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{{Short description|Republican confederacy in ancient India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2017}}
{{Infobox country
| native_name = Vṛji
| conventional_long_name = Vajjika League
| common_name = Vajji
| era = [[Iron Age]]
| government_type = [[Gaṇasaṅgha]]<ref name="Olivelle2006">{{cite book |last=Olivelle |first=Patrick |author-link=Patrick Olivelle |title=Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BC to 400 AD|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=efaOR_-YsIcC&pg=PA15 |date=13 July 2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-977507-1 |pages=15– }}</ref>
| year_start = c. 6th century BCE
| year_end = c. 468 BCE
| event_end = Conquered by [[Ajatashatru|Ajātasattu]] of Magadha in 484–468 BCE
| p1 = Videha
| s1 = Haryanka dynasty
| image_map = Gana_Sanghas_(c._500_BCE).jpg
| image_map_alt =
| image_map_caption = The constituent tribes of the Vajjika League, Licchavi, Videha, and Nāya, among the [[Gaṇasaṅgha|{{transl|sa|Gaṇasaṅgha}}]]s
| image_map2 = Mahajanapadas (c. 500 BCE).png
| image_map2_caption = Vajji (the Licchavika dependencies within the Vajjika League), Malla, and other [[Mahajanapadas]] in the Post Vedic period
| leader1 = [[Chetaka|Ceḍaga]]
| capital = [[Vaishali (ancient city)|Vesālī]]<ref name="Olivelle2006"/>
| common_languages = [[Prakrit]] [[Sanskrit]]
| religion = [[Historical Vedic religion]] [[Buddhism]] [[Jainism]]
| demonym = Vajjika
| currency =
| title_leader = {{transl|sa|Gaṇa Mukhya}}
| today = [[India]] [[Nepal]]
}}
{{HistoryOfSouthAsia}}

The '''Vajjika''' ([[Pali|Pāli]]: {{transl|pi|Vajjika}}) or '''Vrijika''' ([[Sanskrit]]: {{transl|sa|Vṛjika}}) '''League''', '''Confederacy''', or '''Sangha''', also called simply '''Vajji''' ([[Pali|Pāli]]: {{transliteration|pi|Vajji}}) or '''Vriji''' ([[Sanskrit]]: {{transliteration|sa|Vṛji}}), was an ancient [[Indo-Aryan peoples|Indo-Aryan]] tribal league which existed during the later [[Iron Age in India|Iron Age]] period in north-east [[South Asia]].{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=81-84}}

==Name==
The Vajjika League was named after one of its constituent tribes, the [[Vajji (tribe)|Vajjika]]s proper, who had once been the most powerful tribe in the region of the league's capital of Vesālī. According to Chinese pilgrim [[Xuanzang]], the name {{transl|pi|Saṃvajji}}, meaning "united Vajjis," was given by the peoples of northern South Asia to the Vajjika League.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=81-84}} The larger region of the former Mahā-Videha kingdom in which the Vajjika League was located was in turn named after the confederacy.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=83}}

==Constituent tribes==
The Vajjika League were a league of republican tribal states under the leadership of the [[Licchavi (tribe)|Licchavikas]] centred around the city of [[Vaishali (ancient city)|Vesālī]]. The other members of the league were the [[Videha|Vaidehas]] in the [[Mithila (region)|Mithila]] region, the [[Nāya|Nāyika]]s (Skt. *Jñātrika)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dutt |first1=Ramesh Chander |title=A History of Civilisation in Ancient India |date=5 November 2013 |publisher=Routledge |location=India |isbn=9781136381898 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=udv7AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA382}}</ref> of [[Kuṇḍapura]], and the [[Vajji (tribe)|Vajji]] tribe proper, who were dependencies of the Licchavikas. The [[Malla (tribe)|Mallakas]], who were organised into two separate republics, were also part of the Vajjika League, although they were not dependencies of the Licchavikas and therefore maintained their independence and sovereign rights within the confederation, hence why Jain sources considered the Licchavikas and the neighbouring [[Malla (tribe)|Mallakas]] of [[Kusinārā]] and [[Pāvā]] to be the republican states of [[Kingdom of Kashi|Kāsī]]-[[Kosala]].{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=81-84}}{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=169-181}}

The once popular view among scholars that the Vajjika League was constituted of eight clans was based on a misreading of the 5th century CE Buddhist commentator [[Buddhaghosa]]'s mention that the legal tribunals of Vesālī included the {{transl|pi|aṭṭhakulika}} ({{lang|pi|अट्ठकुलिक}}), which was interpreted as meaning "eight tribes." The [[Pali|Pāli]] term {{transl|pi|kula}} ({{lang|pi|कुल}}) however means "clan" while the word for "tribe" is {{transl|pi|jana}} ({{lang|pi|जन}}), meaning that the term {{transl|pi|aṭṭhakulika}} instead referred to the heads of the eight leading ruling families of Vaisali and not to eight tribes.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=81-84}}

===Organisation===
The Vajjika League was administered by the Vajjika Council, which consisted of eighteen members, of which nine were from the confederacy's leading Licchavika tribe while the other nine members were from the Videha, Nāya, Vajji, and Malla tribes.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=136-158}}

Since the Licchavikas were the leading tribe of the confederacy, their capital city of Vesālī was the headquarter of the Vajjika League,{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=85-135}} and their army also functioned as the Vajjika army, although the other confederated tribes were also required to furnish troops to the league.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=159-168}}
[[File:Anandastupa.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Ananda Stupa, with an [[Asokan pillar]], at [[Vaishali (ancient city)|Vesālī]], the capital city of Vajji and Licchavi.]]

==Location==
The area of the Vajjika League was bounded to the north, east, south, and west, respectively, by the [[Himalayas|Himālaya mountains]], and the [[Mahananda River|Mahānadī]], [[Ganges|Gaṅgā]], and [[Gandaki River|Sadānirā]] rivers.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=81-84}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Raychaudhuri |first=Hemchandra |author-link=Hem Chandra Raychaudhuri |date=1953 |title=Political History of Ancient India: From the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of Gupta Dynasty |url= |location= |pages=118–126 |publisher=[[University of Calcutta]] |isbn=}}</ref>

Within the Vajjika League, the [[Licchavi (tribe)|Licchavika]]s lived in the southwest region, immediately to the north of the Gaṅgā river and to the east of the Sadānirā river.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=85-135}}

The [[Videha|Vaideha]]s lived along the foothills of the Himālaya mountains between the Sadānirā and [[Kosi River|Kauśikī]] rivers, in what are now the [[Terai|Tarāī]] region and the south-eastern parts of [[Nepal]] including the lower hill ranges, as well as the northern part of what in present time is the Indian state of [[Bihar|Bihār]].{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=136-158}}

The [[Nāya|Nāyika]]s were located in a small area around their capital, which was a minor town called either [[Kuṇḍagāma]] ([[Kuṇḍagrāma]] in Sanskrit) or [[Kuṇḍapura]] in Pāli, located somewhere close to the Licchavika and Vajjika capital of Vesālī to its northeast. Other Nāya settlements included a northeastern suburb of Vesālī named Kollāga, as well as a [[cetiya]] named Dūīpalāsa that was nominally part of the Nāyikas' settlement at Kollāga but physically outside of it.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=159-168}}

==History==
The Vajjika League was located on the territory of the former Mahā-Videha kingdom founded by the tribe of the [[Videha|Vaideha]]s, an Indo-Aryan tribe in the eastern Gangetic plain in the [[Greater Magadha]] cultural region.<ref name="Levman">{{cite journal |last=Levman |first=Bryan G. |date=2014 |title=Cultural Remnants of the Indigenous Peoples in the Buddhist Scriptures |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276914202 |journal=Buddhist Studies Review |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=145–180 |doi=10.1558/bsrv.v30i2.145 |access-date=4 June 2022|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004157194.i-416 |title=Bronkhorst, J. (2007). Greater Magadha, Studies in the culture of Early India, p. 6. Leiden, Boston, MA: Brill.|year=2007|doi=10.1163/ej.9789004157194.i-416|last1=Bronkhorst|first1=Johannes|isbn=9789047419655}}</ref> Around 800 BCE the Mahā-Videha ("greater Videha") kingdom was established between the [[Gandaki River|Sadānirā]] river in the west, the [[Koshi River|Kauśikī]] river in the east, the [[Ganges]] river in the south, and the [[Himalayas|Himālaya mountains]] in the north.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=136-158}}

Shortly before or during the lifetime of the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]], around the 7th or 6th century BCE, the Mahā-Videha kingdom was invaded by the [[Licchavi (tribe)|Licchavikas]], an [[Indo-Aryan peoples|Indo-Aryan]] tribe who temporarily occupied the Vaideha capital of [[Mithila (ancient city)|Mithilā]], from where they could best administer the territory of Videha. The consequence of the occupation of Videha by the republican Licchavikas was that the Licchavikas relatively peacefully overthrew the already weakened Vaideha monarchical system and replaced it by a republican system.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=85-135}}{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=136-158}}

Facing the rising power of [[Magadha]] to the south of the Ganges, the Licchavikas established their republic in the southern part of the former Videha kingdom and moved their political centre to the until then marginal location of [[Vaishali (ancient city)|Vesālī]], which the Licchavikas turned into their largest city as well as their capital and stronghold. Meanwhile, the new Videha republic existed in a limited territory centred around Mithilā and located to the north of Licchavi. Many members of the Vaideha aristocracy who had submitted to the Licchavikas joined them in moving to Vesālī, and therefore became members of the Licchavika ruling aristocratic Assembly.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=85-135}}{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=136-158}}

Once settled around Vesālī, the Licchavikas formed a state organised as a [[Gaṇasaṅgha|{{transl|sa|gaṇasaṅgha}}]] (an [[aristocracy|aristocratic]] [[oligarchy|oligarchic]] [[republic]]). The Licchavikas themselves henceforth became the leading power within the territory of the former Mahā-Videha kingdom, with the Licchavika Assembly holding the sovereign and supreme rights over this territory.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=136-158}} The Licchavikas founded the Vajjika League as a temporary league led by themselves, and named after the [[Vajji (tribe)|Vajji]] tribe proper, who had been the most powerful tribe in the region of Vesālī and were one of the constituent tribes of the league, within which they held their own sovereign rights.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=83}}{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=149}}

The Videha republic was ruled by an Assembly of the [[Kshatriya|{{transl|sa|kṣatriya}}]]s residing in and around Mithilā, and governing in the name of the Licchavika Assembly: the Videha republic was thus under significant influence of the Licchavi republic, and it joined the Vajjika League, within which it had limited autonomy concerning their domestic administration under the supervision of Licchavi, who fully controlled Vaideha foreign policy.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=85-135}}{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=136-158}} The [[Nāya|Nāyika]]s, who were a sub-group of the Vaidehas who formed an independent tribe, were another constituent republic of the Licchavi-led Vajjika League, and hence they held autonomy in matters of internal policy while their war and foreign policies were handled by the Vajjika League. The Licchavikas and the [[Malla (tribe)|Mallaka]]s were considered to be the republican states of [[Kingdom of Kashi|Kāsī]]-[[Kosala]] by Jain sources, and both Mallaka republics joined the Licchavi-led Vajjika League to deal with danger they might have faced in common during periods of instability, and within which they held friendly relations with the Licchavikas, the Vaidehas, and the Nāyikas who were the other members of this league, although occasional quarrels did break out between these republics. Unlike the other confederate tribes such as the Vaidehas and Nāyikas, who had no sovereign rights of their own because they were dependencies of Licchavi, the Mallakas maintained their own sovereign rights within the Vajjika League.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=85-135}}{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=169-181}}

During the 6th century BCE, the {{transl|sa|Gaṇa Mukhya}} ("head of the republic") of the Licchavikas, that is the head of state of the Licchavikas and of their Council, was [[Chetaka|Ceṭaka]] or Ceḍaga, which also made him the head of the Council of the Vajjika League.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=85-135}} Ceḍaga's sister [[Trishala|Trisalā]] was married to the Nāyika {{transl|sa|Gaṇa Mukhya}} [[Siddhartha of Kundagrama|Siddhārtha]], with this marriage having been contracted because of Siddhārtha's political importance due to the important geographical location close to Vesālī of the Nāya tribe he headed, as well as due to Siddhārtha's membership in the Vajjika Council. The son of Siddhārtha and Trisalā, that is Ceḍaga's nephew, was [[Mahavira|Mahāvīra]], the 24th [[Jainism|Jain]] [[Tirthankara|Tīrthaṅkara]].{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=159-168}} Ceṭaka became an adept of the teachings of his nephew [[Mahavira|Mahāvīra]] and adopted [[Jainism]], thus making the Licchavika and Vajjika capital of [[Vaishali (ancient city)|Vesālī]] a bastion of Jainism, and his sixth daughter, [[Sujyeṣṭhā]], became a Jain nun,{{sfn|Deo|1956|p=71}} while the diplomatic marriages of his other daughters to various leaders, in turn, contributed to the spreading of Jainism across northern South Asia:{{sfn|Jain|1974|p=67}} [[Prabhāvatī]] was married to the king [[Udāyana]] of [[Sindhu-Sauvīra]];{{sfn|Sikdar|1964|p=388-464}}{{sfn|Deo|1956|p=71}} [[Padmāvatī]] was married to king [[Dadhivāhana]] of [[Anga|Aṅga]];{{sfn|Deo|1956|p=71}} [[Mṛgāvatī]] was married to the king [[Śatānīka]] of [[Vatsa]], with their son being the famous [[Udayana (king)|Udayana]];{{sfn|Sikdar|1964|p=388-464}}{{sfn|Deo|1956|p=71}} [[Śivā]] was married to king [[Pradyota]] of [[Avanti (Ancient India)|Avanti]]; {{sfn|Jain|1974|p=66}}{{sfn|Deo|1956|p=71}} [[Jyeṣṭhā]] was married to Ceṭaka's nephew, [[Nandivardhana of Kundagrama|Nandivardhana]] of [[Kuṇḍagāma]], who was the son of Trisalā and the elder brother of Mahāvīra;{{sfn|Deo|1956|p=71}} [[Cellaṇā]] was married to the king [[Bimbisara|Bimbisāra]] of [[Magadha]].{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=159-168}}{{sfn|Deo|1956|p=71}}

After the death of the Buddha, the Licchavikas, the Mallakas, and the [[Sakya (tribe)|Sakya]]s claimed shares of his relics while the Vaidehas and the Nāyikas did not appear among the list of states claiming a share because they were dependencies of the Licchavikas without their own sovereignty, and therefore could not put forth their own claim while Licchavi could.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=136-158}}

===Conquest by Magadha===
{{multiple image
| align = right
| caption_align = center
| direction =vertical
| total_width=250
| image1 =
| caption1 =
| image2 = The eastern Gangetic plain before Ajatasattu's, Vidudabha's and Udayana's conquests.jpg
| caption2 = Map of the eastern Gangetic plain before Ajātasattu's conquests (Malla shown within the Vajjika League)
| image3 = The eastern Gangetic plain after Ajatasattu's, Vidudabha's and Udayana's conquests.jpg
| caption3 = Map of the eastern Gangetic plain after Ajātasattu's conquest of the Vajjika League and of Moriya
| footer=
}}
{{See also|Magadha-Vajji war}}
The relations of the Licchavikas who led the Vajjika League with their southern neighbour, the kingdom of [[Magadha]], were initially good, and the wife of the Māgadhī king [[Bimbisara|Bimbisāra]] was the Vesālia princess Vāsavī, who was the daughter of the Licchavika {{transl|sa|Nāyaka}} Sakala's son Siṃha. There were nevertheless occasional tensions between Licchavi and Magadha, such as the competition at the Mallaka capital of [[Kusinārā]] over acquiring the relics of the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]] after his death.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=85-135}}

In another case, the Licchavikas once invaded Māgadhī territory from across the [[Ganges|Gaṅgā]], and at some point the relations between Magadha and Licchavi permanently deteriorated as result of a grave offence committed by the Licchavikas towards the Māgadhī king Bimbisāra.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=85-135}}

The hostilities between Licchavi and Magadha continued under the rule of [[Ajatashatru|Ajātasattu]], who was Bimbisāra's son with another Licchavika princess, Vāsavī, after he had killed Bimbisāra and usurped the throne of Magadha. Eventually Licchavi supported a revolt against Ajātasattu by his younger step-brother and the governor of [[Anga|Aṅga]], Vehalla, who was the son of Bimbisāra by another Licchavika wife of his, Cellanā, a daughter of [[Chetaka|Ceḍaga]], who was the head of both the Licchavi republic and the Vajjika League; Bimbisāra had chosen Vehalla as his successor following Ajātasattu's falling out of his favour after the latter had been caught conspiring against him, and the Licchavikas had attempted to place Vehalla on the throne of Magadha after Ajātasattu's usurpation and had allowed Vehalla to use their capital Vesālī as base for his revolt. After the failure of this rebellion, Vehalla sought refuge at his grandfather's place in the Licchavika and Vajjika capital of Vesālī, following which Ajātasattu repeatedly attempted to negotiate with the Licchavikas-Vajjikas. After Ajātasattu's repeated negotiation attempts ended in failure, he declared war on the Vajjika League in 484 BCE.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=85-135}}

Tensions between Licchavi and Magadha were exacerbated by the handling of the joint Māgadhī-Licchavika border post of Koṭigāma on the Gaṅgā by the Licchavika-led Vajjika League who would regularly collect all valuables from Koṭigāma and leave none to the Māgadhīs. Therefore Ajātasattu decided to destroy the Vajjika League in retaliation, but also because, as an ambitious empire-builder whose mother Vāsavī was Licchavika princess of Vaidehī descent, he was interested in the territory of the former Mahā-Videha kingdom which by then was part of the Vajjika League. Ajātasattu's hostility towards the Vajjika League was also the result of the differing forms of political organisation between Magadha and the Vajjika League, with the former being monarchical and the latter being republican, not unlike the opposition of the [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greek]] kingdom of [[Sparta]] to the democratic form of government in [[Classical Athens|Athens]], and the [[Expansion of Macedonia under Philip II|hostilities]] between the [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|ancient Macedonian]] king [[Philip II of Macedon|Philip II]] to the Athenian and [[Thebes, Greece|Theban]] republics.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=85-135}}

As members of the Vajjika League, the Vaidehas, Nāyikas, and Mallakas were also threatened by Ajātasattu, and the Vajjika {{transliteration|sa|Gaṇa Mukhya}} [[Chetaka|Ceḍaga]] held war consultations with the {{transl|pi|rājā}}s of the Licchavikas and Mallikas before the fight started. The Vaidehas, Nāyikas, and Mallakas therefore fought on the side of the League against Magadha. The military forces of the Vajjika League were initially too strong for Ajātasattu to be successful against them, and it required him having recourse to diplomacy and intrigues over the span of a decade to finally defeat the Vajjika League by 468 BCE and annex its territories, including Licchavi, Videha, and Nāya to the kingdom of Magadha, while the Mallakas also became part of Ajātasattu's Māgadhī empire but were allowed a limited degree of autonomy in terms of their internal administration, and stopped existing as a republican tribe when the [[Maurya Empire|Maurya dynasty]] ruled Magadha or shortly after. The Licchavikas nevertheless survived their defeat by Ajātasattu, and the structures of the older Licchavi republic subsisted within a degree local autonomy under Māgadhī rule, as attested by how the Licchavika Council instituted a festival in the memory of the decease of the [[Jainism|Jain]] [[Tirthankara|Tīrthaṅkara]] [[Mahavira|Mahāvīra]].{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=85-135}}{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=136-158}}{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=169-181}}

==See also==
* [[Mahajanapada]]
* [[History of India]]
* [[History of Hinduism]]
* [[List of Indian monarchs]]
* [[History of Mithila Region]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Deo |first=Shantaram Bhalchandra |date=1956 |title=History of Jaina Monachism from Inscriptions and Literature |url= |location=[[Pune]], [[India]] |publisher=[[Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute]] |isbn=978-9-333-68377-7 }}
* {{cite book |last=Jain |first=Kailash Chand |author-link= |date=1974 |title=Lord Mahāvīra and His Times |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.72385 |location=[[Delhi]], [[India]] |publisher=[[Motilal Banarsidass]] |page=66 |isbn=978-8-120-80805-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Sharma |first=J. P. |author-link= |date=1968 |title=Republics in Ancient India, C. 1500 B.C.-500 B.C. |url= |location=[[Leiden]], [[Netherlands]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|E. J. Brill]] |page= |isbn=978-9-004-02015-3 }}
* {{cite book |last=Sikdar |first=Jogendra Chandra |author-link= |date=1964 |title=Studies in the Bhagawatīsūtra |url= |location=[[Muzaffarpur]], [[Bihar]], [[India]] |publisher=Research Institute of Prakrit, Jainology & Ahimsa |pages=388–464 |isbn= }}
{{refend}}

{{Mahajanapada |state=collapsed}}

[[Category:Gaṇa saṅghas]]
[[Category:Mithila]]
[[Category:Mahajanapadas]]
[[Category:History of Bihar]]
[[Category:6th century BC in India]]
[[Category:5th century BC in India]]
[[Category:6th-century BC establishments]]
[[Category:5th-century BC disestablishments]]
[[Category:6th-century BC establishments in Nepal]]
[[Category:5th-century BC disestablishments in Nepal]]
[[Category:Former republics]]

Vajjika League - Revision history

Debadrito Dutta: minor edit

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article