Tribes in Ancient India c53.21

c53.21

In the *Mahāvastu* the Śākyas are called ādityabandhus or ‘kinsmen of the sun’. This refers to their descent from the Solar dynasty to which the Ikṣvākus belonged.¹ The *Mahāvastu* also speaks of King Śuddhodana, father of the Buddha, as born in the Ikṣvāku family.² Another passage in the same work speaks of the Buddha as a Kṣatriya of the Ādityagotra and of the Ikṣvākukula, i.e. born in the family of the Ikṣvākus who derived their descent from the sun.³ The *Lalitavistara* (p. 112) also speaks of the Buddha as born in the royal family of Ikṣvāku.