________________ 178 Homage to Vaisali . without inflicting any punishment on him. They could discharge bim if they found him innocent. If they held him guilty they transferred him to certain officers known as the Suttadharas who kept up the thread of law and custom existing from the ancient times. They in their turn made further investigation and if satisfied that the accused was innocent they discharged him. If he was considered guilty by them, he was made over to the Atthakulaka (lit. the eight castes of tribes) which was evidently a judicial institution composed of judges representing eight tribes. The Atthakulaka made him over to the Senapati or commander of the army, if satisfied as to the guilt of the offender. The commander made him over to the Sub-king (uparaja) and the latter in his turn handed him over to the raja who released the accused, if he was innocent. If he was found guilty the raja referred to the Pavenipotthaka, i.e., the Book recording the law and precedents. The raja used to inflict a proper sentence having measured the culprit's offence according to the book of law and precedents. There is no mention of the Licchavis in the Brahmana literature though there is repeated mention of Videha which in the Buddha's time joined with the Licchavis and formed a confederation. In the sixth century B. C., the Licchavis come to our notice in the Jaina and Buddhist books and we meet them there as a powerful people in the enjoyment of great prosperity and of a high social status among the ruling races of eastern India. They had already evolved a system of government and polity bearing not a little resemblance to some of the democracies of the western world, embodying all the latest methods of voting. The procedure of conducting the deliberations of an assembly must have been developing from the earliest Vedic times. The Licchavis must have modelled their procedure on that which was already in vogue among the Indo-Aryans, and adapted it to their own use. We know nothing of the history of the Licchavis of Vaisali during the period they grew up and developed into a noble and powerful people. The earliest political fact that we know of is that they gave one of their daughters in marriage to Srenika Bimbisara, king of Magadha. The Licchavi lady was Cellana, the daughter of Cetakal one of the rajas of Vaisali, whose sister Ksatriyani Trisala was the mothe of Mabavira, the founder of Jainism. According 10 a Tibetan account, her name was Sribhadra and in some places her name occurs as Madda.? This lady is usually called Vaidehi in the Buddhist books and from her Ajatasatru is frequently designated as Vedebiputto 8 or the son of the 1. Jaina Sutras, S. B. E., XXII, Intro. p. xiii. 2. Book of the Kindred Sayings, I, p. 38, n. i. 3. Samyutta, II, p. 268.
