Surasena (Mahajanapada)

Surasena was a kingdom with a famous capital. It matters for exams for two reasons. It is on the standard list of sixteen Mahajanapadas, and its capital is Mathura.

1.1 Where was Surasena?

A Mahajanapada was a large early state. The Buddhist text Anguttara Nikaya gives a list of sixteen. Surasena is on it. Its capital was Mathura, on the river Yamuna.

1.2 Who ruled it?

The Mahabharata and the Puranas say the ruling family of Mathura was the Yadus. The Yadu tribe split into Vitihotras and Satavatas. The Satavatas split again into Andhaka, Vrishni, Mahabhojas, Daivavridhas and others. The epic hero Krishna belonged to the Vrishni clan.

1.3 Was it ruled by one king?

Not always. In Kautilya’s Arthasastra, the Vrishnis of Mathura are called a Sangha. A Sangha is a republican corporation, not a single king’s court.

2.1 Who was Avantiputta?

Avantiputta was king of Madhura, the Pali name of Mathura. The Madhura Sutta tells of him. He heard that the elder Maha Kaccana was staying near the city, in Gunda Forest. He drove out in full royal majesty to meet him.

2.2 What did they talk about?

The king passed on a claim of the brahmans. They said only brahmans were the best caste.

Kaccana asked him to test it. Suppose a man of any caste grew rich. Would people of the other castes serve him? The king said yes. So, he agreed, the four castes are equal in that respect.

Kaccana then asked about deeds. A man of any caste who kills or steals, he said, is reborn in a bad state. The king agreed.

At the end the king asked to be a disciple who had taken refuge. Kaccana told him to go to the Blessed One for refuge, as he had.

2.3 When did this happen?

The dictionary of Pali names says the visit took place some time after the Buddha’s death. INFLIBNET reads the name Avantiputra as a sign of a marriage link between Avanti and Surasena.

2.4 What did Megasthenes report?

Megasthenes was a Greek who wrote about India. Arrian quotes him, and says he met Sandracottus, the greatest of the Indian kings.

2.5 Whom did the Surasenians honour?

Arrian says a god the Greeks called Heracles was chiefly honoured by the Surasenians. They had two great cities, Methora and Cleisobora. The navigable river Iobares flowed through their land. “Heracles” is a Greek name. The text never says “Krishna”.

3.1 Mathura under the Kushanas

Later the Kushanas held Mathura. Kadphises II conquered north-western India as far as Mathura. Under Kanishka, Mathura was another important city of the empire.

3.2 A great centre of art

Mathura became a great centre of art. A headless statue of Kanishka is an excellent example of Kushana portrait sculpture. Gandhara influenced Mathura, but Mathura was mainly a centre of indigenous art. Its school made fine Buddha images.

3.3 What should you remember?

• Surasena: capital Mathura on the Yamuna, in the Anguttara list.
• Ruling family: Yadus; Krishna was a Vrishni.
• Avantiputta: king of Madhura, became a disciple of Maha Kaccana.
• Megasthenes (via Arrian): Surasenians honoured “Heracles”.
• Mathura art: a great Kushana-era centre.