Shakya

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Shakya (Sanskrit: and :) is the name (derived from Sanskrit , capable, able) of an ancient janapada (realm) and its Indo-Aryan-speaking ruling clan. In Buddhist texts, the are mentioned as a clan. The s formed an independent kingdom at the foothills of the . The capital was Kapilavastu (: Kapilavatthu).

The most famous was the Buddha, a member of the ruling Gautama (: Gotama) clan of Lumbini, who is also known as (: , "sage of the nation").

The accounts of Buddhist texts

The s are mentioned in the accounts of the birth of the Buddha (e.g. , c. end of the 2nd century BCE) as a part of the s (solar race) and as descendants of the legendary king Ikṣvāku ():

"There lived once upon a time a king of the , a scion of the solar race, whose name was . He was pure in conduct, and beloved of the Śākya like the autumn moon. He had a wife, splendid, beautiful, and steadfast, who was called the Great , from her resemblance to the Goddess." (Buddhacarita of , I.1-2)

Annexation by Kosala

, the son of Pasenadi and , the daughter of a named by a slave girl ascended the throne of Kosala after overthrowing his father. As an act of vengeance for cheating Kosala by sending his mother, the daughter of a slave woman for marriage to his father, he invaded the territory, massacred them and annexed it.

The Shakyas and the Scythians

The Greeks, and many writers and scholars since, have connected them to the Scythians, or as they were known in India from whom descended the Sogdiana. However, the Śaka were not known in India before the 2nd century BCE, centuries after the last attested existence of the . "" may nonetheless be possibly cognate with "Scythian" as a result of their shared Indo-Iranian heritage.

J.P. Mallory and Victor H. Mair have elaborated on the similarity between stupas and the tumulus funerary mounds of the Scythian steps, and the identity of the s with the Saka Scythians:

"The stupa was one of the most characteristic architectural remains of the Buddhist world; they are not found in Hinduism at all. In function we may view them as a specialized type of tumulus: they were circular in shape with a domed top, and they were built to cover the relics of the Buddha, his early followers, or some other essential symbol of the Buddhist religion. It might be recalled that the Buddha was ("Sage of the " i.e. the Sakas) and, within an Indic context, Buddhism was a kind of "Iranian heresy"".

Notes

External links

• Shakya coins

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Last updated on Sunday February 17, 2008 at 00:37:28 PST (GMT -0800)
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