Chetaka (Sanskrit: ) or Chedaga (Sanskrit: ) was the consul of the Licchavi tribe during the 5th century BCE. Life Ceṭaka was the son of Keka and Yaśomatī, he belonged to the Haihaya clan, and he had a sister named Trisalā. Ceḍaga was one of the nine elected s ("rulers") of the Council of the Licchavi tribe, which was the supreme authority of the Licchavikas' (aristocratic oligarchic republic) administration, of which he was the head. As the leader of the Licchavika Council, Ceḍaga was also the ("head of the republic"), that is, the elected consul of the republic, which also made him the head of the Vajjika League led by the Licchavikas. Diplomatic marriages Ceṭaka contracted several diplomatic marriages between members of his family and the leaders of other republics and kingdoms. One such marriage was the one between his sister, Trisalā, and the Nāyika Siddhārtha, which was contracted because of Siddhārtha's political importance due to its important geographical location close to Vesālī of the Nāya tribe he headed, as well as due to Siddhārtha's membership in the Vajjika Council. Siddhārtha and Trisalā had a son, Mahāvīra, who became the 24th Jain Tīrthaṅkara. Other marital alliances concluded by Ceṭaka included the marriages of his daughters: Prabhāvatī was married to the king Udāyana of Sindhu-Sauvīra Padmāvatī was married to king Dadhivāhana of Aṅga Mṛgāvatī was married to the king Śatānīka of Vatsa, with their son being the famous Udayana Śivā was married to king Pradyota of Avanti Jyeṣṭhā was married to Ceṭaka's nephew, Nandivardhana of Kuṇḍagāma, who was the son of Trisalā and the elder brother of Mahāvīra Cellaṇā was married to the king Bimbisāra of Magadha Religious policy Ceṭaka became an adept of the teachings of his nephew Mahāvīra and adopted Jainism, thus making the Licchavika and Vajjika's capital of Vesālī a centre of Jainism. Ceṭaka's sixth daughter, Sujyeṣṭhā, became a Jain nun. The marriages of Ceṭaka's daughters to various leaders, in turn, contributed to the spreading of Jainism across northern South Asia. Ceṭaka's favourable attitude towards Jainism was why Buddhist sources did not pay notice to him, since he used his power to support the Buddhists' Jaina rivals. War against Magadha Relations between the Licchavikas and their southern neighbour, the kingdom of Magadha, were initially good, with the wife of the Māgadhī king Bimbisāra being the Vesālia princess Vāsavī, who was the daughter of the Licchavika Sakala's son Siṃha.