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THE LICCHAVIS
325
that none of the canonical texts themselves gives this number, which occurs only in a later commentary, the Nidānakathā of the Jātakas.
Bhandarkar says that an Uparājā or Viceroy, a Senāpati or general, and a Bhāndāgārika or treasurer formed the private staff of every Licchavi Rājā. He adds that each Rājā had personal property of his own which was managed by himself with the help of these three officers. This seems to be likely, because the existence of a Bhāndāgārika attached to each Rājā necessarily implies that each Rājā had his own separate Bhāndāgāra or treasury.
There must have been officers who recorded the decisions of the Council. A passage in the Mahāgovinda Suttanta of the Dīgha Nikāya seems to justify this conclusion. In describing a meeting of the thirty-three gods in the Tāvatimsa heaven, it is said that after the deliberations were over, four great kings recorded the conclusions arrived at, and on this passage the translators observe, "This sounds very much as if the Four Great Kings were looked upon as Recorders of what had been said. They kept the minutes of the meeting. If so (the gods being made in the image of men), there must have been such Recorders at the meetings in the MoteHalls of the clans.'1
A passage in the preamble to the Bhaddasāla Jātaka mentions a tank, the water of which was used at the ceremony of abhiseka or coronation of the kulas or families of the gana rājās of Vaiśāli.2 This may refer to the ceremony performed when a Licchavi rājā was elected to a seat in the assembly of the State, or it may denote that the ceremony of coronation was performed when a young Licchavi kumāra (prince) succeeded to the title and position of his father.
The Atthakathā on the Mahāparinibbāna Suttantas gives an account of the judicial procedure among the Licchavis. When a person who had committed an offence appeared before the Vajjian rājās, they surrendered him to the Viniccaya-Mahāmāttas, i.e. officers whose business it was to make enquiries and examine the accused with a view to ascertaining whether he was innocent or guilty. If they found the man innocent, they released him; but if they considered him guilty, they made him over to the Vohārikas, i.e. persons learned in law and custom. These could discharge
1 Dialogues of the Buddha, Pt. II, p. 263.
2 Fausböll, Jātaka, Vol. IV, p. 148: 'Vesālīnagare ganarājakulānam abhisekamangalapokkharanim, ...' See also D. R. Bhandarkar, Carmichael Lectures, 1918, Pp. 150-1.
3 Sumangalavilāsini, II, 519 (P.T.S.).
