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Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c12.s2: Section II. Republics in the Age of Bimbisāra

Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c12.s2

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English

Section II. Republics in the Age of Bimbisāra

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It was Rhys Davids who first drew pointed attention to the survival, side by side with the monarchies, of a number of small aristocratic republics in the age of the Buddha and of Bimbisāra.¹ The most important amongst these states were the **Vṛijians** of North Bihār and the **Mallas** of Kusinārā (Kuśīnagara) and Pāvā. An account of both these peoples has already been given.² Among the smaller republics we find mention of the **Śākyas** of Kapilavastu, the **Koliyas** of Devadaha and Rāmagāma, the **Bhaggas** (Bhargas) of Suṁsumāra Hill, the **Bulis** of Allakappa, the **Kālāmas** of Kesaputta, and the **Moriyas** of Pipphalivana.

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¹ *Buddhist India*, p. 1.

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² *Supra* pp. 118ff, 126ff.

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The **Śākyas** were settled in the territory bordered on the north by the Himālayas, on the east by the river Rohiṇī,³ and on the west and south by the Rāptī.⁴ Their capital, Kapilavastu, stood close to the western bank of the Rohiṇī, some eight miles to the west of the famous Lumbinīvana,⁵ the place of the Buddha's nativity, the site of which is marked by the Rummindeī pillar of one of the greatest of his followers.⁶ The city is possibly mentioned in the *Tīrthayātrā section* of the *Mahābhārata*⁷ under the name of *Kapilāvaṭa*. It was connected by roads with the capitals of the Kosalas and the Vṛijikas, and through them with the other great cities of the age. The Sākyas had a town called Devadaha which they appear to have shared with their eastern neighbours, the Koliyas. They acknowledged the suzerainty of the king of Kosala and, like him, claimed to belong to the solar (*Āditya*) race and Ikshvāku family.

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³ A tributary of the Rāptī (Oldenberg, *Buddha*, p. 96). Cunningham (AGI, new ed. 476) identifies it with the Kohāna.

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⁴ Rapson *Ancient India*, p. 161; Oldenberg, *Buddha*, pp. 95-96.

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⁵ AGI (new ed) 476.

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⁶ Kapilavastu is sometimes identified with Piprāwā in the north of the Basti district, or Tilaura Koṭ and neighbouring ruins in the Tarāi about 10 miles to the N.W. of Piprāwā. (Smith, *EHI*, third ed., p. 159.)

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⁷ III, 84, 31.

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The **Koliyas** claim to have been cadets from the royal house of Benares. Tradition connects them with the cities of Rāmagāma and Devadaha.¹ The river Rohiṇī separated their capital from that of the Sākyas, and helped to irrigate the fields of both the clans.² "Once upon a time in the month of *Jeṭṭhamūla* when the crops began to flag and droop, the labourers from amongst both the peoples assembled together." Then followed a scramble for water. Bloodshed was averted by the mediation of the Buddha.³ From the mutual recriminations in which they indulged, we learn that the Sākyas had the custom of marrying their own sisters. Cunningham places the Koliya country between the Kohāna and Aumi (Anomā) rivers. The Anomā seems to have formed the dividing line between the Koliyas on the one hand and the Mallas and Moriyas on the other.

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¹ DPPN, I. 689f. The Koliya capital stood close to the eastern bank of the Rohiṇī.

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² The *Kunāla Jātaka* (introductory portion).

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³ DPPN, I. 690, Cunn. AGI (new) 477; 491 ff.

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The **Bhaggas** (Bhargas) are known to the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa*⁴ and the *Ashṭādhyāyī* of Pāṇini.⁵ The former work refers to the Bhārgāyaṇa prince Kairiśi Sutvan. In the latter half of the sixth century B.C., the Bhagga state was a dependency of the Vatsa kingdom; for we learn from the preface to the *Dhonasākha Jātaka*,⁶ that prince Bodhi, the son of Udayana, king of the Vatsas, dwelt in Suṁsumāragiri and built a palace called *Kokanada*. The *Mahābhārata* and the *Harivaṁśa* also testify to the close connection between the Vatsas and the Bhargas (Bhaggas) and their proximity to the Nishādas. The testimony of the epic and the *Apadāna* seems to locate them in the Vindhyan region between the Jumna and the Śon.¹

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⁴ VIII. 28.

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⁵ IV. i. 111, 177.

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⁶ No. 353.

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¹ Mbh., II. 30. 10-11; *Hariv.*, 29. 73. DPPN, II, 345; *Supra* p. 133.

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Regarding the **Bulis** and the **Kālāmas** we know very little. The *Dhammapada commentary*² refers to the Buli territory as the kingdom of Allakappa, and says that it was only ten leagues in extent. From the story of its king’s intimate relationship with king Veṭhadīpaka it may be presumed that Allakappa lay not far from Veṭhadīpa, the home of a famous Brāhmaṇa in the early days of Buddhism, who made a cairn over the remains of the Buddha in his native land.³ The Kālāmas were the clan of the philosopher Āḷāra, a teacher of Gautama before he attained to *Sambodhi*.⁴ The name of their *nigama* (town) Kesaputta, reminds us of the Keśins, a people mentioned in the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa*⁵ and probably also in the *Ashṭādyāyī* of Pāṇini,⁶ and connected with the Pañchālas and Dālbhyas who appear in the *Rig-Veda*,⁷ as settled on the banks of the Gomatī. Kesaputta itself seems to have been annexed to Kosala,⁸ and no doubt acknowledged the suzerainty of the king of that powerful state.

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² Harvard Oriental Series, 28, p. 247.

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³ Majumdar Sastri connects Veṭhadīpa with Kasia (AGI, 1924, 714); *cf.* Fleet in JRAS, 1906, p. 900n; Hoey suggests that Veṭhadīpa is Bettiah in the Champaran District of Bihār.

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⁴ *Buddhacharita*, XII. 2.

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⁵ *Ved. Ind.*, Vol. I, p. 186.

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⁶ VI. 4. 165.

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⁷ V. 61.

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⁸ The *Aṅguttara* (P. T. S., I, 188; Nipāta III, 65).

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The **Moriyas** (Mauryas) were the same clan which gave Magadha its greatest dynasty.¹ They are sometimes spoken of as of Sākyan origin, but the evidence is late. Earlier evidence distinguishes between these two clans.² The name is derived, according to one tradition, from *mora* (*mayūra*) or peacock. The place where they settled down is said to have always resounded with the cries of these birds. Pipphalivana, the Moriya capital, is apparently identical with the Nyagrodhavana or Banyan Grove, mentioned by Hiuen Tsang, where stood the famous Embers Tope.³ Fa Hien tells us that the Tope lay four *yojanas* to the east of the river Anomā, and twelve *yojanas* (probably some 54 miles) to the west of Kusinārā.⁴

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¹ "Then did the Brāhmaṇa Cāṇakka anoint a glorious youth, known by the name Candagutta, as king over all Jambudīpa, born of a noble clan, the Moriyas." Geiger, *Mahāvaṁsa*, p. 27; DPPN, II. 673.

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² *Mahāparinibbāna Sutta*.

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³ Rhys Davids, *Buddhist Suttas*, p. 135; Watters, *Yuan Chwang*, II, pp. 23-24; Cunningham, *AGI.*, *new ed.*, pp. 491f, 496f.

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⁴ *AGI* (new) 491, Legge, *Fa Hien*, p. 79; Watters, I, 141; *cf.* JRAS., 1903. As Kasia (Kusinārā, Kuśinagara) lay 35 miles to the east of Gorakhpur (*AGI*, 493), the Moriyan city could not have been situated very far from the last-mentioned town. The Moriyas seem also to have been close neighbours of the Koliyas beyond the Anomā and the Mallas of Anupiyā on the banks of that river.

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It will perhaps not be quite out of place to say here a few words about the internal organisation of the republics. Space, however, forbids a detailed treatment of the subject. They fall mainly into two classes, *viz.*, those that were constituted by the whole or a section of a single clan (*kula*) *e.g.*, the Sākyas, the Koliyas, the Mallas of Kusinārā, the Mallas of Pāvā etc., and those that comprised several clans like the Vṛijis (Vajjis) and the Yādavas. The distinguishing feature of a state of this type is the absence of *one* single hereditary monarch who exercised *full* control over it. The *Basileus*, if he survived at all, must have done so as a mere magistracy or as a dignified part of the constitution.¹ The efficient part comprised a president (*chief, gaṇapati, gaṇajyeṣṭha, gaṇarāja, saṁghamukhya*) and a council of archons taken from the ruling class. Such a president was Cheṭaka of Vaiśālī and Akouphis of Nysa in later times, the terrestrial counterpart of Indra, in his capacity as the *Jyeṣṭha* of the Marud-gaṇa.² According to a Jaina tradition the number of members of the supreme executive in charge of foreign and military affairs was in some states nine.³ There were functionaries like *uparājās* and *senāpatis* who exercised judicial and military functions. All these Elders possibly answer to the *Mahallakas* of Pāli texts and *Mahattaras* of the *Vāyu Purāṇa*,⁴ whom it was the duty of the citizens to respect and support.

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¹ Cf. the case of Ugrasena among the Yādavas.

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² *Ṛig-veda* I. 23. 8; cf. II. 23. 1.

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³ *Nava Mallai, Nava Lechchhai* etc. *supra* p. 125. In Nysa the governing body consisted of 300 members. The number of "leading men of cities and provinces" entrusted by the Kshudrakas with power to conclude a treaty is not definitely stated.

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⁴ *Vāyu*, 96. 35.

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Some of the clans possibly had an elaborate system of judicial procedure with a gradation of officers. Others, notably the Koliyas, had a police force which earned notoriety for extortion and violence.⁵ Reverence for tradition, especially for traditional religion with its shrines and ministers, was a feature that recalls the part that ancestral religion played in ancient Babylonia and modern Nippon.

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⁵ *DPPN*, I. 690.

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Perhaps the most important institution of the free republics was the *Parishā*, the popular assembly, where young and old held frequent meetings, made their decisions and carried them out in concord. Kettledrums⁶ were used by an officer (styled *sabhāpāla* in the epic) to bring the people to the Mote Hall, called *Santhāgāra* in the Pali texts. The procedure is perhaps analogous to that followed in the Kuru-Pañchāla assembly mentioned in the *Jaiminīya Upanishad Brāhmaṇa*, in a palaver in Sakra's heaven described in the *Mahāgovinda Suttanta*, or in formal gatherings of the Chapters of the Buddhist Order referred to in the *Vinaya* texts. Members "are seated in a specified order. After the president has laid the proposed business before the assembly, others speak upon it, and recorders take charge of the unanimous decision arrived at."¹ If there is any disputation (*saṃvāda*) the matter is referred to a committee of arbitrators. It is possible that technical expressions like *āsana-prajñāpaka* (seat-betokener), *ñatti* (*jñapti*, motion), *śalākā-gāhāpaka* (ballot-collector), *gaṇa-pūraka* (whip), *ubbāhikā* (referendum) found in the Rules of the Order, were adopted from those in use in the assemblies of the free tribes or clans.

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⁶ *Kindred Sayings* II. 178 (reference to kettledrum of the Daśārhas; cf. *Mbh.*, I. 220. 11.

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¹ *Jaim. Up. Br.* III 7. 65. *Camb. Hist. Ind.* I. 176; cf., *Carm. Lec* 1918. 180ff.

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