Kosala | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| c. 7th century BCE[1]–c. 5th century BCE | |||||||||||
 Kosala and its neighboring kingdoms. | |||||||||||
.png) Kosala and the otherMahajanapadas in the Post Vedic period. | |||||||||||
| Capital | Ayodhya andShravasti of Uttar Kosala | ||||||||||
| Common languages | Sanskrit | ||||||||||
| Religion | Historical Vedic religion Jainism Buddhism | ||||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||
| King | |||||||||||
• ? | Ikshvaku (first) | ||||||||||
• c. 5th century BCE | Sumitra (last) | ||||||||||
| Historical era | Iron Age | ||||||||||
• Established | c. 7th century BCE[1] | ||||||||||
• Disestablished | c. 5th century BCE | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Today part of | India Nepal | ||||||||||
Kosala (IPA:[koːɕɐlɐ]), sometimes referred to asUttara Kosala (lit. 'Northern Kosala') was one of theMahajanapadas ofancient India.[2][3] It emerged as asmall state during theLate Vedic period[4][5] and became (along withMagadha) one of the earliest states to transition from a lineage-based society to amonarchy.[6] By the 6th centuryBCE, it had consolidated into one of the four great powers of ancient northern India, along withMagadha,Vatsa, andAvanti.[2][7]
Kosala belonged to theNorthern Black Polished Ware culture (c. 700–300 BCE)[1] and was culturally distinct from thePainted Grey Ware culture of the neighboringKuru-Panchala region, following independent development towardurbanisation and the use of iron.[8] The presence of the lineage ofIkshvaku—described as araja in theṚgveda and an ancient hero in theAtharvaveda[9]—to whichRama,Mahavira, and theBuddha are all thought to have belonged—characterized the Kosalan realm.[10][11]
One of India's two greatepics,Ramayana is set in the "Kosala-Videha" realm in which the Kosalan princeRama marries the Videhan princessSita.
After a series of wars with neighbouring kingdoms, it was finally defeated and absorbed into theMagadha kingdom in the 5th century BCE. After the collapse of theMaurya Empire and before the expansion of theKushan Empire, Kosala was ruled by theDeva dynasty, theDatta dynasty, and theMitra dynasty.
Kosala was bounded by theGomti River in the west,Sarpika River in the south,Sadanira in the east which separated it fromVideha, and theNepal Hills in the north. It encompassed the territories of theShakyans,Mallakas,Koliyas,Kālāmas andMoriyas at its peak. It roughly corresponds to modern-dayAwadh region in India.[12]
The Kosala region had three major cities,Ayodhya,Saketa andShravasti, and a number of minor towns as Setavya, Ukattha,[13] Dandakappa, Nalakapana and Pankadha.[14] According to thePuranas and theRamayana epic,Ayodhya was the capital of Kosala during the reign ofIkshvaku andhis descendants.[15] Shravasti is recorded as the capital of Kosala during the Mahajanapada period (6th–5th centuries BCE),[16] but post-Maurya (2nd–1st centuries BCE) kings issued their coins from Ayodhya.
Kosala belonged to theNorthern Black Polished Ware culture (c. 700–300 BCE),[1] which was preceded by theBlack and red ware culture (c. 1450–1200 BCE until c. 700–500 BCE). The Central Gangetic Plain was the earliest area for rice cultivation in South Asia, and entered the Iron Age around 700 BCE.[1] According to Geoffrey Samuel, following Tim Hopkins, the Central Gangetic Plain was culturally distinct from thePainted Grey Ware culture of the Vedic Aryans of Kuru-Pancala west of it, and saw an independent development toward urbanisation and the use of iron.[8]
Kosala was situated at the crossroads ofVedic heartland ofKuru-Panchala andGreater Magadhan culture.[17] According to Alexander Wynne, Kosala-Videha culture was at the center of unorthodox Vedic traditions, ascetic and speculative traditions, possibly reaching back to the lateṚgveda.[18] Kosala-Videha culture is thought to be the home of the Śukla school of theYajurveda.[19]
According toMichael Witzel and Joel Brenton, theKāṇva school of Vedic traditions (and in turn the first Upanishad i.e,Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad) was based in Kosala during the middle and late Vedic periods.[20] Kosala had a significant presence of themuni tradition,[21] which includedBuddhists,Jains,Ajivikas, Naga,Yakṣa, and tree worshipers as well as Vedic munis.[22][23] The muni tradition emphasized on "practicingyoga, meditation, renunciation and wandering mendicancy" as contrasted to theṛṣis who "recited prayers, conductedhoma, and led a householder lifestyle".[22]
According to Samuel, there is "extensive iconographical evidence for a religion of fertility and auspiciousness".[24] According to Hopkins, the region was marked by a
...world of female powers, natural transformation, sacred earth and sacred places, blood sacrifices, and ritualists who accepted pollution on behalf of their community.[24]
Kosala had a particularly strong connection withJainism.Shravasti is often mentioned in Jaina sources. It is also called Chandrapuri or Chandrikapuri or Ārya Kṣetra, because Jaina texts state that two of their Tirthankaras were born here, namelySambhavanatha (3rd of 24) andChandraprabha (8th of 24). Shravasti is also known as the capital city ofKunala's kingdom.[25]
Sambhavanatha is said to have had taken initiation, donated all his belongings, and broken his first fast in Shravasti after begging for alms from King Surendradatta.[26][27]Munisuvrataswami, the 20thTirthankara, visited Shravasti and initiated several members of the royal family. As per the Jaina textJnatadharmakathah,Parshvanatha, the 23rd Tirthankara, also visited Shravasti and inspired several lay-followers to accept initiation.[28]
Further, Shravasti is the place of the bitter arguments and meeting betweenMahavira – the 24th Tirthankara, andGosala Mankhaliputta – the founder ofAjivikas and a rival. According to the Jain texts, the Mahavira visited Shravasti many times and spent his tenthvarsha monsoon season here before attaining omniscience. He was hosted by a wealthy merchant named Nandinipriya. Ancient Jain scholars such asKapila, Maghavan andKeshi studied in Shravasti.[28] At Shravasti, Jamāli, Mahavira's son-in-law, created the first of the eight heretical sects by opposing tenets ofJainism as taught by Mahavira himself. The eighth heretical sect,Digambara sect, was created bySivabhuti at Rathavirapur.[29] As described in the Jaina textUttaradhyayana Sutra, the discussion betweenKeśiśramanācharya and Mahavira's first disciple,Gautama Swami, is said to have had taken place at Shravasti. This was the place whereUpkeśa Gaccha was established by Keśiśramanācharya after he accepted Mahavira's conduct and became a white-clad monk along with all his disciples who were initially followingParshvanatha's conduct.[30] Moreover, thePattavali described in theKalpa Sūtra, states the existence of "Śrāvastikā Śākhā", one of the four branches of the "Veṣavāṭikgaṇa" of the Jaina sangha. It had originated from Ācārya Kāmardhi, a disciple of Ācārya Suhastisuri, belonging to the beginning of the 3rd century BCE.[31] Ācārya Jinaprabhasuri, in hisVividha Tirtha Kalpa confirms that a Jaina temple with an image ofSambhavanatha was renovated multiple times until it was finally completely desecrated during the reign ofAlauddin Khilji.[32]
Kosala had a particularly strong connection to theBuddha's life. Buddha introduced himself to the king of Magadha in theSuttanipata as a Kosalan.[33] In theMajjhima Nikāya too, king Prasenajit refers to Buddha as a Kosalan.[34] He spent much of his time teaching inŚrāvastī, especially in theJetavana monastery.[35] According to Samuels, early Buddhism was not a protest against an already established Vedic-Brahmanical system, which developed in Kuru-Pancala realm, but an opposition against the growing influence of this Vedic-Brahmanical system, and the superior position granted to Brahmins in it.[36]
Mahavira, the 24thTirthankara ofJainism taught in Kosala. A Buddhist text, theMajjhima Nikaya mentionsBuddha as a Kosalan, which indicates that Kosala may have subjugated theShakya clan, which the Buddha is traditionally believed to have belonged to.[38]
Kosala is not mentioned in the earlyVedic literature, but appears as a region in the later Vedic texts of theShatapatha Brahmana (7th–6th centuries BCE,[39] final version 300 BCE[40]) and theKalpasutras (6th-century BCE).[41]
In theRamayana,Mahabharata and thePuranas the ruling family of theKosala kingdom was theIkshvaku dynasty, which was descended from kingIkshvaku.[42] The Puranas give lists of kings of the Ikshvaku dynasty fromIkshvaku toPrasenajit (Pali:Pasenadi).[43] According to the Ramayana,Rama ruled the Kosala kingdom from his capital,Ayodhya.[44]
Koshala's first capital ofShravasti was barely settled by the 6th century BCE, but there is the beginnings of a mud fort. By 500 BCE,Vedic people had spread to Koshala.[45]
By the 5th century BCE under the reign of King Mahakosala, the neighboringKingdom of Kashi had been conquered.[46] Mahakosala's daughter was the first wife of KingBimbisara of Magadha. As a dowry, Bimbisara received a Kashi village that had a revenue of 100,000. This marriage temporarily eased tensions between Koshala and Magadha.[45]
By the time of Mahākosala's son Pasenadi, Kosala had become the suzerain of theKālāma tribal republic,[47] and Pasenadi's realm maintained friendly relations with the powerfulLicchavi tribe which lived to the east of his kingdom.[48]
During Pasenadi's reign, aMallaka named Bandhula who had received education in Takṣaśilā, had offered his services as a general to the Kauśalya king so as to maintain the good relations between the Mallakas and Kosala. Later, Bandhula, along with his wife Mallikā, violated theAbhiseka-Pokkharaṇī sacred tank of theLicchavikas, which resulted in armed hostilities between the Kauśalya and the Licchavikas. Bandhula was later treacherously murdered along with his sons by Pasenadi. In retaliation, some Mallakas helped Pasenadi's sonViḍūḍabha usurp the throne of Kosala to avenge the death of Bandhula, after which Pasenadi fled from Kosala and died in front of the gates of theMāgadhī capital ofRājagaha.[49]
At some point during his reign, Viḍūḍabha fully annexed the Kālāmas. That the Kālāmas did not request a share of the Buddha's relics after his death was possibly because they had lost their independence by then.[47]
Shortly after the Buddha's death, the Viḍūḍabha invaded theSakya andKoliya republics, seeking to conquer their territories because they had once been part of Kosala. Viḍūḍabha finally triumphed over the Sakyas and Koliyas and annexed their state after a long war with massive loss of lives on both sides. Details of this war were exaggerated by later Buddhist accounts, which claimed that Viḍūḍabha's invasion was in retaliation for having given in marriage to his father the slave girl who became Viḍūḍabha's mother, and that he exterminated the Sakyas. In actuality, Viḍūḍabha's invasion of Sakya might instead have had similar motivations to theMāgadhī kingAjātasattu's conquest of theVajjika League because he was the son of a Vajjika princess and was therefore interested in the territory of his mother's homeland. The result of the Kauśalya invasion was that the Sakyas and Koliyas were absorbed into Viḍūḍabha's kingdom.[50][51]
The massive life losses incurred by Kosala during its conquest of Sakya weakened it significantly enough that it was itself was soon annexed by its eastern neighbour, the kingdom ofMagadha, and Viḍūḍabha was defeated and killed by the Māgadhī kingAjātasattu.[50]
Under the reign ofMahapadma Nanda of Magadha, Koshala rebelled but the rebellion was put down.[45]
It is assumed that during theMauryan reign, Kosala was administratively under the viceroy atKaushambi.[52] TheSohgaura copper plate inscription, probably issued during the reign ofChandragupta Maurya deals with a famine in Shravasti and the relief measures to be adopted by the officials.[53] TheYuga Purana section of theGarga Samhita mentions about theYavana (Indo-Greek) invasion and subsequent occupation of Saket during the reign of the lastMaurya ruler Brihadratha orPushyamitra Shunga.[54]
The names of a number of rulers of Kosala of the post-Maurya period are known from the square copper coins issued by them, mostly found atAyodhya.[55] The rulers, forming theDeva dynasty, are: Muladeva, Vayudeva, Vishakhadeva,Dhanadeva, Naradatta, Jyesthadatta and Shivadatta. There is no way to know whether king Muladeva of the coins is identifiable with Muladeva, murderer of the Shunga rulerVasumitra or not (though a historian, Jagannath has tried to do so).[56] King Dhanadeva of the coins is identified with king Dhanadeva (1st century BCE) of Ayodhya inscription. In this Sanskrit inscription, King KaushikiputraDhanadeva mentions about setting aketana (flag-staff) in memory of his father, Phalgudeva. In this inscription he claimed himself as the sixth in descent fromPushyamitra Shunga. Dhanadeva issued both cast and die-struck coins and both the types have a bull on obverse.[57][58]
Other local rulers whose coins were found in Kosala include: a group of rulers whose name ends in "-mitra" is also known from their coins: Satyamitra, Aryamitra, Vijayamitra and Devamitra, sometimes called the "LateMitra dynasty of Kosala".[59] Other rulers known from their coins are: Kumudasena, Ajavarman and Sanghamitra.[60]
Kosala rose in political importance early in the 6th century BCE to become one of the 16 states dominant in northern India. It annexed the powerful kingdom of Kashi. About 500 BCE, during the reign of King Prasenajit (Pasenadi), it was regarded as one of the four powers of the north—perhaps the dominant power.
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