Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c13.s1.30

c13.s1.30

Although in the same *Sutta* Pasenadi is reported as saying, *Bhagavā pi Kosalaka, aham pi Kosalako*,² this is an obvious example of contradiction in the sources. However, it can be explained if we keep in mind the fact that the sources were written later than the events they claim to depict, and that some historical facts have been mishandled and misplaced by the writers. That the Sakyas were extinguished as a political power by Viḍūḍabha and that the survivors may have become Kosalans at a later time seems certain, but the sources appear to have intermingled earlier and later events. The passages cited above impel us to suggest that the Sakyas were an independent political community during the Pasenadi’s reign and the earlier part of Viḍūḍabha’s; in other words, the Sakyas were independent at least until the time of the Buddha’s death, when they claimed a share in his relics and later built a *stūpa* in its honour at their capital town.³