________________ 180 Homage to Vaisali utter ruin."1 The Vajjians attacked Ajatasatru many times. This enraged him very much, and in order to baffle their attempts, two of his ministers, Sunidha and Vassakara, built a fort at Pasaligama2 and at last Ajatasatru annihilated the Vajjians. It was distinctly a political motive which led bim to do so. Ajatasatru was not therefore on friendly terms with the Licchavis. His foster brother Abhaya had Licchavi blood in him and he liked the Licchavis very much. At this time the Licchavis were gradually gaining strength and Ajatasatru thought that if Abhaya sided with them it would be very difficult for bim to cope with the Licchavis. So he decided to do away with them. There was a port near the Ganges extending over a yojana, half of which belonged to Ajatasatru and half to the Licchavis There was a mountain not far from it and at the foot of the mountain there was a mine of precious substance. Ajatasatru was late in coming there and the avaricious Licchavis took away all the precious substance. This enraged the Magadhan king very much. He realised that it would be difficult to carry out his purpose as the Liccbavis were numerically stronger. So be conceived the design of destroying the independence of the Licchavis by sowing seeds of dissension. Ajatasatru learnt from the Buddha through one of his ministers Vassakara that the Licchavis would become very luxurious in future. So he decided to break up their union and Vassakara advised him to convene a meeting of the Councillors to bring up some discussion regarding the Vajjians when in the midst of the sitting, Vassakara would quit the Council after offering a remonstrance saying, "Mabaraja, what do you want with them? Let them occupy themslves with the agricultural and commercial affairs of their own realm." Then he said to Ajatasatru, "Maharaja completely cut off all my hair, bringing a charge against me for interdicting your discussion without either binding or flogging me. As I am the person by whom ramparts and ditches of your capital were formed and as I know the strong and weak parts of your fortification, I will tell the Vajjians that I am able to remove any obstacle you can raise." Ajatasatru acted upto the advice of his minister. The Vajj ans heard of the departure of Vassakara who being questioned by them told them why he was so severely punished for so slight an offience. Then the Vajjians offered them the post of Judicial Prime Minister which he accepted and very soon acquired reputation for his able administration of justice. Young Vajjian rulers went to him to have their training at his hands. Vassakara was very successful in his mission of creating disunion among 2. . Ibid., p. 18. 3. Rhys Davids, Buddhist India, p. 12.
