#AJATASHATRU - ROYAL PROCESSION: #Magadha King AJATASHATRU’s (492-460 BCE) royal procession in Pillar relief at #SanchiStupa.
#AJATASHATRU - ROYAL PROCESSION: #Magadha King AJATASHATRU’s (492-460 BCE) royal procession in Pillar relief at #SanchiStupa.
Palaces of #Rajagriha City (5th Century BCE), royal women witnessing the procession from Balcony, King seated in #chariot pulled by two horses surrounded by chiefs, all these scene are picturesquely depicted.
Place : Sanchi Stupa, #MadhyaPradesh, #India
Period : 2nd - 1st Century BCE, Emperor Ashoka
Ajatasattu (Pāli Ajātasattu) or Ajatashatru (Sanskrit Ajātaśatru) in Buddhist tradition, or Kunika (Kūṇika) and Kuniya (Kūṇiya) in the Jain histories, (c. 492 to 460 BCE or early 5th century BCE) was one of the most important kings of the Haryanka dynasty of Magadha in East India. He was the son of King Bimbisara and was a contemporary of both Mahavira and Gautama Buddha. He forcefully took over the kingdom of Magadha from his father and imprisoned him. He fought a war against the Vajjika League, led by the Licchavis, and conquered the republic of Vaishali. The city of Pataliputra was formed by fortification of a village by Ajatashatru.
Ajatashatru followed policies of conquest and expansion. He defeated his neighbours including the king of Kosala; his brothers, at odds with him, went to Kashi, which had been given to Bimbisara as dowry and led to a war between Magadha and Kosala.
Ajatashatru occupied Kashi and captured the smaller kingdoms. Magadha under Ajatashatru became the most powerful kingdom in North India.
He is the presumed inventor of two weapons used in war: the rathamusala (scythed chariot) and the mahashilakantaka (engine to eject big stones).
Datings[edit]
Based on correlation with dates in the Mahāvaṃsa and concluding that the Buddha died in 483 BC, Arthur Llewellyn Basham dated the accession of Ajatashatru to 491 BC. He estimates the first campaign of Ajatashatru to have taken place in 485 BC, and his second campaign against the Vajjika League in 481–480 BC. The Samaññaphala Sutta states that Ajatashatru visited the six teachers to hear their doctrines and at last visited the Buddha, an event Basham estimated to have taken place in 491 BC.
Ajatashatru, also known as Kunika, was the son of Bimbisara. The ancient inscription in Government Museum, Mathura refers to him as vaidehi putra Ajatashatru Kunika "Ajatashatru Kunika, the son of Vaidehi." The story of Ajatashatru is found in the Tripiṭaka of Buddhism and Jain Agamas. The account of Ajatashatru's birth is more or less similar in both the traditions. According to Jainism, Ajatashatru was born to King Bimbisara and Queen Chellana; Buddhist tradition records Ajatashatru being born to Bimbisara and Kosala Devi. It is worthwhile to note that both the queens were called "Vaidehi" in both traditions.
According to the Jain Nirayavalika Sutra, during her pregnancy, Queen Chellana had a strong desire to eat the fried flesh of her husband's heart and drink liquor. Meanwhile, the very intelligent Prince Abhayakumara, son of King Bimbisara and Queen Nanda, fried a wild fruit that resembled a heart and gave it to the queen. The queen ate it and later felt ashamed for having such a demonic desire and she feared that the child might grow up and prove fatal for the family, thus after a few months of the child being born, the queen had him thrown out of the palace. When the child was lying near the garbage dump, a cock bit his little finger. King Bimbisara, learning about the child being thrown out, ran outside and picked up the child and put its bleeding little finger in his mouth and sucked it until it stopped bleeding and continued this for days until it was healed. As the little finger of the child was sore, he was nicknamed Kunika "Sore Finger". Later he was named Asokacanda.
In the Buddhist Atthakatha, the above story is almost the same, except that Kosaladevi desired to drink blood from Bimbisara's arm; the king obliged her and, later, when the child was thrown near the garbage dump, due to an infection he got a boil on his little finger and the king sucked it and once while sucking it the boil burst inside the king's mouth, but due to affection for his child he did not spit the pus out, rather swallowed it.
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