Ajatasatru in Upanisads

[Valerie J Roebuck]

Satya Upadhya writes:

>Ajatasatru, King of Magadha, is recognised to have been a contempory of the
>Budha. Now, we also have an Ajatasatru in the Upanisads. Could someone tell
>me whether these two Ajatasatru's are one and the same?

I have briefly discussed this question in the Introduction to my
translation of The UpaniSads (Penguin India, 2000), pp. xiii-xv--see
references given there.  To summarize: I think they are not, but some
others, notably J. Bronckhorst (The Two Traditions of Meditation in Ancient
India, Franz Steiner, Stuttgart, 1986, pp. 112-3), think they are.

Dr Valerie J Roebuck
Manchester, UK