The feud between Ajatashatru and
Licchavi during 484–468 BCE led to defeat of the latter.
The Jaina Tradition Once Queen Padmavati, wife of Ajatashatru, was sitting in her balcony in the evening. She saw Halla and Vihalla kumaras with their wives sitting on the elephant "Sechanaka" and one of the wives was wearing the 18-fold divine necklace. Then she heard one of the maidservants talking from the garden below. "It's Halla and Vihalla kumaras and not the king who enjoy the real pleasures of the kingdom" and Padmavati thought "What's the use of the kingdom if I do not have both the jewels in my possession?" So, she shared this thought with Ajatashatru the same night and became excessively insistent in her demand. Ajatashatru, at last, agreed and sent a request to both his brothers to give the elephant and the necklace to him, which both his brothers denied saying that these gifts were given by their dear father so why should they part from them? Ajatashatru sent the request thrice but got the same reply all three times. This greatly annoyed him, so he sent his men to arrest them. Meanwhile, Halla and the Vihalla kumaras saw a chance and escaped to their maternal grandfather Chetaka who was the king of the great kingdom of the Vaishali republic (Vajjis/Licchavi tribe). Ajatashatru sent notice thrice to Chetaka to surrender them but was denied by Chetaka. This was enough for Ajatashatru. He called his half brothers, Kalakumaras (10 kalakumaras, those born to King Bimbisara and 10 Kali Queens Kali, Sukali, Mahakali, etc.) to merge their army with his, since it was well known to Ajatashatru that Vaishali republic had always been invincible in the past and he alone would not be able to defeat it. Each Kalakumara brought 3000 horses, 3000 elephants, 3000 chariots and 30000 infantrymen each. On the other hand, Chetaka invited his own allies (9
Mallas, 9
Lichhvis and 18 kings of
Kasi-
Kosala) to fight his grandson Ajatashatru. All these kings came with 3000 horses, 3000 elephants, 3000 chariots and 30000 infantrymen each. Thus all together there were 57000 elephants, 57000 chariots, 57000 horses, and 570000 infantrymen. The war began. King Chetaka was a devout follower of
Mahavira and had a vow to not shoot more than one arrow per day in a war. It was known to all that Chetaka's aim was perfect and his arrows were infallible. His first arrow killed one Kalakumara, commander of Ajatashatru. On the nine consecutive days, the rest of the nine Kalakumaras were killed by Chetaka. Deeply sorrowed by the death of their sons, the Kali queens were initiated as nuns in the holy order of Mahavira. As Ajatashatru was moving towards defeat, he practised penance for three days and offered prayers to Sakrendra and Charmendra (
Indra of different heavens), who then helped him in the war. They protected him from the infallible arrow of Chetaka. The war became very severe and, by the divine influence of the Indras, even the pebbles, straws, leaves hurled by Ajatashatru's men were said to have fallen like rocks on the army of Chetaka. This weapon was thus named "Mahasilakantaka", i.e. the weapon through which more than a lakh (100,000) people died. Next, the Indras granted a huge, automatically moving chariot with swinging spiked maces on each side, (and said to have been driven by Charmendra himself), to Ajatashatru. The chariot moved about in the battlefield crushing lakhs of soldiers. This war-chariot was named "Ratha-Musala." In this battle, Chetaka was defeated. But, Chetaka and others immediately took shelter inside the city walls of Vaishali and closed the main gate. The walls around Vaishali were so strong that Ajatashatru was unable to break through them. Many days passed, Ajatashatru became furious and again prayed to Indra, but this time Indra refused to help him. But Ajatashatru was informed by an oracle of a demi-goddess "Vaishali can be conquered if '
Sramana (monk) Kulvalaka' gets married to a courtesan." Ajatashatru inquired about the monk Kulvalaka and sent for the prostitute "Magadhika" disguised as a devout follower. The fallen woman enticed the monk towards herself and finally, the monk gave up his monkhood and married her. Later Magadhika on Ajatashatru's orders brainwashed Kulvalaka to enter Vaishali disguised as an astrologer. With great difficulty, he did enter Vaishali and learned that the city was saved by a "Chaitya" (altar) dedicated to "
Munisuvrata". Kulvalaka then started telling people that this altar is the reason why the city is suffering through misfortune. The people uprooted the altar from its very foundation. Kulvalaka gave a signal and Ajatashatru entered the city as per prior arrangement. This was the last attack. Vaishali was conquered by Ajatashatru. Sechanaka the elephant died after it fell in a pit with iron rods and fire made by Ajatashatru's soldiers. Later Halla and Vihalla kumaras were initiated as monks in the holy order of Mahavira. Chetaka practiced "Sallekahna" (fasting unto death). Ajatashatru not only conquered Vaishali but also Kasi-Kosala.
The Buddhist traditions (c. 251-403 AD). There was a diamond mine near a village on the river
Ganges. There was an agreement between Ajatashatru and the
Licchavi of
Vajji that they would have an equal share of the diamonds. However, because of sheer lethargy, Ajatashatru failed to collect his own share, and most of diamonds were carried away by the Lichhavis. Over time, finally, Ajatashatru became annoyed and decided to do something about it. Since he thought that it might be almost impossible to fight against the whole confederacy of Vaishali, he decided instead to uproot the powerful Vajjis and exterminate them. He sent his chief minister Vassakara to the Buddha to ask him why the Vaishali should be so invincible; to which Buddha gave seven reasons, including: That the Vajjis are always punctual to meetings, their disciplined behavior, their respect for elders, respect for women, that they do not marry their daughters forcefully, that they give spiritual protection to the
Arhats, and finally, the main reason was the Chaityas (altar), which was inside the town. Thus, with the help of his chief minister Vassakara, Ajatashatru managed to split the Vajjis and also broke the chaityas inside. During this battle, Ajatashatru used a scythed chariot, featuring a swinging mace and blades on both sides and attacked the town with it and conquered it. ==Kingdom==