Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c13.s2.17

c13.s2.17

Bhandarkar quoted *Buddhist India* in respect of Rhys Davids’ claim that the Sakyas were a republican clan, but he ignored the reference to a second king of the Sakyas, perhaps because it went against his theory. Bhandarkar also shows complete ignorance of Oldenberg’s similar view that the Sakyas were an aristocratic government, and not a monarchy. Rhys Davids first wrote when most of the Pāli canon was unpublished. Later, in the *Cambridge History of India*,² he gave the reference for Suddhodana’s kingship in the *Dīgha Nikāya*,³ Bhandarkar himself admits this to be of an earlier date and more authentic than the *Jātakas*.