[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C.](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968) › c11.26 # Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c11.26 Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c11.26 - **Language:** English ### [c11.26](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c11.26) The Jainas, both the Śvetāmbaras and the Digambaras, state that Mahāvīra was the son of a king Siddhārtha of Kuṇḍapura or Kuṇḍagāma.¹ They would have us believe that Kuṇḍagāma was a large town. But in fact they have misrepresented the matter by a gross exaggeration, just as the Buddhists did with regard to Kapilavatthu.² For Kuṇḍagāma is called, in the \*Ācārāṅga Sūtra\*³ and the \*Uvāsagadasāo\*,⁴ “Kuṇḍapura-Sannivesa” (\*Kuṇḍapura-Saṁnevesāo\*), a term which the commentator interprets as denoting a halting place of caravans or processions.⁵ It must therefore have been a relatively insignificant place of which it is recorded only that it lay in Videha. The texts inform us variously that “Mahāvīra was a Nāya, the son of a Nāya-Khattiya; the moon of the clan of the Nāyas; a Videha, the son of Videhadattā, native of Videha (\*Videha-jacce\*); a prince of Videha (\*Videha-kūmāle\*), who had lived 30 years in Videha when his parents passed away”.⁶ - [Previous: c11.25](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c11.25) - [Next: c11.27](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c11.27) - [Up: c11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c11) ## Linked texts (4) - [Āyāraṃga](https://indike.org/pramana/in.jaina.sveta.anga.1) — Sudharman, Ardhamāgadhī Prakrit - [Sūyagaḍa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.jaina.sveta.anga.2) — Sudharman, Ardhamāgadhī Prakrit - [Kalpasūtra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.jaina.sveta.cheda.1.kalpasutra) — Bhadrabāhu, Ardhamāgadhī Prakrit - [Uvāsagadasāo](https://indike.org/pramana/in.jaina.sveta.anga.7) — Sudharman, Ardhamāgadhī Prakrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c11.26](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c11.26) · Pramāṇa