Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c14.s3.5

v1.c14.s3.5

Though according to Oldenberg's theory,⁴ Kosala falls outside the limits within which orthodox brāhmanism flourished, the territory was in fact within the said limits containing, as it did, many brāhmaṇa settlements. Oldenberg based his opinion on two passages, one of the Cullavagga (XII. 2, 3) viz., "Buddhas are born in the puratthima janapadas," and the other of the Majjhima Nikāya (II. p. 124) referring to Buddha as a Kosalaka. The word puratthima however does not imply prācya-deśa. The passage contemplates only Kapilavatthu lying on the northern extremity of Kosala and not the whole of the territory; and moreover both the town and the territory lay on the west of Sadānīrā, an early limit of Aryan colonization as mentioned in the Śatapatha-Brāhmaṇa.¹ Hence, as a citizen of Kapilavatthu, which was included in the dominion of Kosala,² Buddha could well be called a Kosalaka, though for the matter of that he was not an inhabitant of prācya-deśa.