Vajjī draft

Vajjī, Vajjīs, Vajjians. The name of a country and of its people. It was one of the sixteen Mahā Janapadas. The inhabitants appear to have consisted of several confederate clans of whom the Licchavī and the Videhā were the chief. A passage in the Commentaries (e.g., DN­a.ii.519) – which states that among those responsible for the administration of justice in the Vajjī country (see Licchavī) were the Aṭṭhakulakā – has given rise to the conjecture that Aṭṭhakulakā meant heads of eight clans composing the Vajjī confederacy. There is no other evidence regarding the number of the clans. The Aṭṭhakulakā were probably a judicial committee.

As time went on the Licchavī became the most powerful of these clans (Licchavī Vajjiraṭṭhavāsīhi pasatthā) (e.g., MN­a.i.394), and the names Vajjī and Licchavī were often synonymous. See Licchavī; in the Trikandaseṣa, quoted by Cunningham (Ancient Geography of India. 509), Licchavī, Vaideha and Tirabhukti were synonymous. In one passage (AN.iii.76) the Licchavī, Mahā Nāma, seeing that a band of young Licchavīs who had been out hunting were gathered round the Buddha, is represented as saying, “These Licchavīs will yet become Vajjians” (bhavissanti Vajjī). This probably only means that there was great hope of these young men becoming true Vajjians, practising the seven conditions of welfare taught by the Buddha, conditions which ensured their prosperity. But see GS.iii.62, n.1 and 3.

Vesālī was the capital of the Licchavīs and Mithilā of the Videhas. In the time of Gotama Buddha, both Vesālī and Mithilā were republics, though Mithilā had earlier been a kingdom under Janaka.

In the time of the Buddha, and even up to his death, the Vajjians were a very prosperous and happy community. The Buddha attributed this to the fact that they practiced the seven conditions of welfare taught to them by himself in the Sārandada cetiya. The details of this teaching, and various other matters connected with the Vajjī, are given under Licchavī. But soon after the Buddha’s death (three years after the Buddha’s last visit to Vesālī, according to Buddhaghosa, DN­a.ii.522), Ajātasattu, with the help of his minister Vassakāra, sowed dissension among the Vajjians and conquered their territory.

The Buddha travelled several times through the Vajjī country, the usual route being through Kosala, Malla, Vajjī, Kāsi, Magadha, and thus back (See, e.g., SN.v.348), and he preached to the people, mostly in the Kūṭāgārasālā in Vesālī. Among other places besides Vesālī visited by the Buddha, are mentioned Ukkācelā, Koṭigāma (see, e.g., Ja.ii.232, where it is called a village of the Vajjians, on the Ganges), Nādikā (in which were Giñjakāvasatha and Gosiṅgasālavana), Beluvagāma (or Veḷuvagāma), Bhaṇḍagāma, Bhogagāma and Hatthigāma. Pubbavijjhana, the birthplace of Channa, is also mentioned as a village of the Vajjians (SN.iv.59). The Vaggumudā river flowed through Vajjī territory (Ud.iii.3).

In one context (Ud­a., p. 382) Dhammapāla describes Udena as Vajjirājā. This is probably a mistake, for nowhere is Udena, who was king of the Vatsas (or Vaṁsas), called the king of the Vajjīs. The Vajjī are mentioned in the Mahā Nāradakassapajātaka (Ja 544). It is significant that the first great schism in the Buddhist Saṅgha arose in Vajjī, when the Vajjiputtakā brought forward their Ten Points. Even during the Buddha’s lifetime some monks of Vajjī joined Devadatta (Vin.ii.199f).

According to Xuanzang (Beal-Xuan: op.cit., 77), who visited it, the Vajjī (Vṛji) country was broad from east to west and narrow from north to south. The people of the neighbouring countries were called Saṁvajji, or United Vajjīs. For details see Cunningham, Ancient Geography of India. 512ff. The Commentaries contain a mythical account of the origin of the name Vajjī. See Licchavī.