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Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c17.s5: Appendix E: The Brāhmaṇas of Droṇagrāma

Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c17.s5

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Appendix E: The Brāhmaṇas of Droṇagrāma

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As regards these Brāhmaṇas, the Sanskrit version of the *Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra* seems to give more reliable, though confused, information which, if analyzed, gives accurate knowledge about the Brāhmaṇas who also claimed a share in the relics of the Buddha. The Pāli version tells that a single Brāhmaṇa also claimed a share, saying "The Exalted One was a Kṣatriya, and I am a Brāhmaṇa. I am worthy to receive a portion of the relics of the Exalted One."¹ The corresponding Sanskrit passage has *Viṣṇudvīpīvakā brāhmaṇā*² in the plural, and the same phrase is repeated in a later passage³ which does not correspond to the Pāli, though it occurs in both the Tibetan and the Chinese versions. The following page of the Sanskrit version and its corresponding Tibetan and Chinese versions have, *Dhūmrasagotro brāhmaṇaḥ*, whereas the Pāli version has only *Doṇo brāhmaṇo*⁴ who proposes to divide the remains of the Buddha into eight portions in order to avoid a quarrel among the claimants. He then asks them to give him a portion over which they would build a *stūpa* in Droṇagrāma⁵ and duly honour it. The succeeding passage of the Sanskrit version refers to the *Dhūmrasagotro brāhmaṇo* and *Viṣṇudvīpīvakā brāhmaṇā* and has no corresponding Pāli text. However, in the next passage we have again the expression *Vayaṁ Droṇagrāmake*, which is followed by *Dhūmrasagotrasya brāhmaṇasya*,⁶ also occurring in the ensuing sentence.⁷ But the Pāli version has only *Doṇo brāhmaṇo*. In the Sanskrit version it is the *Dhūmrasagotro brāhmaṇa* who, as the representative of the other Brāhmaṇas, addresses the Mallian *gaṇa*. When the distribution takes place, a portion goes to the Brāhmaṇas of Viṣṇudvīpa, in all the versions,⁸ though the Pāli version accredits it to a single Brāhmaṇa. Yet the next page contains a significant statement in the Sanskrit version, which does not have a Pāli counterpart, that "the Brāhmaṇas of Dhūmrasagotra erected a *stūpa* in Droṇagrāma".¹

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¹ *Dīgha*, ii, p. 165.

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² *MPS*, p. 434.

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³ *Ibid.*, p. 440.

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⁴ *Ibid.*, p. 442.

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⁵ *Loc. cit.*

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⁶ *Ibid.*, p. 444.

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⁷ *Ibid.*, p. 446.

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⁸ *Loc. cit.*

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¹ *Ibid.*, p. 448.

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The evidence discussed above shows the confusion that exists in both the Pāli and the Sanskrit versions. The Pāli version uses the expression *Doṇa Brāhmaṇa* throughout, which might indicate that for the Pāli writer Doṇa (Sanskrit Droṇa) is the proper name of a single Brāhmaṇa who comes from Veṭhadīpa (Sanskrit Viṣṇudvīpa). The Sanskrit version not only refers to the Brāhmaṇa as coming from Viṣṇudvīpa, but also tells that he is of the Dhūmra *gotra*, and gives what appears to be the alternative name of Viṣṇudvīpa, i.e., Droṇagrāma. We believe that both the versions are confusing, but the Sanskrit version gives certain significant details forgotten by the Pāli—that the Brāhmaṇa was of the Dhūmra *gotra* and came from a Brāhmaṇa settlement of Droṇagrāma. When the Pāli version refers to him as *Doṇa brāhmaṇa* it in fact does not refer to his proper name but implies a place-name equivalent to the Sanskrit Droṇaka or Droṇagrāmaka, one hailing from Droṇagrāma, like the Kauśināraka or Vaiśālika.

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Thus, the *Dhūmrasagotra* Brāhmaṇa whose proper name is not mentioned, came from Droṇagrāma, which was a settlement of *Dhūmrasagotra* Brāhmaṇas, just as the messenger of the Bulis came from Allakappa, and that of the Licchavis from Vesāli, etc. The Pāli version errs in referring to him by his proper name and in implying that he claimed a share of the relics on his own behalf. Apart from Vassakāra, the envoy of Ajātasattu, no proper names of envoys are mentioned.

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