Shakya
Shakya (Sanskrit:Śākya and Pāli:Sākiya) is the name (derived from Sanskrit śakya, capable, able[citation needed]) of an ancient janapada (realm) and its Indo-Aryan-speaking.[1] ruling clan. In Buddhist texts, the Śākyas are mentioned as a Kshatriya clan[2] The Śākyas formed an independent kingdom at the foothills of the Himālayas. The Śākya capital was Kapilavastu (Pāli: Kapilavatthu).
The most famous Śākya was Shakyamuni Buddha (Gautama Buddha), a member of the ruling Gautama (Pāli: Gotama) clan of Lumbini, who is also known as Śākyamuni (Pāli: Śakamuṇi, "sage of the Śaka nation").
History
The accounts of Buddhist texts
The Śākyas are mentioned in the accounts of the birth of the Buddha (Mahāvastu, c. late 2nd century BCE) as a part of the Ādichchas (solar race) and as descendants of the legendary king Ikṣvāku (Pāli: Okkāka):
There lived once upon a time a king of the Śākya, a scion of the solar race, whose name was Śuddhodana. 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 Māyā, from her resemblance to Māyā the Goddess.
— Buddhacarita of Aśvaghoṣa, I.1-2
Annexation by Kosala
Viḍūḍabha, the son of Pasenadi and Vāsavakhattiyā, the daughter of a Śākya named Mahānāma 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 Śākya territory, massacred them and annexed it.[3][4]
Current position
Shakyas are a high-caste group of Newar. All of them are Buddhists and perform high rituals of Buddhism. Many Vihars and Buddhist monuments are created or maintained by them. Most of them live in Kathmandu valley.
Notes
- ^ Kosambi D.D. (1988). The Culture and Civilisation of Ancient India in Historical Outline, New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House, ISBN 0 7069 4200 0, p.108
- ^ Thapar, R.(1978). Ancient Indian Social History, New Delhi: Orient Longman, ISBN 81 250 0808 X, p.117
- ^ Raychaudhuri H. (1972). Political History of Ancient India, Calcutta: University of Calcutta, pp.177-8
- ^ Kosambi D.D. (1988). The Culture and Civilsation of Ancient India in Historical Outline, New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House, ISBN 0 7069 4200 0, pp.128-9