The Sattapanni cave in which the first Buddhist council held was sponsored by King Ajatashatru.

Ajatashatru followed policies of conquest and expansion. He defeated his neighbours including
the king of Kosala; his brothers, at odds with him, went to Kashi, which had been given to
Bimbisara as dowry and led to a war between Magadha and Kosala.
Ajatashatru occupied Kashi and captured the smaller kingdoms. Magadha under Ajatashatru
became the most powerful kingdom in North India.
He is the inventor of two weapons used in war: the rathamusala (scythed chariot) and
the mahashilakantaka (engine to eject big stones).
Based on correlation with dates in the Mahavamsa and concluding that the Buddha died in 483
BC, A. L. Basham dated the accession of Ajatashatru to 491 BC.[9] He estimates the first
campaign of Ajatashatru to have taken place in 485 BC, and his second campaign
against Vajjis in 481–480 BC.[9] The Samannaphala Sutta states that Ajatashatru visited the six
teachers to hear their doctrines and at last visited Buddha, an event Basham estimated to have
taken place in 491 BC.[10]

Birth[edit]

Painting depicting Ajatashatru visiting the Buddha to assuage his guilt

Ajatashatru, also known as Kunika, was the son of Bimbisara.[11] The ancient inscription
in Government Museum, Mathura refers to him as vaidehi putra Ajatashatru Kunika "Ajatashatru
Kunika, the son of Vaidehi." The story of Ajatashatru is found in the Tripiṭaka of Buddhism
and Jain Agamas. The account of Ajatashatru's birth is more or less similar in both the traditions.
According to Jainism, Ajatashatru was born to King Bimbisara and Queen Chelna; Buddhist
tradition records Ajatashatru being born to Bimbisara and Kosala Devi. It is worthwhile to note
that both the queens were called "Vaidehi" in both the traditions.
According to the Jain Nirayavalika Sutra, during her pregnancy Queen Chelna had strong desire
to eat fried flesh of her husband's heart and drink liquor. Meanwhile, the very intelligent Prince
Abhayakumara, son of King Bimbisara and Queen Nanda, fried a wild fruit that resembled a
heart and gave it to the queen. The queen ate it and later felt ashamed for having such a
demonic desire and she feared that the child might grow up and prove fatal for the family, thus
after a few months of the child being born, the queen had him thrown out of the palace. When the
child was lying near the garbage dump, a cock bit his little finger. King Bimbisara, learning about
the child being thrown out, ran outside and picked up the child and put its bleeding little finger in
his mouth and sucked it until it stopped bleeding and continued this for days until it was healed.
As the little finger of the child was sore, he was nicknamed Kunika "Sore Finger". Later he was
named Asokacanda.[12]
In the Buddhist Atthakatha, the above story is almost the same, except that Kosaladevi desired
to drink blood from Bimbisara's arm; the king obliged her and, later, when the child was thrown
near the garbage dump, due to an infection he got a boil on his little finger and the king sucked it
and once while sucking it the boil burst inside the king's mouth, but due to affection for his child
he did not spit the pus out, rather swallowed it.