Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c12.s2.19

c12.s2.19

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.