Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v1.c12.2628

v1.c12.2628

The country seems to have had very little political influence in the Buddha’s time, though, in the past, Pañcāla, Kuru and Kekaka were evidently three of the most powerful kingdoms.³ According to the Jātakas,⁴ the kingdom of Kuru was three hundred leagues in extent and its capital, Indapatta, seven leagues in circumference. The ruling dynasty at Indapatta belonged to the Yudhiṭṭhila-gotta.⁵ Among the kings of the past, Dhanañjaya Koravya is mentioned several times⁶ and reference is also made to a king called Koravya⁷ whose son was the Bodhisatta Sutasoma. During the Buddha’s time, also, the chieftain of Kuru was called Koravya, and his discussion with the Elder Raṭṭhapāla, who was himself the scion of a noble family of the Kurus, is recounted in the Raṭṭhapāla Sutta.⁸ Perhaps at one time the Kuru kingdom extended as far as Uttarapañcāla, for in the Somanassa Jātaka,⁹ Uttarapañcāla is mentioned as a town in the Kururaṭṭha, with Reṇu as its king.