws of Manu, pp. 405-6, note 20; Gautama, XXI, 11; Āpa., I, I, etc.; Vaś., XI, 74-9; Baudh., I, 16, 16.
4 For further information regarding the Vratyas, see J. W. Hauer, Der Vratya: Untersuchungen Über die nichtbrahmanische Religion Altindiens; and Haraprasad Sastri's Annual Address, J.A.S.B., 1921, No. 2 (Vol. XVII, New Series).
