2.6 Mauryas of
Pipphalivana
References
about Mauryas of Pipphalivana are very less in early Buddhist literatures. They
are not mentioned in the texts which covered the entire lifetime of Buddha.
They are also not mentioned as pupils of the Buddha even when there were mass
scale Kshatriya followers from other tribes such as Malla, Shakya, Lichchhavi
and Koliya. Their first reference comes after the death of Buddha. The last
rite of Buddha was done at Kusinara after 7 days of his death. Although
Kusinara had been near to Pipphalivana yet Mauryas were the last one to arrive
at the funeral site. When the ashes were already distributed, the Malla kings
got the request from the Mauryas for sharing of the relics. It has been
referred in the Digha Nikaya of Maha-parinibbana-sutta as [28] –
atha kho
pipphalivaniya moriya kosinarakanaj mallanaj dutaj pahesuj:
'bhagava pi khattiyo mayaj pi khattiya|
mayam pi arahama bhagavato sariranaj bhagaj
mayam pi bhagavato sariranaj thupab ca mahab ca karissamati|'
The message was brought by a Brahmin which reads ‘The envoy has been sent to
Kosinarka Malla by Pipphalivana Moriya. Lord (Buddha) was Kshatriya and we are
also Kshatriya. So we shall also get the relics of the Lord and we will build
stupa over it’. After hearing the message, the Malla kings responded to Brahmin
saying that ‘Mauryas missed the Buddha during his entire life and again they
missed it. The relics have been distributed. Therefore you can take ashes which
are still burning.’ This way Mauryas received ashes and built stupa over it.
The stupa is known as the Angar Stupa (Ember Stupa). Chinese monk Hawen Tswang
confirmed this tradition prevalent in the region during his travel.
The name and origin of Mauryas as a tribe is explained in the Mahavamsa Tika.
It is a poem written in Pali language for the Kings of Srilanka. It says that
the tribe derived their name from a festival, modapi, which they were
celebrating for the prosperity of their city. By time, da changed to ra and
thus they were known as Morapi or Morai or Moriya. It is further said that they
were the fled Shakyans who settled in vana (forest) full of Pipphali trees
(Banyan tree) after the massacre done by King Vidudabha of Kosala and hence the
‘Moriya of Pipphalivana’. The second legend says that they were the branch of
Shakyans who got famous with this name after the abundance of peacocks
(Sanskrit – Mayura) and Pippal tree in their area. However these legends have
been created in Ashoka period and can be seen as failed attempts to link the
Mauryan King Ashoka with the clan of Shakyamuni Buddha by linking the Mauryas
of Pipphalivana with Shakyas. It is evident from the fact that the massacre of
Shakyas happened just two years before the death of Buddha. It is unrealistic
to imagine that within two years the fled Shakyans established them again as
Mauryas and that too in the proximity of Kosala Kingdom. It is quite possible
that when Shakyans fled after massacre, some of them took shelter in nearby
Pipphalivana and thus establishing a linkage between both tribes. The presence
of Mauryas as a distinct ruling tribe, other than the Shakyas, is also
confirmed from the answer of Malla King given to Brahmin during the
distribution of relics. It is possible that it was the migrant Shakyans who
persuaded Mauryas to ask for the relics of Buddha as Mauryas themselves were
non followers of Buddha. Also the persuasion process could have taken a few
days since the message demanding the relics was received by the Malla Kings
after 7 days of the death of Buddha even though Pipphalivana was near to
Kusinara.
The Mauryas were known as Suryavanshi Kshatriyas with Kashayapa Gotra. Their
territory was surrounded by the Mallas in the north and the east, by River Ghaghra
in the south, by the Kosala Kingdom in the southwest with River Anoma (Rapti)
as dividing line and by the Koliyas in the northwest who also acted as dividing
line between them and the Shakyas. The territory covered roughly 40 km from
east to west and 80-90 km from north to south. The tribe ruled their territory
in a democratic way, confirmed by the fact that it is the Mauryas who demanded
the relics and not any individual Mauryan King. Further, the Mahavamsa Tika
always mentions them as Moriyarajanam and younger ones as rajkumaras (princes).
The territory and population of Mauryas is believed to be very small compared
to other neighboring ruling tribes such as that of Mallas and Shakyas. Except
Pipphalivana, no settlement of Mauryas is known in Buddhist literatures.
Huwen-T-Swang and Fa-Xian describe about the location of Ember stupa to be four
yojnas (1 yojna = 7-8 miles, 13 Km) to the west of Kusinara. Based on it, the
capital of Mauryas is believed to be located somewhere in the Bansgaon region
of the Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh [25].
As per Buddhist literatures, nearly after 140 years from the Buddha’s death,
daughter of one Mauryan chief, named Mura (meaning the princess of Maurya
republic) whose husband died in a skirmish, gave birth to a boy, known as
Chandragupta. The boy defeated the Nandas of Magadha Empire with the help of
Chanakya and slowly emerged as first real Emperor of India [25]. In the
same family, one of the greatest Kings of India, Ashoka Maurya was born who was
responsible for the spread of Buddha’s teaching across the globe. In present
time, the legacies of Maurya Kshatriyas are shared by some communities living
in the Gorakhpur region such as Mall-Sainthwar, Bisen Rajputs of Majhauli and
Maurya titled population itself which has concentrated population in Deoria and
scattered population in some other district of Uttar Pradesh. According to
historians like Dr. Rajbali Pandey, Dr. Raghunath Chand Kaushik and T.M.B.
Buddhamitra, the distribution of Maurya tribe in three broad communities was
the result of religious revolutions that took place after the death of Buddha
till rise and fall of the Buddhist Empire of Mauryas. The majority of Mauryas,
who became Buddhist by the time of Ashoka, could have suffered badly in
economic terms too after the fall of the Mauryan Empire by the aggressive
Brahmin Sunga dynasty. They could have been also religiously tagged and defamed
as Shudras in broader society for giving patronage to anti-Brahmanic faith
Buddhism.
2.7 Bulis of Allakappa
Very low information is available on the Bulis of Allakappa except that
they too demanded the relics of Buddha citing their Kshatriya origin. The
country of Allakappa seems to have a republican form of government, but its
importance was not very great. According to the Dhammapada Commentary
(DhA.i.161), Allakappa was 50 km in extent and its king was on intimate terms
of friendship with the King of Vethadipika who was a Brahmin. The two countries
are thought to be very near to each other [26]. In present time,
the area ruled by Bulis cannot be traced except the understanding that it was
close to Kusinara as they and the Brahmins of Vethadipa demanded the relics of
Buddha and built stupa over it. On the legacy front, the Bulis because of their
republican governance, proximity with Kusinara and following Buddhism, could be
forming a small section of the Santhavara group of Kshatriyas led by the Mallas
(the Sainthwars) while the ruler Brahmin class of Vethadipa could be
representing the ancestors of Vratya Brahmins (Bhumihar Babhans) residing in
the nearby regions of Kushinagara.
2.8 Functioning of Republic Kshatriyas – The Santhagara [27]
It is evident from many historical events that the republican states took their
decisions, either social or political, through common agreement between its
members. For this, they had a meeting place or the general assembly point,
known as Santhagara. It is a Pali / Sanskrit word derived from the combination
of Santha / Sanstha (group) and Agara (the house or assembly point). The
membership of the assembly, referred as sangha or gana, was restricted to same
clan male adults having a minimum age of 20 years. The assembly was very
popular and contained strong sentiments against hereditary privileges to any of
its members. It supported the principle of free election for all-important
posts including that of Commander-in-chief, known as ‘sangha/gana Raja’. The
other important posts in the assembly were of vargya, grihya and pakshya who
clashed time to time for power. There were also some positions which had their
own importance for successful proceedings of the assembly. According to Panini,
the gana-titha or sangha-titha was the person whose attendance completed the
quorum during the assembly. The Gana-puraka was the person who acted as a whip
to secure the quorum. The Asanapannapaka was the person who used to be the seat
regulator and had the responsibility of allotting seats to persons depending on
their positions in the assembly. The Salakagrahpaka was the person whose
responsibility included collection of the votes, termed as chhanda (free
choice). The Samghyamukhya was the president of the state who headed the
assembly and regulated its debates. He was expected to observe strict
impartiality and if failed, was furiously criticized by all members. There were
specific terms used in the assembly processes, such as dvandva was used to
denote the rival parties and vyutkramana to their rivalry.
In the assembly, there were definite rules for moving any resolution. Generally
the new proposal was repeated thrice and if no objections were raised, it was
approved. In case of objections, the majority decided it through voting.
The voting methodology was of three types – by guthaka (secret method), by
sakarnajapakam (whispering method) and by vivatakam (open method). In case of
complicated matters, they were referred to different committees for
settlements. Quorum was strictly required during such resolutions without which
it was considered invalid. It is also found that matters when finally
decided were not allowed to reopen. Clerks were present during such proceedings
whose main job was record-keeping. The assembly also comprised of Judiciary
system which was very strong and the liberty of citizens was efficiently
guarded. A person was not declared guilty unless all courts proved his crime.
According to Atthakatha, the first tribunal used to be of the officer called
Vinichchaya Mahamatta. If the person was found to be guilty by the first tribunal
then he was sent to the next higher tribunal of Suttadhara. If there also
he was found guilty, then he had to approach other similar tribunals of
Atthakulaka, Senapati and Upa-raja each of which can acquit the accused if
innocent but if found guilty then he was sent to the highest tribunal i.e. of
Raja. Buddhist literatures show that the santhagara of the republic
states used to control foreign affairs, entertaining foreign ambassadors and
princes and decided on peace and war proposals. The assembly served the purpose
of being social clubs where the ruling clan members used to decide on the
topics related to social and religious issues. According to Buddhist
literatures, the Lichchhavis formed a league with Videha and together they were
called as Vajjis. The Lichchhavis had once formed a federation with their
neighbor Malla. The federal council was composed of eighteen members, nine
Lichchhavis and nine Mallas. In the federation, both parties were having equal
rights even though Malla were not a great power as Lichchhavis.
Some historical events associated with the assembly of individual tribes:
- Siddhartha Gautama was initiated as a member of Shakya santhagara when he
turned twenty. When he was 28 years old, a major clash took place between
Koliya and Shakya over the distribution of water from River Rohini. The
military commander of Shakya proposed a war with Koliya but Siddhartha opposed
it. He brought peace proposal in front of the assembly which failed miserably
during voting. As a consequence Siddhartha has to go into exile (pabbajja).
- According to the Ambattha sutta of the Digha Nikaya, when Brahmin Ambattha
visited the Kapilvastu santhagara, the Shakya members laughed at him treating
with scant respect.
- The Shakya assembly of Kapilvastu decided not to give a Shakyan girl to King
Pasenadi of Kosala and instead gave a slave girl as Shakyan girl. The decision
resulted in their mass scale massacre by Vidudabha.
- The Lichchhavis honored the beautiful courtesan Ambapali (Aamrapali) as
Nagarvadhu (the bride of the city) in one of their annual assembly.
- The Mallas and Lichchhavis requested Buddha to perform the opening ceremonies
of their santhagara by first using it to deliver a sermon to a congregation
assembled therein.
- Buddha was very pleased to see the functioning of Lichchhavi santhagara. He
directed his pupils to pattern the Buddhist monastic order (Buddhist sangha) on
the Lichchhavis sangha polities.
- The Mallas of Kusinara discussed the arrangements related to funeral of
Buddha and disposal of his ashes in their assembly hall.
2.9 Society in the Kshatriya republics - click here to read
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References:
[25] Sharma, J. P. (1968). Republics in
Ancient India, pp. 219-224. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
[26] http://www.palikanon.com/english/pali_names/am/allakappa.htm
[27] Jain,
K. C. (1991). Lord Mahavira and His times, pp. 211-249. (Rev. Ed.). New Delhi:
Motilal Banarsidass
[28] http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/BDLM/lesson/pali/p-texts/p-pari26.htm
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Index Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10
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