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KINGS AND PEOPLES
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Kosala. Some of the Kasi kings in the Jātakas, as pointed out by D. R. Bhandarkar 1, find mention also in the Purāņas. 2
The series of struggles ended finally in a permanent annexation of the kingdom of Kāsi to that of Kosala.8
The Kosalas & as a people do not find mention in the Vedic texts. They were a Kşatriya - tribe who like the Sākyas traced their descent from king Okkāka. The kinship between the two neighbouring peoples was so close in all respects that the Buddha openly confessed that he was as much a Kosalan (Kosalako) as the then king Pasonadi of Kosala. In the earlier days of Brahmadatta, king of Kāsī,, the Kosala country was only a poor and tiny estate with slender resources'. (daliddo appadhano appabhogo appabalo appavāhano appavijito aparipuņņa-kosakotthāgāro). It may be taken for granted that Ayojjha (Ayodhyā) was the earlier capital of the undivided kingdom of Kosala. One king Kālasena reigned in
1 Carmichael Lectures, 1918, p. 57.
2 Viskasena of Jātaka No. 268 = Viswasaksena; Udaya of Jāteka No. 458 - Udakasene, Bhallātiya of Jätaks No. 504 = Bhallata.
& Vinaya, S.B.D., Vo... aw, 294–99; Kuņāla Jataka No. 638; Kosambi JĀtaka No. 428.
4 For fullor details, vide B. C. Law, Ancient Inaran Tribes, Oh, II.
6 Dhammacetiya Sutta, Majjhime, u p. 118f. & Vinaya, Mahāvagga, S.B..., vol. xvii, 294.
