[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) › c14.2 # Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c14.2 Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c14.2 - **Language:** English ### [c14.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c14.2) The standard Pāli form of this people's name is Koliyas.¹ A varient spelling is Koḷiya.² Similar to the Mallas,³ there is virtual uniformity about the spelling of their name. It was believed to refer to their origin either from the \*kola\* tree or from the sage named Kola. The \*Kuṇāla Jātaka\* refers to the Koliyas in the words of the Sakyas as the "destitute and ill-conditioned fellows, who like brute beasts had their dwelling in a hollow jujube tree.''⁴ Here the Sakyas meant merely to insult their opponents by calling them derogatory names during their dispute over the waters of the river Rohiṇī. Malalasekera only reports this and makes no comment regarding the derivation of the word Koliya.⁵ Law also refers to this evidence but he does not attempt the etymology.⁶ So far as we know, no scholar except Law has given a general account of the Koliyas, and no historian of the Buddhist republics, ancient or modern, has suggested an etymology save that referred to in the preamble of the \*Jātaka\*. - [Previous: c14.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c14.1) - [Next: c14.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c14.3) - [Up: c14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c14) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c14.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1968.c14.2) · Pramāṇa