Shakya
Shakya (Sanskrit:Śākya, Devanagari: शाक्य and Pāli:Sākya) was an ancient janapada (realm) in the 1st millennium BCE.[1] In Buddhist texts, the Śākyas are mentioned as a Kshatriya clan of Gotama gotra.[2][3] The Śākyas formed an independent kingdom at the foothills of the Himālayas. The Śākya capital was Kapilavastu (Pāli: Kapilavatthu), currently situated in Nepal.
The most famous Śākya was Gautama Buddha, a member of the ruling Gautama (Pāli: Gotama) clan of Lumbini, Nepal, who is also known as Shakyamuni Buddha (Sanskrit: Śākyamuni), "sage of the Śākyas").
History
The Śākyas were settled in the territory bounded by the Himalayas in the north, The Rohini (the present-day Kobana, a tributory of the Rapti) in the east and the Rapti in the south.[1] The Buddhist texts, Mahāvastu, Mahavamsa and Sumangalavilasini give detailed accounts of the Śākyas.[2]
The accounts of Buddhist texts
The Śākyas are mentioned in the accounts of the birth of the Buddha (Mahāvastu, c. late 2nd century BCE) as a part of the Ādichchas (solar race) and as descendants of the legendary king Ikṣvāku (Pāli: Okkāka):
There lived once upon a time a king of the Śākya, a scion of the solar race, whose name was Śuddhodana. He was pure in conduct, and beloved of the Śākya like the autumn moon. He had a wife, splendid, beautiful, and steadfast, who was called the Great Māyā, from her resemblance to Māyā the Goddess.
— Buddhacarita of Aśvaghoṣa, I.1-2
The Buddhist text, Mahavamsa (II, 1-24) traces the origin of the Sakyas (Śākyas) to king Okkaka (Ikshvaku) and gives their genealogy from Mahasammata, an ancestor of Okkaka. This list comprises the names of a number of prominent kings of the Ikshvaku dynasty, which include Mandhata and Sagara.[2] According to this text, Okkamukha was the eldest son of Okkaka. Sivisamjaya and Sihassara were the son and grandson of Okkamukha. King Sihassara had eighty-two thousand sons and grandsons, who were together known as the Sakyas. The youngest son of Sihassara was Jayasena. Jayasena had a son, Sihahanu, and a daughter, Yashodhara, who was married to Devadahasakka. Devadahasakka had two daughters, Anjana and Kaccana. Sihahanu married Kaccana, and they had five sons and two daughters, Suddhodana was one of them. Suddhodana had two queens, Maya and Prajapati, both daughters of Anjana. Siddhattha Gautama (Gautama Buddha) was the son of Suddhodana and Maya. Rahula was the son of Siddhatta and Bhaddakaccana, daughter of Suppabuddha and granddaughter of Anjana.[4][5].
Annexation by Kosala
Viḍūḍabha, the son of Pasenadi and Vāsavakhattiyā, the daughter of a Śākya named Mahānāma by a slave girl ascended the throne of Kosala after overthrowing his father. As an act of vengeance for cheating Kosala by sending his mother, the daughter of a slave woman for marriage to his father, he invaded the Śākya territory, massacred them and annexed it.[6][7]
References
- ^ a b Raychaudhuri H. (1972). Political History of Ancient India, Calcutta: University of Calcutta, pp.169-70
- ^ a b c Law, B.C. (1973). Tribes in Ancient India, Bhandarkar Oriental Series No.4, Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, pp.245-56
- ^ Thapar, R.(1978). Ancient Indian Social History, New Delhi: Orient Longman, ISBN 81 250 0808 X, p.117
- ^ Misra, V.S. (2007). Ancient Indian Dynasties, Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, ISBN 81-7276-413-8, p.286
- ^ Geiger, Wilhelm (tr.) (1912). "Mahavamsa, Chapter II". Ceylon Government
Information Dept.,Colombo (in lakdvia.org website). Retrieved 2009-10-26.
{{cite web}}: line feed character in|publisher=at position 18 (help) - ^ Raychaudhuri H. (1972). Political History of Ancient India, Calcutta: University of Calcutta, pp.177-8
- ^ Kosambi D.D. (1988). The Culture and Civilsation of Ancient India in Historical Outline, New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House, ISBN 0 7069 4200 0, pp.128-9
See Also
Bhagrathi community (Western UP)