144 
S. C. Vidyabliusana —Licchavi race of ancient India . [No. 2, 
This place, he adds, ought to be of Median or Persian foundation, since the 
nomenclature is Iranian, the name of Nysa or Nisaya, which figures in 
the cosmogonic geography Of the Zend A vesta, being one which is far 
spread in the countries of ancient Iran. Megasthenes in the 4th cen¬ 
tury B.C. found in India a race called Nesei. This, I believe, was the 
same as Nicchibi or Licchavi. 
Looking at the celebrated canonical Pali’scripture, called Maha- 
The Licchavis regard- P ar i n rt>bana Sutta, supposed to have been 
ed as enemies by the rehearsed in the first Buddhist council in 
Ruler of India. 543 B.C., we obtain an interesting account of 
the Licchavis and seven other cognate clans, unitedly called Vajjis. The 
Licchavis are there represented as living in Vaisall corresponding to the 
modern village of Besarh, in the Muzaffarpur district. In the first chapter 
of the work, we find that the great Monarch Ajata-gatru, of Magadha, 
(Behar), the then paramount ruler of India, builds a fort at Patali-grama 
and sends two of his Brahmana ministers to consult Buddha, as to the 
feasibility of subduing or driving out the Licchavis and other Vajjian 
tribes. Buddha replies to them, saying that so long as the several clans 
of the Vajjis remained united, they would be invincible. However, in 
the course of three years (?.e., in 540 B.C.) the aforesaid monarch, Ajata- 
gatru, brought about such a disunion among the several clans that they 
became very easily conquered. In chap. VI of the afore-mentioned 
Mabaparinibbana Sutta we find the Licchavis claiming and actually 
receiving one-eighth part of the relics of Buddha’s body. It was in 
543 B.C. that Buddha entered Nirvana, and it was in the same year that 
the relics of his body became distributed among the Licchavis of Vaisali, 
Mallas of Kuslnagara, and others. One of the most interesting facts to 
be noticed in connection with this episode is that the Licchavis are des¬ 
cribed there as claiming Ksatriyaship. They are stated there as sending 
messengers to Kuslnara, saying: “ Bhagavan Buddha was a Ksatriya, 
we, too, are Ksatriyas, so we, too, deserve a part of the relics of Bhagavan’s 
body.” Auother interesting fact to be noticed is that the Licchavis had, 
at the time, a republican form of government j they had then no kings, 
but simply obeyed the orders of their elders. 
In theMahavamsa, the well-known Pali chronicle of Ceylon, compil¬ 
ed in 431 A.D., we find the descendants of 
ruTing^ove^IndiaT^ 8 ^ ^e a f° resa ^ Ajata-gatru reigning in Maga¬ 
dha up to the year 471 B C. It was in this 
year that a member of the Licchavi race was installed in the sovereignty 
of Magadha. It is a curious fact, of Indian history, that the Licchavis, 
who were looked down as outcastes up to the year 540 B.C., succeeded, 
so soon as iu 471 B.C., to see one of their members elected monarch iu 
