The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c19.s2.20

v1.c19.s2.20

Tradition tells that the neighbouring clan, the Koliyas, were closely related by descent with the Sākiyas³; but we are not told much about the former. Five of their townships besides the capital are referred to by name:—Halidda-vasana¹, Sajjanela², Sāpūga³, Uttara⁴, and Kakkara-patta⁵. Every Koliyan was a Vyagghapajja by surname, just as every Sākiyan was a Gotama; and in tradition the name of their capital Rāmagāma, so called after the Rāma who founded it, is once given as either Kolanagara or Vyagghapajja⁶. The central authorities of the clan were served by a body of peons or police, distinguished, as by a kind of uniform, by a special form of head-dress⁷. These men had a bad reputation for extortion and violence. In the other clans we are told only of ordinary servants. The tradition that the Koliyans and Sākiyans built a dam over the river Rohinī which separated their territories, and that they afterwards quarrelled over the distribution of the store of water⁸, may very well be founded on fact.