LICCHAVI

also spelled Lichchhavi, a people who settled (6th5th century BC) on the north bank of the Ganges River in modern Bihar state, India, with its capital city at Vaisali. The Licchavis were renowned for their republican government, having a general assembly of the heads of the leading Kshatriya-caste families. They were, for a time, of considerable importance and rivaled the rising power of Magadha, forming a confederacy with other tribal groups (the so-called Vrjjian, or Vajjian, confederacy). The Licchavis remained influential in northern India and Nepal until about the 4th century AD. In Nepal a Licchavi dynasty is commemorated in a dating system, the Licchavi era, that began in AD 110.