| Succession: | King of Avanti and Magadha |
| Reign: | 682 BCE - 5 October 659 BCE[1] |
| Death Date: | 5 October 659 BCE (Diwali) |
| Successor: | Gopāla |
| Issue: | Gopāla Pālaka Vāsavadattā |
| Father: | Punika or Pulika |
| Dynasty: | Pradyota |
| Religion: | Historical Vedic religion Buddhism Jainism |
Chanda Pradyota Mahasena, commonly known as Pradyota (Sanskrit: प्रद्योत,) or Pajjota (Pali: ',) was a king of Avanti. By the 6th century BCE, the Vitihotra clan who had previously ruled the Avanti kingdom became extinct, and the kingdom itself became divided into two states, with a northern kingdom whose capital was Ujjenī, and a southern kingdom whose capital was Māhissati. Pradyota's father was Puṇika or Pulika, who was the minister at the court of the king of the (northern) Avanti kingdom centred around Ujjenī. Pradyota became king of Avanti when his father placed him on the throne of Magadha after killing its king, Ripunjaya.
Once on the throne of Avanti, Pradyota sought to consolidate and expand his kingdom, and he was an accomplished soldier who was able to defeat many rulers and turn Avanti into one of the most powerful states of Ancient India in his time. Pradyota also initiated friendly relations with another one of Ceṭaka's sons-in-law, the king Bimbisāra of the newly rising power of Magadha in the eastern Gangetic plain, and at one point, Pradyota fell ill, and Bimbisāra sent his renowned physician Jīvaka to Avanti to treat Pradyota. However, Jain records also claim that Pradyota attempted to attack Magadha during the reign of Bimbisāra, but was defeated by Bimbisāra's son Abhaya.
The relations between Pradyota and the Śūrasena kingdom were also close, with the Śaurasenī king Subāhu being nicknamed ("son of Avanti") because he was the son of either an Avantika princess or of Pradyota himself.
Under Pradyota, the Avanti kingdom controlled the important sea port city of Bharukaccha,[2] from where trade was carried out with states of ancient Western Asia such as the Neo-Babylonian and Persian Achaemenid empires.[3]
Pradyota nevertheless had to contend with other powerful kingdoms near Avanti: according to Jain sources, Pradyota had stolen a sandalwood image of Mahavīra as well as the image's keeper, a slave girl named Devadattā, from Vītībhaya, the capital of the kingdom of Sindhu-Sauvīra, after which the king Udayāna of Sindhu-Sauvīra marched on Pradyota's capital Ujjenī, defeated him, and branded his forehead with a frontlet on which was written ("husband of a slave girl"), before later granting Pradyota pardon and releasing him shortly before the festival of Pajjusana, after which Udayāna invested him as king of Avanti with a gold plate on his forehead to cover the letters .
Pradyota also engaged in hostilities with the kingdom of Vatsa, against which he carried out an initially successful military campaign until its king Śatānīka was able to repel him. Śatānīka later died of dysentery while Pradyota was carrying out a second campaign against Vatsa, around 495 BCE.[4] According to Jain sources, the queen-regent of Vatsa after Śatānīka's death was his widow Mṛgavatī, who was also the sister of Pradyota's wife Śivā; Mṛgavatī repeatedly rejected the demands of Pradyota to marry her during her regency and made Pradyota wait until Udayana had grown up into a capable ruler, at which point she joined the Jain order with the permission of Pradyota and in the presence of Mahāvīra, before whom Pradyota could not refuse her request, and entrusted Udayana to Pradyota. Based on these sources, it can be inferred that Pradyota had captured Udayana in the campaign during which Śatānīka had died.[4] Pradyota married his daughter Vāsavadattā to Udayana, and restored him to the throne of Vatsa, although Udayana henceforth remained under Pradyota's influence.[4]
Pradyota fought a war against Gandhāra, in which he was unsuccessful and was saved only because another war broke out between Gandhāra and the Pāṇḍava tribe located in the Punjab region.
Pradyota reigned for 23 years, and died on the same day as Mahāvīra's passing, being on Diwali. Diwali in 659 BCE corresponds to 5 October 659 BCE.[5]
In addition to his daughter Vāsavadattā, Pradyota had two sons, named Gopāla and Pālaka, all born from his marriage with the Licchavika princess Śivā.[6] Gopāla succeeded Pradyota but abdicated in favour of Pālaka. Pālaka was an unpopular tyrannical leader, and the population of Avanti overthrew him and instead placed Aryaka on the throne.
Pajjota and his descendants, collectively known as the Pradyota dynasty, ruled over Avanti until it was finally conquered by Magadha in 544 BCE.