The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c12.s1.t3.11

c12.s1.t3.11

No republic in mankind's ancient history can surpass the Sâkiya republic in the magnitude of its influence on world-culture. For, the region over which it had authority has for two thousand and five hundred years remained the Jerusalem of Buddhism, the *Tien-chu* ("Heaven") of the Chinese and the *Tenjiku* of the Japanese. Sâkya the Buddha (or Awakened) was, as the name implies, a citizen of the commonwealth of the Sâkiyas. His father Suddhodana and cousin Bhaddiya were archons of this state. The common tradition that Sâkya renounced princedom is erroneous. For he was not a prince at all but only the son of a president.⁵