4

THE B U D D H I S T T R A D I T I O N

ical religion seems to have been com paratively recent a t th e

tim e. T h e people were probably little aflFected by th e Aryan
class system, a n d th e influence of th e b rahm an was by no
m eans com plete. Q u ite as m uch atte n tio n was devoted to
local ch th o n ic gods such as yakshas an d nagas, w orshiped a t
sacred m ounds an d groves (cbaityas), as to th e deities of th e
A ryan p an th eo n . C ities h ad arisen, w here a class of well-to-do
m erchants lived in com parative opulence, w hile th e free
peasants w ho m ade up th e m ajority of th e population en
joyed, as far as can be gathered, a som ew hat higher standard
o f living th a n th ey do today, w hen pressure of population
an d exhaustion o f th e soil have so gravely im poverished
th em .
T h e old tribal structure was disintegrating, an d a n um b er
o f sm all regional kingdom s h a d appeared, together w ith
political u nits of a som ew hat different type, w hich preserved
m ore of th e tribal structure, an d are generally referred to as
republics for w an t o f a b e tte r word. M ost o f these re
publics were o f little im portance politically, an d were de
p e n d e n t on th e largest of th e kingdom s, Kosala, w hich con
trolled m ost of th e casteoi p a rt of m odern U tta r Pradesh;
o n e such was th a t o f th e Shakyas, in th e H im alayan foot
hills, w hich m ig h t well have been forgotten entirely were
it n o t for th e fact th a t th e founder of Buddhism was th e son
o f on e of its chiefs. T h e m ost im p o rtan t of th e republics
was th a t generally referred to as th e V ajjian Confederacy,
of w hich th e largest elem ent was th e tribe of th e Licchavis;
th is controlled m uch of B ihar n o rth of th e G anges, an d was
apparently governed by a chief w ho derived his pow er from
a large assembly of tnb esm en , an d ruled w ith th e aid o f a
sm aller council of lesser chiefs. M uch of B ihar south of th e
G anges form ed th e kingdom o f M agadha. K ing Bimbisara,
w ho ruled M agadha during m ost of th e tim e in w hich th e
B uddha taught, seems to have h ad m ore initiative in politi
cal organization th a n his rivals, an d m anaged his little state
w ith m ore efficiency an d closer centralized control th a n any
o th e r chief or king o f his tim e. H is son, A jatasattu, w ho
began to reign some seven years before th e B uddhas death,
em barked upon a policy of expansion. M agadha soon ab
sorbed th e V ajjis an d Kosala, a n d h er grow th continued
u ntil, ab o u t tw o h u n d red years later, th e great em peror Ash-