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Videha (Prakrit: 𑀯𑀺𑀤𑁂𑀳 ; Pali: ; Sanskrit: ) was an ancient Indo-Aryan tribe of north-eastern South Asia whose existence is attested during the Iron Age. The population of Videha, the Vaidehas, were initially organised into a monarchy but later became a (an aristocracy oligarchy republic), presently referred to as the Videha Republic, which was part of the larger Vajjika League.
The Sadānirā and Kauśikī rivers remained the respective western and eastern boundaries of the later Videha republic, although its territory covered only the northern part of that of the former Videha kingdom, with the latter hence being called Mahā-Videha ("greater Videha"). The Videha republic was located along the foothills of the Himalaya mountains, in what are now the Terai region and the south-eastern parts of Nepal including the lower hill ranges, as well as the northern part of what in present time is the Indian state of Bihar. The Malla republics were the neighbours of Videha to the west of the Sadānirā during the republican period.
Despite being an Indo-Aryan people, the Vaidehas were not fully Brahmanised, lived in the Indo-Aryan but non-Vedic cultural region of Greater Magadha located to the east of the Gaṅgā-Yamuna confluence along with the similarly Greater Magadhan non-Vedic Indo-Aryan Kāśya and Kosala tribes, with whom they had close cultural relations from early times, and along with whom the Vaidehas would be continually mentioned in ancient South Asian literature. Brahmanical literature therefore grouped them along with the Kāśyas, Kosala, Māgadhīs, and Anga, as s (meaning "Easterners") not belonging to the , that is the land of the Brahmarshi where Vedic rituals and customs were followed, and consisting of the areas of the Kuru, Pāñcāla, Matsya, and Surasena tribes. Brahmanical literature also referred to the Vaidehas and the Māgadhīs with less prestige than the Brahmanised Kuru-Pāñcālas and with language referring to mixed castes.
The Vaidehas were initially organised into a monarchical regime during the era of the Brahmana, lasting from around 900 BCE to around 700 BCE. One attested king of Mahā-Videha was Mithila, who gave his name to the tribe's capital of Mithilā.
The Vaidehas were Brahmanised during the later period, shortly after Kosala's Brahmanisation. This Brahminisation of Mahā-Videha happened during the reign of the king Janaka, who was one of the leading patrons of the new doctrine of Brahman and whose purohita Yājñavalkya was a disciple of the Kuru-Pāñcāla Vedic sage Uddālaka Āruṇi. Janaka and Yājñavalkya together provided spiritual and intellectual leadership to the s of the Uttarapatha. And although Mahā-Videha had not previously been included among the four ancient holy lands of , it came to acquire sanctity because the s approved of it as a pure land, although the later the mentions the Vaidehas with contempt, following the earlier Brahmanical tradition of opposition to the non-Vedic Indo-Aryan tribes.
The close relations between the Vaidehas, the Kāśyas, and the Kauśalyas continued after the Brahminisation of these states: at one point Jala Jātūkarṇya was the of all three kingdoms; and the king Para Āṭnāra, who was a descendant of the Kauśalya king Hiraṇyanābha, ruled over both Mahā-Videha and Kosala.
This monarchical period of the Vaidehas lasted between 150 and 200 years, and the maximum estimated number of Vaideha kings during this phase amounts to eight.
Facing the rising power of Magadha to the south of the Gaṅgā, the Licchavikas established their republic in the southern part of the former Mahā-Videha kingdom's territory and moved their political centre to Vesālī, while the new Videha republic centred around Mithilā existed in a limited territory covering only the northern part of Mahā-Videha. Many members of the Vaideha aristocracy who had submitted to the Licchavikas joined them in moving to Vesālī, and therefore became members of the Licchavi ruling aristocratic Assembly. Vaideha politicians also moved to Vesālī and obtained high posts there, such as the Vaideha minister Sakala who had to flee from his colleagues' jealousy and moved to Vesālī where he became a prominent citizen and was elected ; Sakala had two sons, Gopāla and Siṃha, who both married Vesālia women, and Siṃha's daughter Vāsavī married the Māgadhī king Bimbisara.
The Licchavikas themselves henceforth became the leading power within the territory of the former Mahā-Videha kingdom, with the Licchavika Assembly holding the sovereign and supreme rights over this territory while the Videha republic was ruled by an Assembly of the kshatriya residing in and around Mithilā, and which governed in the name of the Licchavika Assembly. The Videha republic was thus under significant influence of Licchavi, and it joined the latter as one of the two most important members of the Vajjika League, which was a temporary league led by Licchavi, with the Vaideha s holding an undetermined number out of the nine non-Licchavika seats of the eighteen-member Vajjika Council. Despite being a prominent member of the Vajjika League, Videha was a minor power within it compared to the Licchavikas and the Mallakas, and Videha maintained limited autonomy within the league concerning its domestic administration under the supervision of Licchavi, who fully controlled Vaideha foreign policy. The Videha republic's relations with other members of the Vajjika League, such as the Malla republics, were good, although occasional quarrels arose between the various member states of the league.
During the life of the Gautama Buddha, Videha abandoned Brahmanism and embraced Buddhism.
After the death of the Buddha, the Licchavikas, the Mallakas, and the Shakya claimed shares of his relics while the Vaidehas and the Nāyikas did not appear among the list of states claiming a share because they were dependencies of the Licchavikas without their own sovereignty, and therefore could not put forth their own claim while Licchavi could.
In another case, the Licchavikas once invaded Māgadhī territory from across the Ganges, and at some point the relations between Magadha and Licchavi permanently deteriorated as result of a grave offence committed by the Licchavikas towards the Māgadhī king Bimbisāra.
The hostilities between Licchavi and Magadha continued under the rule of Ajatashatru, who was Bimbisāra's son with another Licchavika princess, Vāsavī, after he had killed Bimbisāra and usurped the throne of Magadha. Eventually Licchavi supported a revolt against Ajātasattu by his younger step-brother and the governor of Anga, Vehalla, who was the son of Bimbisāra by another Licchavika wife of his, Cellanā, a daughter of Chetaka, who was the head of both the Licchavi republic and the Vajjika League; Bimbisāra had chosen Vehalla as his successor following Ajātasattu's falling out of his favour after the latter had been caught conspiring against him, and the Licchavikas had attempted to place Vehalla on the throne of Magadha after Ajātasattu's usurpation and had allowed Vehalla to use their capital Vesālī as base for his revolt. After the failure of this rebellion, Vehalla sought refuge at his grandfather's place in the Licchavika and Vajjika capital of Vesālī, following which Ajātasattu repeatedly attempted to negotiate with the Licchavikas-Vajjikas. After Ajātasattu's repeated negotiation attempts ended in failure, he declared war on the Vajjika League in 484 BCE.
Tensions between Licchavi and Magadha were exacerbated by the handling of the joint Māgadhī-Licchavika border post of Koṭigāma on the Gaṅgā by the Licchavika-led Vajjika League who would regularly collect all valuables from Koṭigāma and leave none to the Māgadhīs. Therefore Ajātasattu decided to destroy the Vajjika League in retaliation, but also because, as an ambitious empire-builder whose mother Vāsavī was Licchavika princess of Vaidehī descent, he was interested in the territory of the former Mahā-Videha kingdom which by then was part of the Vajjika League. Ajātasattu's hostility towards the Vajjika League was also the result of the differing forms of political organisation between Magadha and the Vajjika League, with the former being monarchical and the latter being republican, not unlike the opposition of the Ancient Greece kingdom of Sparta to the democratic form of government in Classical Athens, and the hostilities between the ancient Macedonian king Philip II to the Athenian and Theban republics.
As a prominent member of the Vajjika League, the Videha republic was also threatened by Ajātasattu, and it therefore fought on the side of the other confederate tribes of the league against Magadha. The military forces of the Vajjika League were initially too strong for Ajātasattu to be successful against them, and it required him having recourse to diplomacy and intrigues over the span of a decade to finally defeat the Vajjika League by 468 BCE and annex its territories, including Videha, to the kingdom of Magadha. Mention of the Vaidehas end after the Māgadhī conquest, and Chanakya and Pāṇini did not mention them as an independent polity, but instead included them as part of Vajjika League (the country of Mahā-Videha, which by then was known by the name of the Vajjika League).
Like the Licchavika Assembly, the Vaideha Assembly possessed a santhāgāra as meeting place, although it normally met only once a year.
Like the Licchavika , the of Videha shared his power with a body of four public officers, consisting of the himself, as well as a ("Viceroy"), a ("General-in-Chief"), and a ("Treasurer").
This Council was similar to that of the Licchavikas, being composed of members elected from within the Assembly, but was smaller and might have been composed of four s, consisting of the and three councillor s, who were in charge of the public administration of the republic and recommended measures of importance to the Assembly. The Council also received envoys of other states and took important decisions in the name of the Assembly, which had to approve them.
At the state level, a beauty competition was held to choose who was the most beautiful woman of the whole state. This woman, who possessed talents and traits such as significant beauty, charm, and was accomplished in dance and music, was not allowed to lead a normal married life, and she was instead chosen to be the Nagarvadhu ("courtesan of the republic"), and spent her life as a public woman with political influence. One such courtesan of Videha was Piṅgalā, who was mentioned in the , which is a later text.
Videha and Mithilā appear in the later Itihasa texts such as the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata, with the protagonist of the former being the Vaidehī princess Sītā. The narrative of these epics is based on the monarchical period of Videha.
During this period of fall of Videha dynasty, the famous republic of Licchavi was rising in Vaishali and Mithila region came under control of Licchavi clan of Vajji in around eight century BCE.Raychaudhuri, Hemchandra (1972), Political History of Ancient India, University of Calcutta, Calcutta, pp. 106–113, 186–90
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