Kāsī Kingdom
c. 1000 BCE–c. 600 BCE
The Kāsī kingdom and other Mahajanapadas in the Post Vedic
The Kāsī kingdom and other Mahajanapadas in the Post Vedic
CapitalVārāṇasī
Religion
Historical Vedic religion, Jainism
GovernmentMonarchy
Historical eraIron Age India
• Established
c. 1000 BCE
• Conquered by Kaṃsa of Kosala
c. 600 BCE
Succeeded by
Kosala
Today part ofIndia

Kāsī (Sanskrit: काशी), (Pali: कासी) was an ancient kingdom of India whose existence is attested during the Iron Age. The inhabitants of the Kāśī were named the Kāsikas in Pāli and the Kāśeyas and Kāśikas in Sanskrit.[1]

Location

Location of Kāsī during the late Vedic period
Location of Kāsī during the post-Vedic period

The Kāsī kingdom covered an area of 300 leagues.[1] The northern border of Kasi which separated it from Kosala was the Sarpikā or Syandikā river,[2] and the river Son formed its southern and eastern boundaries, separating it from Magadha in the east.[3][lower-alpha 1]

The capital of Kāsī was the city of Vārāṇasī, which was also named Ketumatī, Surundhana, Sudassana, Brahmavaddhana, Pupphavatī, Ramma, and Molinī.[1]

History

The Kāsikas were first mentioned in the Paippalāda recension of the Atharvaveda.[1]

The ruling clan of Kāsī appears to have been member of the Bhārata clan, and at one point Kāsī was ruled by one Dhṛtarāṣṭra (in Sanskrit) or Dhataraṭṭha (in Pāli) whom the Mahāgovinda Suttanta calls a "Bharata prince." This Dhṛtarāṣṭra was defeated in battle by another Bharata king, named Śatānīka Sātrājita, after which the Kāsikas stopped kindling the sacred fire until the time of the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa.[1][5]

However, the monarchs of Kāsī do not appear to have all belonged to the same dynasty, and the Jātakas frequently mention the extinction of dynasties of the Kāsika kings or the deposition of Kāsika princes and their replacement with members from other families regarded as being more competent, with some kings of Kāsī having Māgadhī or Vaideha origins and bearing the epithet of Brahmadatta: although Brahmadatta was a dynastic name, the Brahmadattas were not from the same dynasty, with the elected Brahmadatta of the Darīmuka Jātaka having been a Māgadhī prince, the king of Kāsī in the Dummedha Jātaka and his son being both named Brahmadatta, the Kāsika king Udaya being called "Brahmadatta" in the Gaṅgamāla Jātaka, while the Brahmadattas of the Matiposaka and Sambula Jatakas were Vaidehas.[1]

The Kāsikas were closely connected to the Kausalyas and the Vaidehas, and Jala Jātūkarṇya was the purohita of these three kingdoms during the reign of the Kāsika king Ajātaśatru, who was himself a contemporary of the famous Vaideha king Janaka and of Uddālaka Āruṇi's son Śvetaketu. Ajātaśatru appears in the Upaniṣads as engaging in philosophical discussions with Gārgya Bālāki, and the Kauśītaki Upaniṣad depicts Ajātaśatru as being jealous of Janaka's fame as a patron of learning. The Uddālaka Jātaka calls this Ajātaśatru of Kāsī "Brahmadatta," implying that he was himself was a Brahmadatta.[1]

The Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa mentions a king of Kāsī named Bhadrasena Ajātaśatrava, who was likely the son and successor of Ajātaśatru, and had been bewitched by Uddālaka Āruṇi.[1]

Another king, named Janaka, who is not identical with the Vaideha king Janaka, is mentioned as ruling over Kāsī in the Sattubhasta Jātaka.[1]

According to the Daśaratha Jātaka, the legendary heroes Daśaratha and Rāma were kings of Kāsī, and not of Kosala as the Puranic tradition makes them out to be.[2]

Vedic texts mention two other kings of Kāsī, one named Divodāsa, and his son or descendant, named Daivadāsi Pratardana.[1]

During the 9th century BCE, the king of Kāsī was Aśvasena, the father of the 23rd Jain Tīrthaṅkara, Pārśvanātha.[5]

By the later Iron Age, the kingdom of Kāsī had become one of the most powerful states of Iron Age South Asia, with several Jātakas describing the Kāsika capital of Vārāṇasī as being superior to the other cities and the kingdom's rulers as having imperial ambitions. According to these Jātakas, the kings of Kāsī sought the status of King of All Kings (sabbarājunam aggarājā) and of Lord of all South Asia (sakala-Jambudīpa). Vārāṇasī itself was twelve leagues in size, being much larger than the cities of Mithila and Indapatta, which were both seven leagues in size, and the Guttila Jātaka called Vārāṇasī the "chief city" of all South Asia.[5]

According to the Brahācatta Jātaka, a Kāsika king and his large army fought against it northern neighbour of Kosala and seized its capital of Sāvatthī; the Kosāmbī Jātaka and the Mahāvagga claim that the Kāsika king Brahmadatta had annexed Kosala after executing the Kauśalya king Dīghati; the Kunāla Jātaka mentions that Brahmadatta of Kāsī captured Kosala, killed its king, and carried of the chief Kauśalya queen to Vārāṇasī where he married her; according to the Sona-Nanda Jātaka, the Kāsika king Manoja had sunjugated the kings of Kosala, Aṅga, and Magadha; the Mahābhārata claims Kāsī had destroyed the power of the Vitahavyas or of the Haihayas; and according to the Assaka Jātaka, the kingdom of Assaka, in the Deccan, was under Kāsika suzerainty.[5]

Kāsī itself, in turn, was coveted by the other kingdoms around it, and at one point, seven kings besieged Vārāṇasī in an attempt to conquer the territory of Kāsī,[5] and the Mahāsīlava Jātaka claims that the Kauśalya king had seized the kingdom of the king Mahāsīlava of Kāsī, while the kings Vanka and Dabbasena of Kosala were able to win suzerainty over Kāsī according to the Ghata and Ekarāja Jātakas.[6]

Kāsī was finally conquered for good by Kosala under the latter's king Kaṃsa, shortly before the time of the Buddha, due to which Kaṃsa was nicknamed Barānasiggaho ("seizer of Vārāṇasī"}, and Kāsī was a full part of the kingdom of Kosala by the time of the Kauśalya king Mahākosala.[6]

When Mahākosala's daughter Kosalādevi married the king Bimbisāra of Magadha, she was given as present a village in Kāsī which produced a revenue of a hundred thousand for bath and perfume money, while the rest of the former Kāsī kingdom remained part of the Kosala kingdom ruled by Mahākosala's son Pasenadi.[6]

Following Bimbisāra's murder and the usurpation of the throne of Magadha by his son Ajātasattu, Pasenadi revoked his rights over the village in Kāsī, after which a war between Kosala and Magadha ensued which ended when Pasenadi captured Ajātasattu, gave him in marriage his daughter Vajirā, to whom he gifted the village in Kāsī, and restored him to his throne.[7]

Kāsī later became a part of the empire of Magadha when Ajātasattu defeated Pasenadi's own usurper son, Viḍūḍabha, and annexed Kosala.[7]

Notes

  1. ↑ Map facing page 95.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Raychaudhuri 1953, p. 74-77.
  2. 1 2 Raychaudhuri 1953, p. 77-79.
  3. ↑ Raychaudhuri 1953, p. 110-118.
  4. ↑ Raychaudhuri 1953.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Raychaudhuri 1953, p. 96-98.
  6. 1 2 3 Raychaudhuri 1953, p. 153-155.
  7. 1 2 Raychaudhuri 1953, p. 210-211.

Further reading

  • Raychaudhuri, Hemchandra (1953). Political History of Ancient India: From the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of Gupta Dynasty. University of Calcutta.
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