Bimbisara

Bimbisara ( Sanskrit बिम्भिसार ) was the first important king of the Magadha Empire in eastern India. He probably ruled in the 5th century BC. His empire covered a large part of today's state of Bihar , with the Ganges forming the northern border. The Buddha Siddharta Gautama stayed there under his reign , with whom he had a close relationship. In Jain sources, Bimbisara is called "Shrenika".

The Kingdom of Magadha in the 6th to 4th centuries BC Chr.

chronology

According to the chronicles Mahavamsa and Dipavamsa, Bimbisara's reign was 52 years. The Buddha is said to have survived the end of Bimbisara's rule by around eight years. Since the conventional chronology of the death ( Parinibbana ) of the Buddha in the eighties of the 5th century BC BC (mostly 486 or 483), a reign of approx. 546/543 to approx. 494/491 is often mentioned for the king. Recently, however, research has increasingly tended to late dating the Buddha's death and relocated it to the late 5th or even early 4th century. This leads to a corresponding drastic shift in Bimbisara's life dates by several decades.

origin

According to the information in the Mahavamsa Chronicle, Bimbisara was appointed heir to the throne by his father at the age of 15 and immediately succeeded him. The father's name is given as Bhati or Bhatiya (Bhattiya) or Mahapadma, that of the mother with Bimbi. However, it is not clear from which families these people came and since when the Bimbisaras family ruled in Magadha.

Foreign and Marriage Policy

Little is known about Bimbisara's foreign policy. It is certain that he pursued a successful marriage and expansion policy and thus created the basis for the heyday of the Empire of Magadha. Apparently he had numerous wives (allegedly 500). The highest ranking among them was Kosaladevi, a sister of King Prasenajit (Pali: Pasenadi), who ruled the north-western neighboring kingdom of Kosala (in the east of what is now the state of Uttar Pradesh ). The protection in the west and north through marriage policy and active diplomacy enabled Bimbisara to reach out to the east, where he subjugated the empire of Anga with the capital Champa.

Domestic politics

Bimbisara made the place Girivraja (Pali: Giribbaja) his capital, which he called Rajagriha (Pali: Rajagaha) and expanded it into an important metropolis (today Rajgir). He is considered to be the creator of the well-organized administrative system in his realm, especially the financial authorities. The number of settlements in the empire is given as 80,000, but this is not to be taken literally. The villages were subject to local self-government, each headed by a mayor or village elder ( gramani , derived from grama , village). There was a general assembly of all these mayors who were responsible for local tax collection at the national level. The taxes, originally more or less voluntary and irregular taxes, were set by royal officials according to certain guidelines and collected regularly, with one tax being based on the extent of the land ownership and another on agricultural production. The central administration was divided into three departments (home affairs, justice and military).

religion

In Bimbisara's realm not only the Buddha stayed, but also Mahavira , the reformer of Jainism and leader of the Jains. Both religions counted Bimbisara among their followers; he favored both and visited both the Buddha and Mahavira. It was customary at that time for kings to go to the important religious teachers and not the other way around.

The king's relationship with the Buddha was close. Bimbisara visited the Buddha a few years before his awakening ( Bodhi ) when the Buddha was in Rajagriha. When the Buddha reappeared in Rajagriha after the Bodhi experience, the king accepted the Buddha's teachings, entertained the Buddha himself and gave him generous gifts. Bimbisara is said to have been 31 years old at the time. One of his wives, named Khema, even became a Buddhist nun.

End of government and death

Among the sons of Bimbisara, Ajatasattu seems to have been the undisputed heir to the throne, probably because his mother Kosaladevi was the sister of the king of Kosala and was the first among the women of Bimbisara. In the Jainist and Buddhist sources, Bimbisara's end of government is described differently. Everyone agrees that Ajatasattu was greedy for power and did not want to wait for his father to die, but overthrew him or caused him to abdicate and imprisoned him, and that Bimbisara died in prison. Research regards this as a historical fact.

Remnants of the wall of the building in which Bimbisara was imprisoned.

The representations differ in the details:

• Buddhist sources claim that Ajatasattu acted under the influence of the monk Devadatta . Devadatta, who in Buddhism is assigned the role of the arch-villain and adversary of the Buddha, is said to have incited the prince to an attempt to murder the king. The plan failed; Ajatasattu was arrested either after entering the palace or immediately after a failed assassination attempt. Against the advice of some of his ministers, the king forgave the prince and abdicated in his favor. According to another version, he raised his son to co-ruler, according to another, he first left him part of the empire. Agreement is that Ajatasattu seized all power. Bimbisara was thrown into prison and tortured and killed or starved to death.
• According to Jain tradition, Ajatasattu did not kill his father. He regretted what he had done to him and went to jail to be released. But Bimbisara poisoned himself beforehand for fear of his son.

Both representations are tendentious. The Jain sources try to exonerate Ajatasattu from the crime of parricide as he later promoted Jainism. Buddhist authors portray Bimbisara as an exemplary Buddhist who patiently endured all injustice, and above all strive to blacken Devadatta as the instigator of calamity. The narratives of Devadatta's role in the power struggle, however, are likely fictitious.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Radha Kumud Mookerji: The Rise of Magadhan Imperialism. In: RC Majumdar and AD Pusalker (eds.): The Age of Imperial Unity. Bombay 1951, p. 37f.
2. ↑ Hans Wolfgang Schumann: The historical Buddha. Kreuzlingen 2004, pp. 22-26.
3. ↑ Heinz Bechert (Ed.): The Dating of the Historical Buddha - The dating of the historical Buddha. Part 1–3, Göttingen 1991–1997, especially Part 1, pp. 13–15, Part 3, pp. 1–13.
4. ↑ HC Raychaudhuri: Seniya Bimbisara. In: The Indian Historical Quarterly. Volume 1, 1925, pp. 86f .; AD Pusalker: Historical Traditions. In: RC Majumdar and AD Pusalker (eds.): The Vedic Age. London 1951, pp. 324f .; Mookerji pp. 18f .; HGA van Zeyst: Bimbisara. In: Encyclopaedia of Buddhism. Volume 3 Fasc. 1, 1971, p. 115f.
5. ↑ Mookerji pp. 19f .; see. on diplomacy and marriage policy Sudhakar Chattopadhyaya: Bimbisara to Aśoka. Calcutta 1977, pp. 27-31.
6. ↑ Schumann p. 107.
7. ^ Romila Thapar: Early India from the Origins to AD 1300. London 2002, pp. 152f.
8. ↑ Hermann Oldenberg: Buddha. Stuttgart 1959, p. 194; Mookerji p. 20.
9. ↑ Oldenberg pp. 194-197; Mookerji p. 21.
10. ↑ Thapar p. 152f.
11. ↑ Mookerji p. 21; Chattopadhyaya p. 31.
12. ↑ Mookerji p. 21.
13. ↑ Schumann p. 62f .; Mookerji p. 21.
14. ↑ Schumann pp. 107-111; Mookerji pp. 21f .; van Zeyst, Bimbisara p. 116.
15. ↑ van Zeyst, Bimbisara S. 117th
16. ↑ Biswadeb Mukherjee: The tradition of Devadatta, the adversary of the Buddha, in the canonical scriptures. Munich 1966, p. 55.
17. ↑ Mukherjee pp. 55-63; HGA van Zeyst: Ajatasattu. In: Encyclopaedia of Buddhism. Volume 1, Fasc. 1, 1961, p. 316; HGA van Zeyst: Bimbisara. P. 117f.
18. ↑ Mukherjee p. 102 and Note 4; Mookerji p. 22.
19. ↑ Mukherjee pp. 101-103; van Zeyst, Ajatasattu p. 316.

predecessor	Office	successor
Bhati	King of Magadha 5th century BC Chr. (Chronology)	Ajatasattu