Vajira (also called Vajirakumari) was

queen consort A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king, and usually shares her spouse's social Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and status. She holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles and may be crowned and anointed, but hi ...

Magadha Magadha was a region and kingdom in ancient India, based in the eastern Ganges Plain. It was one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas during the Second Urbanization period. The region was ruled by several dynasties, which overshadowed, conquered, and ...

as the principal consort of King

Ajatashatru Ajatasattu (Pāli: ) or Ajatashatru (Sanskrit: ) in the Buddhist tradition, or Kunika () and Kuniya () in the Jain tradition (reigned c. 492 to 460 BCE, or c. 405 to 373 BCE), was one of the most important kings of the Haryanka dynasty of Mag ...

. She was the mother of her husband's successor, King Udayibhadra. Vajira was born a princess of the Kingdom of

Kosala Kosala, sometimes referred to as Uttara Kosala () was one of the Mahajanapadas of ancient India. It emerged as a small state during the Late Vedic period and became (along with Magadha) one of the earliest states to transition from a lineage ...

and was the daughter of King

Pasenadi Pasenadi or Prasenajit (; ;) was a 6th or 5th century BCE ruler of Kosala, where Shravasti was his capital. He succeeded after . As a king, he was a prominent or lay follower of Gautama Buddha, and built many Buddhist monasteries for the Bu ...

and Queen Mallika. She was also the niece of her mother-in-law, Queen Kosala Devi, the first wife and chief consort of King

Bimbisara Bimbisāra (in Buddhist tradition) or Shrenika () and Seniya () in the Jain histories ( or ) was the King of Magadha (V. K. Agnihotri (ed.), ''Indian History''. Allied Publishers, New Delhi 262010p. 166f. or ) and belonged to the Haryanka d ...

and the sister of King Pasenadi.

Life

Birth

Vajira or Vajirakumari was born to

's chief queen, Mallika. According to

Pali Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a Classical languages of India, classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages, Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pali Canon, Pāli Can ...

tradition, her mother was a beautiful daughter of the chief garland maker of Kosala. When the princess was born, her father was apparently disappointed on hearing the child was a girl, but

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

assured him that some women were wiser than men.

Marriage

The events which led to her

betrothal An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...

and eventual marriage to

was that her husband waged a war against her father's kingdom after Bimbisara's death, the cause of the conflict being the revenues from the estate of Kashi, which was given as a dowry to Kosala Devi in her marriage to Bimbisara. After Kosala Devi's death, Pasenadi immediately confiscated the revenues of the estate of Kashi, which had been settled on her as "pin-money", this resulted in hostilities between him and Ajatashatru. The duel between Ajatashatru and her father was a prolonged affair, fortune favouring each combatant alternatively. Though, Pasenadi emerged victorious, and came to terms with his nephew. He gave the seventeen-year-old Vajira's hand in marriage to him. The estate of Kashi, which had been the reason of the conflict, was given to his daughter, Vajira, as a part of her dowry in her marriage to Ajatashatru. Pasenadi also assigned the revenues from the estate of Kashi to Vajira.

References

Citations

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vajira Haryanka dynasty Queens consort of Magadha Kosala princesses 6th-century BC women 5th-century BC women Indian Buddhists Ancient Indian women Ancient princesses 6th-century BC Indian people 5th-century BC Indian people