Person · Haryanka king of Magadha

Ajatashatru

Also known as Ajātaśatru, Ajātasattu, Ajatasattu, Kūṇika, Kunika, Kūṇiya, Kuniya

Date

-492–-460

Function

Authority & administration

Patron dynasty

Haryanka

Confidence

Mixed / layered — Political outline accepted; birth, patricide and war stories differ between Buddhist and Jain texts.

Worth knowing

An inscription in the Government Museum at Mathura calls him the son of Vaidehi, Ajatashatru Kunika. Both traditions explain Kunika, 'sore finger', with a story of an infant thrown on a rubbish heap whose wounded finger his father sucked until it healed.

Connections (5)

• Succession in timeBimbisara

  Ajatashatru, called Kunika by the Jains, succeeded his father on the throne of Magadha around 492 BCE on the older chronology, after first serving as governor of Anga at Champa. Each tradition tells the succession differently: Buddhist texts say Ajatashatru, influenced by the schismatic monk Devadatta, imprisoned his father and had him killed, while Jain texts say Bimbisara took his own life in prison. Both versions are tradition rather than record, and each serves its own moral.

• CampaignVaishali

  Ajatashatru's war against the Vajjika league led by the Licchavis ended in the conquest of Vaishali; the feud is dated 484–468 BCE, and A. L. Basham placed the main campaign in 481–480 BCE. Buddhist texts have his minister Vassakara ask the Buddha why the Vajjis were invincible and receive seven reasons, among them regular assemblies and respect for their shrines. The Jain account sets the war against King Chetaka and gives Ajatashatru a god-sent scythed chariot, the rathamusala.

• Historical linkPataliputra

  Ajatashatru converted the village of Pataliputra on the Ganges into a fortified city, the beginning of the place that later replaced Rajagriha as the capital of Magadha. He also defeated Kosala and occupied Kashi, the dowry town his father had received, and under him Magadha became the most powerful kingdom in north India. The Wikipedia article on Bimbisara credits the first fortification of the village to his father instead, so the founder is uncertain.

• Traditional linkThe Buddha

  The Samannaphala Sutta, second discourse of the Digha Nikaya, tells how Ajatashatru, troubled by guilt, was taken by his physician Jivaka to the Buddha in Jivaka's mango grove, asked what a renunciant life is good for, and became a lay follower. Buddhist tradition adds that after the Buddha's death he raised a great stupa over his share of the relics. In Mahayana sutras he becomes the type of the sinner whom only the Buddha's compassion can save.

• PatronageRajagriha / Rajgir

  Buddhist accounts place the First Buddhist Council in the Sattapanni (Saptaparni) cave on a hill near Rajagriha soon after the Buddha's death, presided over by Mahakashyapa and held with Ajatashatru's support; Ananda recited the discourses and Upali the monastic rules. Many scholars since the late 19th century have doubted that the council took place as described. Rajagriha was his father's city; Ajatashatru himself is said to have moved his seat to Champa after Bimbisara's death.

Sources

Wikipedia, "Ajatashatru", "Samaññaphala Sutta" and "Buddhist councils". Upinder Singh, A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India (2016); A. L. Basham, "Ajātasattu's War with the Licchavis" (1951); Paul Dundas, The Jains (2002).

• Wikipedia — Ajatashatru
• Wikipedia — Samaññaphala Sutta
• Wikipedia — Buddhist councils