2.3 The Lichchhavis of
Vaishali
The tribe of Lichchhavis has been mentioned in detail in Jain texts as the
mother of Mahavira, Trishala, belonged to the same clan. Trishala was the
sister of King Cetaka of Vaishali. The area of Vaishali was close to Kundagrama
of Videha, the birthplace of Mahavira. As per historical evidences, the tribe
was settled in north Bihar and part of the Terai belt of Nepal. Buddhaghosa in
his Paramatthajotika traces origin of Lichchhavi clan from the royal family of
Benaras. According to myths, the chief queen of Benares gave birth to a lump of
flesh which was put in a box and floated on a river. It was then captured by a
hermit who nurtured them until they turned into a pair of boy and girl. Both
had a translucent beauty as such they have no skin and therefore the name
nicchavi or everything seemed to get adsorbed into them and therefore the name
linacchavi. The twins were then adopted by local cowherds. As they grew up,
they were given an area to live. Both boy and girl married to each other and
had a sixteen pair of sibling twins. Since the area has to be continually
enlarged (Visalikata), they came to call it Vesali / Vaishali. Opposite to this
description of Buddha Ghosa, the Valmiki Ramayana in its Balkanda (which is a
later addition to main text) traces the lineage of Lichchhavis to Visaia, son
of the Ikshavaku King of Ayodhaya with Apsara Alambusa. After Visaia, the town
was named as Visala and the tribe was referred of the Suryavanshi clan with
Vassestha gotra. In Nepali traditions too, the lineage of Lichchhavis is linked
with Ikshvakus of Ayodhya and their descent is given via Raghu, Aja, Dashratha,
eight other kings and then Lichchhavis [14]. Keeping myths aside, epic Mahabharata mentions Mallas along with other powerful
eastern tribes but does not mention Lichchhavis indicating that they as a tribe
were still not present till 900-1100 BC. Further, Valmiki Ramayana traces them
as 9th generation from Dashratha contrary to Malla who were traced as 2nd
generation through his son Lakshmana. It indicates that the Lichchhavis settled
in this area after a considerable time gap from the period of settlement of the
Mallas, although both migrated from Kosala and therefore had a common
Suryavanshi origin with Vassestha gotra. Since Lichchhavis are mentioned in
detail in Buddhist and Jain texts, it is clear that the group was settled as a
strong force by the 6th century BC. The name which indicates translucent beauty
or having no skin only refers to the point that they were of fair Indo-Aryan
stock quite different from majority of aboriginal populations living in these
areas at that time.
The settlement of Lichchhavis, Vaishali, was very rich in ancient times. It is
evident from one event whereby they wanted Buddha to visit their place from the
palace of Magadhan King Bimbisara. That time, the area of Vaishali was
suffering from widespread plague. In spite of their all efforts, they could not
stop it spreading. Looking at the severity, they decided to call Buddha so that
his miraculous power diminishes it. The Lichchhavis sent their envoy to call
him in Vaishali. King Bimbisara knowing this sent the message that the
Lichchhavis should welcome Buddha at the main entrance of their city and he
will also follow him till the boundary of his own country. To this, the
Lichchhavis agreed. To impress Lichchhavis of his strength and richness,
Bimbisara made great arrangements on the way on which Buddha had to travel.
When the King reached at the boundary of Magadhan Empire, not only he but
Buddha too was impressed by the arrangements of Lichchhavis on the other side.
He exclaimed to his monks – ‘you have never seen gods when they go to garden
from their city, now see Lichchhavis who are equal to those gods in prosperity
and splendor.’
Not only the city but Lichchhavis too impressed Buddha very much. As a result
he delivered many of his discourses in their area. He was pleased with their
governance so much that he instructed to design Buddhist Sanghas on the model
of Lichchhavi assemblies. He even tried to dissuade King Ajatshatru of Magadha
(son of Bimbisara) by counting the great qualities of Lichchhavis when he
wanted to attack them. The tribe of Lichchhavis was divided into three sections
who occupied different geographical locations in the city of Vaishali. As per
Mahaparinirvana Sutta and Anguttara Nikaya, the tribe was fond of brilliant
colors such as blue, yellow, red and white in their dress. Other than war and
sports, some of them were also interested in learning fine arts. It is recorded
that some went to distant countries for education. One of the Lichchhavi, named
Mahali, went to Takshila to learn shilpa and on returning back he educated many
Lichchhavis. They celebrated many festivals in which beating drums, songs and
dance were involved. Regarding marriage proposal, similar to other republics,
the young Lichchhavis had to approach the assembly to select a suitable bride
for him. There were strict rules for it according to which no relations will be
made out of Vaishali. The rules further said that the daughter born in the
first section can marry only in the first while that born in the second section
can marry in the second as well as first and that born in the third section has
to marry only in the third. The tribe was very sensitive to female chastity and
violation of it was a serious offence. The female could lose her life from his
husband.
On religious fronts, the Buddhist texts give references of Indra and Prajapati
as popular gods of this area. The Lichchhavis have been also recorded as great
followers of both Buddha and Jaina. They participated in their last rites. The
tribe received 1/8th of the Buddha’s relics and built stupa over it. Chanakya
in Arthshastra, too, mentions about many gods worshipped by the people of this
region other than the Vedic deities. As the majority of them turned towards
Buddhism and Jainism, they are mentioned as Vratya Kshatriyas in Manusmiriti.
For dead persons, the tribe followed different rituals. It included cremation,
burial and exposing the corpse to wild animals. Buddha once visited the
cemetery of Vaishali and there he was told that some dead bodies are hanged
from the tree and some buried in the earth (specifically of those who were
killed for wrongdoing) and for some it is left upon the ground so that they may
return to their homes, if possible. There were also the dead bodies who were
cremated. It seems that the Lichchhavis adopted such system from Dravidians or
Vratyas living in the eastern part of India. The same is evident from the
funeral hymns of Atharva Veda (XVIII.2, 34) which says ‘they that are buried,
and they that are scattered (reap) away, they that are burned and they that are
set up (uddhita) – all those fathers, Oh Agni, bring thou to eat the oblation’[15].
On the political front, Lichchhavis were part of the Vajjian confederacy that
consisted of total eight tribes, evident from the stories which say that
criminals were made to stand for judgment in front of atthakula (eight clans).
Chanakya too, describes about the united power of these unions which made them
unconquerable. As they followed the republican style of governance, nearly two
centuries later at the time of Chandragupta, Chanakya mentions them as
republican people living with the title of ‘Raja’ along with Mallaka, Vrijika,
Madraka, Kukura, Kuru and Panchala. Culla-kalinga Jataka and Ekapanna Jatka
mentions Lichchhavi administration in detail. They mention about 7707
Lichchhavi Rajas indicating that all adults of the clan were part of the ruling
assembly. Bhaddasala Jataka mentions about a tank, water of which was used for
coronation of new Rajas during their assembly. The coronation ceremony was
known as abhiseka –mangala pokkharani (Abhiseka – coronation, mangala –
auspicious, pokkhara – tank / pond in Pali). Except Magadhan Empire, the tribe
was in good terms with Kosala and Malla except some cases as that seen from the
incident of Bandhula Malla. After the Buddha’s death, King Ajatshatru of
Magdaha conquered them after a great battle which ran for nearly sixteen years.
Though religiously degraded as Vratyas in view of orthodox Brahmins, the tribe
retained their social and political importance till Gupta Empire of 4th century
AD. It is evident from the stone pillar inscriptions of Allahabad in which King
Samudragupta proudly described him as Lichchhavi-dauhitra (son of a daughter of
Lichchhavi). In later period, some of the Lichchhavis migrated in Nepal and
flourished there.
2.4 Shakyas of Kapilvastu
The tribe is well known due to the birth of Gautam Buddha in the same. The
etymology of the word “Shakya” is probably related to the Sanskrit word Sak
which means ‘to be able, worthy, possible or practicable’. Some historians have
also relate it with tree Sak (Oak) but it lacks justification as the tree does
not grow in the Terai belt of Nepal or Basti district (Siddharthnagara) of
Uttar Pradesh where Kapilvastu has been traced. The origin of ‘Shakya’ name for
them is well recorded in Ambattha Sutta when Buddha debated with Brahmin
Ambattha on the superiority of Kshatriyas over Brahmins. According to Buddha,
as per traditions prevalent in the tribe, King Okkaka banished his nine
children from first queen to give royal power to Jantukumara, son of his
favorite other queen. The expelled children included five princesses namely
Priya, Supriya, Ananda, Vijitha, Vijithasena and four princes namely Ukkamukha,
Karandu, Hastinika and Sinisura [16]. They went towards Himalaya and founded the village
of Kapilvastu on the land donated by sage Kapil. As they considered themselves
superior races of Kshatriya, the four princes and princesses married among them
after giving the title of mother to their elder sister Priya. One day, King
Okkaka enquired about them from his minister. When he came to know that they
married among them to protect the purity of their blood, he instantly praised
their action by saying – ‘Sakya vato bho kumara, paramasakya vato bho
rajkumara’. It means ‘The princess are very powerful (sakya); Very powerful
indeed (parama-sakya vatabho) are the royal princess’ [17]. Then onwards,
eight children and their descendants were known as Sakya in the social and
political circles of ancient India. Based on this legend, some historians correlated
King Okkaka with famous King Ikshvaku of Ayodhya in whose clan King Rama was
born. Though both kings can be different but it can be easily guessed that an
attempt has been made by some people to link Buddha with the clan of Rama and
followers of both sides silently accepted it to appease each other. Keeping
legends aside, historians have traced Shakyas as a warrior Indo-Aryan tribe who
migrated and settled in the region of Kapilvastu in the late Vedic period.
By the end of the Vedic period, Ulump, Khomduss, Chatum, Devdah, Medloomp,
Bedhajja, Sakkar, Samgram, Shilavati, Kapilvastu and Lumbini emerged as major
settlements in the Shakya territory [18]. The village of Khomduss chiefly belonged to the Brahmins
who were initially opposed to Buddha but later became his follower and accepted
Buddhism. Like Lichchhavis, Shakyas too restricted matrimonial relationships
within their tribe only. The mother of Buddha, Mahamaya and Mahaprajapati
Gautami belonged to the Shakya clan of village Devdah. Even princesses
Yashodhara, married to prince Siddhartha, belonged to the Shakya clan of
village Devdah. However after Siddhartha left his home and Yashodhara in search
of true wisdom, Shakyas of Devdah started hating him and the differences arose
between the villages of Kapilvastu and Devdah. Being extremely proud of
their Kshatriya origin, Shakyas never gave respect to Brahmins. It led Brahmin
Ambattha to describe them as menials. Unlike Lichchhavis, the tribe paid a
heavy price for their belief in blood purity and Shakyas of Kapilvastu were
almost devastated by King Vidudabha of Kosala. The story goes like this -
Pasenadi was Suryavanshi Kshatriya king of Kosala with capital at
Sravasti. He was a prominent follower of Buddha and built many Buddhist
monasteries during the lifetime of Buddha. During his conquest, he defeated
Shakya republic and asked for one Shakyan girl whom he will marry and make his
chief queen. He also promised that her son will be the next king of Kosala.
On receiving the proposal, Shakyas took meeting in their assembly hall at
Kapilvastu. The assembly house decided that they will not give their girl even
though she will be made chief queen of Kosala. They, instead, decided to give
the daughter of Nagmunda who was slave of Mahanaam Shakya, the uncle of Buddha.
The slave girl, named Vasavkhattiya, was then married to king Pasenadi as
Shakyan girl. From the union, a son was born. He was named Vidudabha and
crowned as Prince of Kosala. Once, the prince made a visit to his maternal
place at Kapilvastu. There small age children welcomed him. When enquired about
the absence of the elders, it was communicated that they were outside for some
urgent work. The living arrangement of the prince was done in santhagara hall.
After spending some days there, he returned back to Sravasti. However, on the
way one of his bodyguards realized that he had forgotten his arms in the hall.
The bodyguard returned to collect it. There he saw lady slaves washing the hall
with milk. He then heard one lady slave scolding the mother of prince as
‘slave’s daughter’ and cursing herself because she had to wash her son’s used
place. The bodyguard informed the matter to prince Vidudabha. After listening
it, the prince felt ashamed and enquired about the matter from his father. He
became furious to know that Pasenadi was aware of it. He decided to take
revenge from his father and the Shakya’s of Kapilvastu. After some period, he
successfully displaced Pasenadi with the help of Mallas. He then went behind
Shakyas for revenge. He tried to attack Kapilvastu many times but each time
Buddha intervened. When Buddha was 80 years old and near to Vaishali and about to
declare his mahaparinirvana, Vidudabha moved again towards Kapilvastu. His army
surrounded the Shakya republic. He called the head of Shakya gana and demanded
apology from their assembly. Shakyas took a meeting and decided that they would
not apologize for their actions even though they could not stand in front of
Kosalan army. Vidudabha then ordered his army to attack but not to kill the
Shakyans who apologize, not to touch women and children and not to kill the
persons who run from them. The santhagara in which he stayed during his visit
was destroyed. Shakyans who didn’t apologize were killed in masses. The Shakyas
of Devdah shook hands with the Koliyas of Ramagrama as the latter also had
enmity with the former one on water used for the irrigation. The Koliyas
declared Devdah as their new capital. Many of the Shakyas shifted to various
other locations deserting the very native place of Buddha. Leftover Shakyas of
Kapilvastu fled to village Bedhajja and established it as their new capital.
Earlier Bedhajja was the place of their training school of martial arts. This
way, Shakya republic of Kapilvastu was devastated due to their belief in the
blood purity concept. The story also points towards the development of
superiority feeling or fear of getting impure in the fresh lot of Indo-Aryans
who started settling in these regions in late Vedic era. The thrust on
maintaining blood purity was so much higher that myths were created according
to that which traced the origin of both Shakya and Lichchhavi tribes from the
relationship between brothers and sisters.
The Shakyans are described as Gautam gotriya Suryavanshi Kshatriya in ancient
literatures. Like other republican Kshatriyas, Shakyas too had their own
santhagara to decide on various social and political issues. Like Mallas and
Lichchhavis, in Shakyas too every family head was recognized as Raja. The main
occupation of the tribe was agriculture. Their territory was bounded by
Himalaya in the north and by the Malla country in the northeast. It shared
borders with the Koliyas in the east with River Rohini (present Kohna) as
dividing line and with the Kosala Kingdom in the south and west with River
Rapti as dividing line. In present time, Shakya territory seems to be entire
Siddharthnagar, northern part of Basti and some part of Maharajganj districts
of Uttar Pradesh and Terai belt of Nepal. Kapilvastu, the main city of Shakyans
is a disputed area. While Indian historians trace it to ‘Piprahwa – Ganwaria’
village in Basti district from where the relics of Buddha have been discovered [18][19], historians from Nepal locate it to
Tilaurakot, to which Indian historians describe as Bedhajja, the new capital of
the Shakyas of Kapilvastu after massacre done by Vidudabha.
2.5 Koliyas of Ramagrama
The tribe of Koliyas is mentioned in the Buddhist literatures like
Anguttara Nikaya, Mahavastu, Apadana and Buddhaghosa’s commentary but not
mentioned in the Brahmanical literatures under this name. They are neither
mentioned in Jaina texts nor in the works of Panini and Chanakya. The etymology
of word Koliya is probably related to tree Kola (Jujube, Hindi – Ber) as Kunala
Jataka refers the Koliyas as a people dwelling on Jujube tree. According to the
myths, the Koliyas are related to the Shakyas of Kapilvastu through the expelled
prince and princesses. The elder sister, Priya or Sita, who was given the
status of mother by rest brothers and sisters contracted leprosy. The Shakya
brothers then took her out of their territory and dig a big underground room
for her stay with lots of food and water stored in it. They blocked the
entrance of the room with wooden planks and put a large heap of earth on it.
Meanwhile, King Rama of Benares also contracted leprosy. He abdicated the power
to his son and left for the forest. He started living in the hollow of a Kola
tree to protect himself from the wild things. One day, he heard the screams of
Priya when a tiger was trying to enter her pit. Next morning, he went to see
the location and found Priya inside it. When he enquired about her, she told
the entire story. When Rama offered to cure her, she refused saying that she
will prefer to die than to disgrace her family, caste and race. Rama then
introduced himself as Kshatriya King of Benares who started living in the
forest due to leprosy. Knowing Rama’s lineage, Priya agreed to live together.
She was slowly cured and meanwhile gave birth to 32 sons [20]. One day Rama encountered an archer who
in turn asked about the identity of 32 princes. Rama told the entire story to
him. The archer returned to Benares and narrated the story to then king of
Benares who was the son of Rama. The king proceeded to forest to meet his father
and found him there. He built a magnificent city on the site of Kola tree and
titled the city Koliya. As a result, all 32 princes were known as Koliya and
since the place was on the path (Pali – Pajja, Sanskrit – Path) of tiger (Pali
– Vaagh), they were known of Vyaghhapajja gotra [21]. Opposite to it, the Mahavastu traces the origin of word Koliya from sage Kola.
It only differs in its version by placing Sage Kola in place of King Rama. The
myth further says that all 32 princes married to 32 Shakyan princesses after
their mother Priya convinced her Shakyan brothers to establish the ties.
Keeping myths aside, historians have accepted the origin of word Koliya from
tree Kola (Hindi – Ber) which is abundant in the region where the tribe lived
in. In the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, the Koliyas are recognized as Nagvanshi
Kshatriyas i.e. snake worshippers. As they were animal (serpent) worshippers,
the population chiefly belonged to Dravidians of Australoid race with Mongoloid
and Indo-Aryan traits.
The Koliya territory was surrounded by the hills of Nepal in the north, by the
Mallas in the northeast, by the Mauryas of Pipphalivana in the east, by the
Kosala Kingdom in the south and west with River Anoma (present Rapti) as
dividing line and by the Shakyas in the northwest with River Rohini as dividing
line. Thus the country of Koliya was a thin strip of land spread from River
Ghaghara in the south till the northern hills of Nepal. It covered around 32 km
from east to west. Their villages figured in the Buddhist literatures are
Uttara, Kakkarapatta, Sajjanela, Haliddavasana, Kundia / Kundi and Sapuga [22]. The tribe had their capital at Ramagrama which is
now a disputed site. The dispute has its origin in the present location of
Ramagrama Stupa that was built by the Koliyas after getting 1/8th of the
Buddha’s relics from the Malla of Kusinara. The UNESCO and Nepal government
have recognized Nawalparasi, situated adjacent to River Jharahi in Nepal, with
the ancient Ramagrama. Its identification is based on the Ceylonese tradition
which says that the relic casket of Buddha was washed away by the current of
River Ganges. It was then discovered by the Nagas or water gods who presented
it to their King. The King then built a stupa (of Ramagrama) on it. The same
casket was later obtained by holy monk Sonuttara during the reign of
Duttagamini of Ceylon (161-137 BC) and thus enshrining the great stupa in the
land of Lanka. The Ceylonese tradition is completely at variance with the
statements of Fa-Xian and Hiuen Tsang who visited India in the beginning of the
5th century and middle of 7th century AD respectively. Both mentioned the
presence of Ramagrama stupa beside a tank and the local tradition which says
that the tank of clear water was populated by Nagas (dragons) who daily
transformed into men and worshipped the stupa. They also mentioned the
tradition prevalent in the region about Ashoka’s attempt to dig the Ramgrama
stupa and how it was saved after his argument with one Naga King from the
nearby pond who used to worship it and thus becoming the only stupa not getting
damaged by him. In Chinese accounts too, the argument which the Naga King gave
to Ashoka is the same which he gave to dissuade the holy Sonuttara from
removing the relics and taking it to Ceylon. Cunningham after his research
concluded that a river was purposely introduced in the place of a pond by
Ceylonese tradition so that they can prove the transfer of relics from
Ramagrama to Ocean and from there to them and hence genuineness to the stupa
built at Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka. Based on all these arguments, the capital
of Koliyas ‘Ramagrama’ was identified by Cunningham as Deokali - a city between
Kapilvastu and Kusinagara, Rampur-Deoria by Sir Karlail, Ramgadh Taal of
Gorakhpur by Dr. Rajbali Pandey, Dharmauli by Sir Smith and Vanarsinha village
of Nautanwa in Maharajganj district by T.M.B. Buddhamitra [23].
Similar to other republics, the Koliyas too had their assembly to take decisions
on various social and political issues. According to Kunala Jataka, the members
of the Koliya assembly were known as Rajas and sometimes as Maharajas. The main
occupation of the tribe was agriculture. They were frequently engaged in war
with the Shakyas over the distribution of water from Rohini for agricultural
purpose. Buddha had to intervene sometimes to calm the anger between both
tribes. Once when Buddha intervened to stop the fighting, he was greeted by all
the Kings from both sides. Buddha questioned the maharajas (two chiefs of each
side) and at the end settled the dispute by showing the futility of shedding
the precious blood of Kshatriyas for some water. The tribe had police force who
wore a distinguishing head dress with a drooping crest (Lambaculakabhata). They
had a bad reputation for their practice of violence and extortion [22]. Till the time of Fa-Xian, mass scale migration of the Koliyas
took place towards Kumaon and Kathmandu region of Nepal [24]. The remaining
Koliyas aligned with the Mallas of Kusinara and Pava due to their similar
socio-political orientation as described by Fa-xian. As Koliyas belonged to the
Australoid race with Mongoloid trait and were accepted by some Indo-Aryan
warrior populations such as by certain section of the Shakyas, Mallas and
Mauryas, it is easy to see large Dravidian-Mongoloid traits in present time in
certain communities living in the same area and having the title of Shakya,
Malla-Sainthwar and Maurya.
2.6 Mauryas of Pipphalivana - click here to read
References:
[14] Thapar, R. (1978). Ancient Indian Social
History: Some interpretations, pp. 273-274. New Delhi: Orient Longman.
[15] Law, B. C. (2005). Ksatriya Clans in
Buddhist India, p. 31. New Delhi: Ajay Book Service.
[16] Dharmapala, A. (2002). The Maha Bodhi, p.
18. India: Maha-Bodhi Society.
[17] Sharma, J. P. (1968). Republics in Ancient
India, pp. 191-192. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
[18] Buddhamitra, T. M. B. (1999).
Bhagwan Buddha ke samkalin anuyayi tatha Buddha Kendra, pp. 23-62. Gorakhpur:
Rahul Sankrityayan Sansthan
[19] Singh, U. (2008). A history of Ancient
and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to 12th Century p. 266. India: Dorling Kindersley.
[20] Holt, J. C. (2004). The Buddhist Vishnu:
Religious transformation, politics and culture, pp. 136-137. New Delhi: Motilal
Banarsidass.
[21] Malalsekera, G. P. (2003). Dictionary of
Pali Proper Names, p. 952. New Delhi: Asian educational Services.
[22] Malalsekera, G. P. (2003). Dictionary of
Pali Proper Names, p. 690. New Delhi: Asian educational Services.
[23] Buddhamitra, T. M. B.
(1999). Bhagwan Buddha ke samkalin anuyayi tatha Buddha Kendra, pp. 201-206.
Gorakhpur: Rahul Sankrityayan Sansthan
[24] Joshi, S. L. (1993). Nepal under Amsuvarma
golden period, p. 108. New Delhi: Anmol.