Shakyamuni Buddha, the most famous of the Shakyas. Seated stucco from the Chinese Tang Dynasty, Hebei province. Shakya (Sanskrit: Śākya, Devanagari Pāli: Sākya) is a Suryavanshi [1] Kshatriya [2] clan of Hindu religion. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word śakya which means capable, able. The Genealogy of Shakyas is found in Book IV of Vishnu Purana,[3] the Shrimad Bhagavatam [4] and the Brahma Purana.[5] The Śākyas formed an independent republican state, known as Sakya Gaṇa- rājya. The Śākya capital was Kapilavastu (Pāli: Kapilavatthu) present-day Nepal, lies near to the border of present-day Uttar Pradesh state of India.[6] This system of administration is adopted by the Constitution of India which identifies India as a republican state or Ganatantra (republic). The most famous Shakya was the prince Siddhartha Shakya (5th century BCE) who was the founder of Buddhism and came to be known as Gautama Buddha. Siddhartha was the son of Suddhodana. Suddodhana was the elected leader of Shakya Republic. As Gautama Buddha founded a new religion and abdicted the throne, so the lineage continued with his son Rahula. According to Garuda Purana [7] (1.86.10-11), Buddha (Siddhartha Shakya) was the ninth avatar of Vishnu; Rama and Krishna were seventh and eighth avatars respectively. History The accounts of the Purāṇas Descendants of Kusha, son of Lord Rama. (Bhagavata Purana) Descendants of Kusha (..continued).(Bhagavata Purana). King Shakyas son was Shuddhodhana. Shuddhodhana son was Siddhartha Shakya (Gautam Buddha), but since he abdicted the throne, the lineage continued with his son Langala (Rahula). Sumitra was the last ruler of the solar dynasty The Genealogy of Shakyas is found in Book IV of Vishnu Purana,[8] the Shrimad Bhagavatam [4] and the Brahma Purana.[9] King Shakya was one of the last descendants of Ikshvaku dynasty,commonly known as Suryavansha. Rama was one of the earlier descendants of Ikshvaku. Other well known descendants include Satyavarta, Harishchandra, Bhagiratha, Raghu (after whom this dynasty also came to be known as Raghuvansha), Dasharatha father of Rama etc. Chapter 1 of Vishnupurana mentions that Brahma created Daksha out of his thumb. Daksha had a daughter Aditi, who was mother of Sun. From the Sun was born Manu. Since the Sun-god was Manus father, his lineage came to be known as the Suryavansha (the descendants of Sun). Manu had many sons of whom 50 perished quarelling with one another. Ten sons survived, one of whom was Ikshvaku. Also according to Garuda Purana (1.86.10-11),[10] Buddha is the ninth avatar of Vishnu; Rama and Krishna were seventh and eighth avatars respectively. The ten avatars of Vishnu are collectively known as the Dasavatara (a Sanskrit compound meaning ten avatars). 1. Matsya, the fish-avatar who saved Manu – the progeniter of mankind from the great deluge and rescued the Vedic scriptures by killing a demon. Story can be found in the Matsya Purana. 2. Kurma, the tortoise- avatar, who helped in the Samudra manthan – the churning of the ocean. Story can be found in the Kurma Purana. 3. Varaha, the boar-avatar, who rescued the earth from the ocean, by killing her kidnapper-demon Hiranyaksha. Story can be found in the Varaha Purana. 4. Narasimha, the half man- half lion avatar, who killed the tyrant demon-king Hiranyakashipu, to rescue the demons son Prahlada, who was a Vishnu-devotee 5. Vamana, the dwarf- avatar, who subdued the king Maha Bali. Story can be found in the Vamana Purana. 6. Parashurama, sage with the axe who killed the thousand-armed king Kartavirya Arjuna 7. Rama, the king of Ayodhya and the hero of the Hindu epic Ramayana 8. Krishna, the king of Dwarka, a central character in the Bhagavata Purana and the Mahabharata and reciter of Bhagavad Gita. 9. Buddha, also known as Gautam Buddha, the enlightened one. He was born as Siddharth Shakya, the crown prince of the Kapilavastu, to King Suddhodana and Maya. 10. Kalki (Eternity, or time, or The Destroyer of foulness), who is expected to appear at the end of Kali Yuga. Story can be found in the Kalki Purana. The accounts of Buddhist texts The Śākyas are mentioned in later Buddhist texts as well including the Mahāvastu (c. late 2nd century BCE), Mahāvaṃsa and Sumaṅgalavilāsinī (c. 5th century CE), mostly in the accounts of the birth of the Buddha, as a part of the Adichchabandhus (kinsmen of the sun)[11] or the Ādichchas (solar race) and as descendants of the legendary king Ikṣvāku (Pāli: Okkāka) The Buddhist text Mahavamsa (II, 1-24), traces the origin of the Sakyas (Śākyas) to king Okkaka (Ikshvaku) and gives their genealogy from Mahasammata, an ancestor of Okkaka. This list comprises the names of a number of prominent kings of the Ikshvaku dynasty, which include Mandhata and Sagara.[11] According to this text, Okkamukha was the eldest son of Okkaka. Sivisamjaya and Sihassara were the son and grandson of Okkamukha. King Sihassara had eighty-two thousand sons and grandsons, who were together known as the Sakyas. The youngest son of Sihassara was Jayasena. Jayasena had a son, Sihahanu, and a daughter, Yashodhara (not to be confused with prince Siddharthas wife), who was married to Devadahasakka. Devadahasakka had two daughters, Anjana and Kaccana. Sihahanu married Kaccana, and they had five sons and two daughters; Suddhodana was one of them. Suddhodana had two queens, Maya and Prajapati, both daughters of Anjana. Siddhartha (Gautama Buddha) was the son of Suddhodana and Maya. Rahula was the son of Siddhartha and Yashodara (also known as Bhaddakaccana), daughter of Suppabuddha and granddaughter of Anjana. [12][13] Origin of Maurya Dynasty Indian National Emblem Details Armiger Republic of India Adopted 26 January 1950 Motto Satyameva Jayate Truth Alone Triumphs Illustration of the Ashoka Chakra, as depicted on the National flag of the Republic of India. The ancient Buddhist texts Mahavamsa and Jain literature Punyashrava Katha Kosh, trace the origin of Mauryas from the Shakya Dynasty. Shakyas considered themselves as the purest race. To protect their race they married only within their community. So when Prasenjit king of Kosala asked to marry a Shakyan princess, they gave him a slave girl instead. Son of Prasenjit and the slave girl was Virudhaka. When Virudhaka came to know about this he was ashamed and wanted to take revenge. He attacked the Shakya empire, Kapilvastu. Shakyans were killed in masses. Some fled from Kapilvastu to a place named Pipphalvana and adopted a fake title Maurya probably because of the large number of peacocks in that area who were considered sacred. Mauryas of Pippalivahana are one of the groups to possess the remains of Gautama Buddha. As the history goes, Chandragupta Maurya (340 BC – 298 BC) overthrew the ruling Nanda Dynasty and established the Maurya Empire. Later his grandson emperor Ashoka (304–232 BCE) expanded the Maurya Empire and made it the largest empire in the Indian history. The Nanda Empire at its greatest extent under Dhana Nanda c. 323 BCE. The Maurya Empire when it was first founded by Chandragupta Maurya c. 320 BCE, after conquering the Nanda Empire when he was only about 20 years old. Chandragupta extended the borders of the Maurya Empire towards Seleucid Persia after defeating Seleucus c. 305 BCE.[14] Chandragupta extended the borders of the empire southward into the Deccan Plateau c. 300 BCE.[15] Ashoka the Great extended into Kalinga during the Kalinga War c. 265 BCE, and established superiority over the southern kingdoms. The Emblem of India is an adaptation of the Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath, preserved in the Sarnath Museum. Emperor Ashoka the Great, guided by his first wife, Samragyi (Empress) Vidisha Devi, who was a Buddhist, erected the capital to mark the spot where Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma and where the Buddhist Sangha was founded. Forming an integral part of the emblem is the motto inscribed below the abacus in Devanagari script: Satyameva jayate Triumphs).[16] This is a quote from Mundaka Upanishad,[17] the concluding part of the sacred Hindu Vedas. This National Emblem was adopted on 26 January 1950, the day that India became a republic.[18] Shakya administration According to the Mahavastu and the Lalitavistara, the seat of the Shakya administration was the saṃsthāgāra (Pali:santhāgāra) (assembly hall) at Kapilavastu. A new building for the Shakya samsthagara was constructed at the time of Gautama Buddha, which was inaugurated by him. The highest administrative authority was the sidharth , comprising 500 members, which met in the samsthagara to transact any important business. The Shakya Parishad was headed by an elected raja, who presided over the meetings. [11] The Śākyas formed an independent republican state, known as Shakya Ganarajya, at the foothills of the Himālayas. The Śākya capital was Kapilavastu (Pāli: Kapilavatthu). This system of administration is adopted by Constitution of India which identifies India as a republican state or Ganatantra (republic). The Buddhist literature Mahabagga mentions that: Gaṇa pūrkovā bhavissāmīti It indicates that there was an officer who used to see the number of ganas and their koram in the Rajasabha (state assembly). During Buddhist period, the Buddhist books like Pali- pitaka, Majjhamnikaya, Mahabagga, Avadana- shataka have mentioned ganas and sanghas many times. During Buddhas period there were 116 republics or ganasanghas in India. In Buddhist times, Gaṇas were assemblies of the Sanghas, early democratic republics known as Gaṇa- rājyas, literally rule of the assembly, a term paralleling demo-kratia or soviet republic. The term was revived in Bhārata Gaṇarājya, the official name of the Republic of India. Annexation by Kosala Vidaḍūbha, 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.[19] [20] Emperor Abhiraja Shakya: The Kingdom of Burma Kingdom of Tagaung c. 1st century CE 1050s Capital Tag Languages Pyu, Religion Bud Bra Government Mon Historical era Clas - Founding of Kingdom c. 1 - Fall of Kingdom c. 1 The Shakyas, under the leadership of Abhiraja of Kapilavastu, migrated to Burma and founded a Hindu kingdom that survived for 30 generations.[21] Abhiyaza (Burmese ; d. 825 BCE) was the legendary founder of the Kingdom of Tagaung, and that of Burmese monarchy, according to the 19th- century chronicle Hmannan Yazawin. Around the mid-9th century BCE, Kosala went to war with the neighboring kingdom of Panchala The cause of war was that the king of Panchala had asked the king of Kosala for his daughters hand in marriage, and was rudely refused. The Panchala king conquered the Kosala kingdom, and the ruling clan of Kosala dispersed in three directions. One of them was Abhiyaza who with a group of his loyal followers trekked a long mountainous route all the way to present- day northern Burma, and founded a kingdom at Tagaung in 850 BCE.[22][23] Migration to Kathmandu (Nepal) Itumbahal, one of the Shakya monasteries in Kathmandu After the annexation of Kapilavastu by Virudhaka, the remaining Shakyas fled northward to the hills, and settled in western Nepal. In order to hide from persecution, they took the title of Koliya And Moriya. When they learned of the forest monastery in Sankhu established during the time of Buddha, they migrated to Kathmandu Valley under the Kirats. Later, they established two settlements in Yembu and Yengal. In Yengal, they renovated the monasteries of Manjupattan. By Licchavi era, Yembu and Yengal were called Koligram and Dakshin Koligram respectively. They established various monasteries in both settlements, and retook the title of Shakyas in the late Licchavi era. Various monastic traditions are still followed to date in many of these monasteries. See also
Posted on: Sun, 17 Nov 2013 13:22:48 +0000
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