Tribes in Ancient India c60.27

c60.27

The Koliyas were one of the republican clans in the time of the Buddha, and owned two chief settlements—one at Rāmagāma and the other at Devadaha. The commentaries contain accounts of the origin of the Koliyas. For instance, the *Sumaṅgalavilāsinī*³ states that the eldest of the five daughters of Okkāka contracted leprosy (*kuṭṭharoga*). Her four brothers, being afraid of infection, took her to a forest and there confined her in an underground chamber. Rāma, king of Benares, contracted the same complaint at this time, entered the forest, and cured himself by eating wild fruits and leaves. Hearing the voice of a woman one night, he discovered the princess in her underground chamber. He cured her by means of the fruits and leaves which had cured him, and then married her. He built a town in the forest, removing a big Kola tree in order to do so. Inasmuch as the town was built on the site of the Kola tree, it came to be called Kolanagara, and the king’s descendants were known as Koliyas.