Tribes in Ancient India c53.85

c53.85

The *Lalitavistara* also gives 500 as the number of the members of the Śākya Council.¹⁰ The *Pariṣad* of the Licchavis appears to have been larger, but the system of administration seems to have been very much the same, though there was this difference, that while at Vaiśālī everyone called himself a *rājā*, at Kapilavastu there was one distinct headman called the *rājā* who was elected by the people. According to Rhys Davids, he had to preside over the sessions and when no sessions were held, he had to conduct the business of the State. But we hear that once Bhaddiya, a young cousin of the Buddha, took the title of *rājā*; and in one passage, Śuddhodana is styled a *rājā*, although he is elsewhere spoken of as a simple citizen.¹¹