Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c13.s2.72

c13.s2.72

We have seen that the Sakyas were not legally subordinate to the Kosalan king during the reign of Pasenadi and the earlier part of his successor's reign, and that they had an assembly which administered the Sakyan territory. Their geographical location is also significant if we are to understand the workings of the Sakyan republican institutions within the background of neighbouring states. The general position of their country is intimated by the distances given from other places; 60 *yojanas* (450 miles) from Rājagaha, 50 *yojanas* (375 miles) from Vesālī, 6 or 7 *yojanas* (50 or 60 miles) from Sāvatthi.² Rhys Davids suggested that the Sakyan territory must have been just on the border of Nepal and India. The location was finally settled by the discoveries of the *stūpa* or burial-mound put up by the Sakyas over the portion of the relics they retained from the Buddha's funeral pyre,³ and of Aśoka's inscription, *in situ*, recording his visit to the Lumbinī garden in which the Buddha was born.⁴ Most of the scholars now doubt that the Piprāhwā casket inscription refers to the Sakyas. In fact it only mentions the Buddha, the Lord of the Sakyas (*bhagavate Sakiyānam*).⁵ The Aśoka-column, however, proves that some 300 years after the Buddha's birth this was believed to have been the site of his birthplace.