Prasenajit

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Prasenajit of Kosala pays a visit to Buddha
Procession of Prasenajit of Kosala leaving Sravasti to meet the Buddha. Sanchi

Prasenajit (P. Pasenadi; T. gsal rgyal གསལ་རྒྱལ་; C. bosini wang 波斯匿王) (c. 6th century BCE) was a king of Kosala during the life time of Gautama Buddha. He was a prominent lay disciple (upāsaka) of the Buddha and built many monasteries for the Buddhist community. His capital was in the city of Sāvatthī where the Buddha gave many of his teachings.[1]

Life

Pasenadi studied in Taxila in his early life. He was the king of Kosala (modern Oudh or Awadh).[2] His first queen was a Magadhan princess, a sister of king Bimbisara. His second and chief queen was Vāsavakhattiyā, a Sākya slave girl, daughter of the chief of garland-makers for Mahānāma. From this marriage, he had a son, Viḍūḍabha and a daughter, Princess Vajira, who was later married to Ajātaśatru (Pāli: Ajātasattu).[3][2]

He married his sister Kosala Devi to Bimbisara.[4]

Once, while he was away from his capital Shravasti, his minister Dīgha Chārāyana placed his son Viḍūḍabha on the throne. He went to Magadha to seek help from Ajātaśatru in order to regain his throne. But before being able to meet him, Pasenadi died of exposure outside the gates of Rājagṛha (Pāli: Rājagaha).[5] He was succeeded by his son Vidudabha.[6] The Puranas instead of Viḍūḍabha mention the name of Kṣudraka as his successor.[7]

Notes

  1. Buswell & Lopez 2014, s.v. Prasenajit.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Sastri 1988, p. 17.
  3. Pasenadi. PaliKanon.com
  4. Upinder Singh 2016, p. 271.
  5. Raychaudhuri H. (1972). Political History of Ancient India, Calcutta: University of Calcutta, pp.176-8,186
  6. Sen 1999, p. 107.
  7. Misra, V. S. (2007). Ancient Indian Dynasties, Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, ISBN 81-7276-413-8, pp.287-8


Sources

This article includes content from Pasenadi on Wikipedia (view authors). License under CC BY-SA 3.0. Wikipedia logo