Buddha: His Life, his Doctrine, his Order c11.s2.12

c11.s2.12

Each of those oft-mentioned noble families, in whose hands lies the government of separate towns and their adjacent territory, seems to have borne a gotta-name. Thus the Mallas of Kusinârâ are denoted as Vâsetthâs (“Mahâparinibb. Sutta,” p. 55, etc.), the Mallas of Pâvâ bear the same gotta (Samgîtipariyâyasutta in the “Dîgha-Nikâya”), the Koliyas are styled Byagghapajja (often in the “Añguttara Nikâya”). Is the name of their town Vyâghrapura connected herewith? (Sp. Hardy, “Manual,” p. 139.) In the Mahâpadhânasuttta is explained the descent, gotta and so on, of the six Buddhas, who have preceded the Buddhas of the present age in the holy dignity. Three of these six Buddhas are Khattiyas, but of these, as well as of the other three, who are Brâhmanas, the gotta is mentioned as something existing as a matter of course; the three Khattiyas are Kondaññas, the three Brâhmanas are Kassapas. The last Buddha himself is a Gotama, apparently because his whole family are (v. Burnouf, “Introd.” p. 155); at least his father is addressed as Gotama (“Mahâvagga” i, 54, 4); likewise his cousin Ânanda (“Vaṅgîsathera Samyutta,” fol. câ, of the Phayre MS.); Mahâpajâpatî, who at the same time belongs to the Sakya race ("Lal. Vist." p. 28 ed. Calc.; "Mahâvamsa," p. 9), bears the name Gotamî; so also her sister Mâyâ ("Theragâthâ," fol. khû'); finally we have in "Jât Atth." i, 60 and elsewhere Kisâ Gotamî, who is to be regarded apparently as a young Sakya woman.—Numerous other instances of the application of a gotta-designation to persons of the Khattiya class are to be found in the Jinacaritra of the Jainas and in inscriptions (it is enough to refer at present to Cunningham, the "Stûpa of Bharhut," p. 128 seq., and Bühler's notice therewith given).