Chedi (Mahajanapada)

Chedi sat in Bundelkhand, south of the Yamuna. Its capital was Suktimati, called Sotthivati in Pali.

1. Which Mahajanapada was Chedi?

Chedi is the Sanskrit name. Pali books call it Ceti or Cetiya. It is one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas, the great countries of the Buddha’s time.

The Pali list names Chedi seventh, after Malla. The first fourteen countries lie in the Middle Country, called Majjhimadesa. Only the last two, Gandhara and Kamboja, lie in the north.

The Pali dictionary says Ceti is probably the Cedi of older documents. It points to the Rigveda for those older mentions.

2. Where did Chedi lie?

Scholars place Chedi in Bundelkhand, south of the Yamuna. Pargiter puts it along the south bank of the river. He says it ran from the Chambal on the north-west to Karvi on the south-east.

Bhandarkar says the Cheta or Chetiya country matches modern Bundelkhand. Law says the Matsyas seem to have been its western neighbours. The Kashis lay to its east.

Some scholars say it also took in the northern part of Jabalpur. In the medieval period its southern frontier reached the Narmada. So the borders of Chedi shifted with time.

3. Why do the texts speak of two Chedi settlements?

The Pali dictionary notes two settlements of the Cetis. The older one was probably in the mountains, perhaps in Nepal. The later one lay near the Yamuna, next to the Kurus.

The Buddha visited the later settlement. He stayed in the Ceti country, then went on to Kosambi. The Anguttara Nikaya records several talks given to the Cetis at their town of Sahajati.

This shows that Chedi was a real country in the Buddha’s day. It was also a centre of Buddhist teaching.

4. What was the capital of Chedi?

The Mahabharata names the capital Suktimati. It also calls it Sukti-sahvya. The Pali Chetiya Jataka calls it Sotthivati.

The Pali dictionary says Sotthivati is probably the same city as Suktimati. Law says the name comes from sukti, an oyster. A river of the same name flowed near the capital of King Vasu Uparichara.

Our sources do not fix where the city stood today. Treat the capital as a name to remember, not a mapped site.

Shishupala was born under bad omens. Krishna promised his mother to forgive a hundred of his offences.

5. Who was Shishupala?

Bhishma tells his story in the Mahabharata. Shishupala was born in the line of the king of Chedi. He was the son of King Damaghosha. He is also called Sunitha.

He was born with three eyes and four arms. He screamed like an ass. His parents and relatives were struck with fear. They decided to abandon him.

6. What did the voice from the sky say?

A voice without a body spoke to the king and queen. It said the boy would be fortunate and strong. It said his time of death had not yet come.

The voice also said who would kill him. The child’s extra arms would fall off in the lap of his slayer. His third eye would vanish at the sight of that person.

Kings came from all over to see the child. He sat on a thousand laps and nothing happened. Then the queen placed him on the lap of Krishna. The extra arms fell and the third eye vanished.

Krishna and his brother Balarama had come to see their father’s sister, the queen of Chedi. So Shishupala was Krishna’s cousin.

7. What did Krishna promise Shishupala's mother?

The frightened queen asked Krishna for a boon. She asked him to pardon the offences of her son. Krishna said he would pardon a hundred offences, even when Shishupala deserved to die.

Remember the number. The epic names a hundred offences, not ninety-nine or a hundred and one.

Shishupala insulted Krishna in front of all the kings. Krishna’s patience ran out.

8. Why did Shishupala object to honouring Krishna?

Yudhishthira held a great royal sacrifice, the Rajasuya. Bhishma defended the choice of Krishna for the first honour. Sahadeva then offered the first worship to Krishna.

Shishupala, also called Sunitha, was furious. His eyes turned red with anger. He tried to rouse the other kings to stop the sacrifice.

He called Krishna no king, a slave and a wretch. He said the Pandavas deserved to die for honouring such a man.

9. What wrongs did Krishna list against him?

Krishna spoke to all the kings. He said he had borne many wrongs for his father’s sister. He then named them:

• Shishupala burned Dwaraka while Krishna was away at Pragjyotisha.
• He attacked the attendants of King Bhoja on the Raivataka hill and carried many away in chains.
• He stole the horse set free for the horse sacrifice of Krishna’s father.
• He wronged the wife of Akrura, called Vabhru, on her way from Dwaraka.
• He had also wanted Rukmini, Krishna’s wife.

Shishupala laughed and told Krishna to pardon him or not. He said Krishna could do nothing to him.

10. How did Shishupala die?

Krishna thought of his discus, and it came into his hand. He told the kings why Shishupala had been spared so far. A hundred offences were to be pardoned at his mother’s request. He said that number had now become full.

Krishna then cut off Shishupala’s head with the discus. The Mahabharata says a bright energy left the body and entered Krishna.

Yudhishthira had the funeral rites done. He then installed Shishupala’s son as ruler of the Chedis. Many retellings speak of the 101st insult. The epic text speaks of the hundred being used up.

The name Chedi was used again in later times. Do not mix those uses up.

11. What did Kharavela's inscription say about Chedi?

The Hathigumpha inscription opens with praise of Kharavela, the overlord of Kalinga. A translation says he was increasing the glory of the Chedi dynasty.

A history of early Odisha discusses the Chedi country under the heading Lineage of Kharavela. So the Chedi name appears in Kalinga’s records too. Here it is a family name in a Kalinga record. It is not the kingdom of Bundelkhand itself.

12. Who were the Kalachuris of Tripuri?

The Kalachuris were a medieval line. Kokalla I and Lakshmanaraja I ruled at Tripuri. An inscription of Lakshmanaraja I is dated 841-42 CE. So he ruled about 825 to 850 CE.

The Kalachuris used the Chedi era. Kielhorn showed it began in 248-49 CE. Law notes that Cedi was also called Tripuri.

These kings ruled long after the Buddha’s age. They carried the old name. They are not the Mahajanapada kingdom.

13. What is the quick comparison for exams?

• Name: Chedi in Sanskrit, Ceti or Cetiya in Pali. Seventh on the Pali list.
• Place: Bundelkhand, south of the Yamuna. Matsyas to the west, Kashis to the east.
• Capital: Suktimati in the Mahabharata, Sotthivati in Pali.
• King: Shishupala, son of Damaghosha. Krishna’s cousin.
• Promise: a hundred offences forgiven.
• Death: at Yudhishthira’s Rajasuya, by Krishna’s discus.
• Later uses: Kharavela’s inscription and the Kalachuris of Tripuri.