Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/51

Rh Buddha. Both these philosophers, who were for many years contemporary, were born, lived, and died in or near the kingdom of Magadha, the modern Bihar. Mahavira, the son of a nobleman of Vaisali, the famous city north of the Ganges, was nearly related to the royal family of Magadha, and died at Pawa, in the modern district of Patna, within the territory of that kingdom.

Gautama Buddha, although born farther north, in the Sakya territory at the foot of the Nepal hills, underwent his most memorable spiritual experiences at Bodh Gaya in Magadha, and spent many years of his ministry within the limits of that state. The Buddhist and Jain books, therefore, tell us much about the Vrijjian confederacy, of which Vaisali was the capital, and about Magadha, with its subordinate kingdom of Anga.

The neighbouring realm of Kosala, the modern kingdom of Oudh, was closely connected with Magadha by many ties, and its capital Sravasti (Savatthi), situated on the upper course of the Rapti at the foot of the hills, was the reputed scene of many of Buddha's most striking discourses.

In the sixth century Kosala appears to have occupied the rank afterward attained by Magadha, and to have enjoyed precedence as the premier state of Upper India. It is therefore as often mentioned as the rival power. At the beginning of the historical period, the smaller kingdom of Kasi, or Benares, had lost its independence and had been annexed by Kosala,