Buddha Gautama U. Ru A Sons, Calcutta. SOME KSAittiYA TRIBES or ANCIENT INDIA BY BIMAT.A CHARAN LAW, PH.D.,-M.A., B.L., FELLOW, ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY, lOHDON, ' > Author of Kxatnya Clans in Buddhist India,' Historic** Gleanings t The Lift and Work of Buddhtghosa,' The Buddhist Conception of Spirits,' Dttignatio* of Human Types,' ' Ancient Mid-Indian Ksatriya Tribes, Vol. /,' etc., etc. WITH A FOREWORD BY A. BERRIEDALE KEITH, D.C.L., D.LiXT., BAR-AT-IyAW, RSGIUS PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT AND COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY ^ OP EDINBURGH. approved for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Cakutta, 1923. CALCtJTTA : PUBUSHBD BY THE ^UVRSITY OF CALCUTTA AND PRINTED AT THE BAPTIST MISSION PRESS. 1924, TO THE SACRED MEMORY OF MY GRANDFATHER, THE LATE BABU JAYGOBINDA LAW, I.E., AS A TOKEN OF PROFOUND REVERENCE AND ADMIRATION. FOREWORD ANCIENT INDIA, though she passed tudes of fortune, has Left us no historian of her national life. Brahmins and Buddhists alike, intent on the satisfaction of the desire to attain that insight which delivers from the burden of empirical existence, could see nothing of sufficient value in the passing events of life to render them willing to record them or to seek to interpret their significance, while princesand their followers found an adequate substitute for historic narrations in the famous legends of the epics. Hence it follows that, if with the curiosity of the modern world we seek to reconstruct the history of India in the centuries immediately preceding and following the Christian era, we are compelled to build up a structure by the careful collection and fitting together of every available fragment of evidence. Much has indeed already been accomplished, but what has been achieved has only brought into greater prominence the innumerable lacunae in our information, and the necessity of persistent and detailed work before it will be possible to feel any assurance as to the soundness of our reconstruction of early Indian history. The most pressing need at the present day is the detailed of of Indian investigation carefully chosen aspects history^ and it was a happy thought of Dr. Bimala Charan Law to select for investigation the history of certain Ksatriya^ribes of ancient India. Careful collections of facts, such as are contained in this work, form the only sound basis of further VI FOREWORD research, and the future historian of India will find his task substantially furthered both by the wide knowledge and by the sound judgment of the author. Many things are obscure in the history of these tribes, and it is of special value to have the whole of the facts regarding them set out, without parti pris, in a spirit of scientific research. There is much here recorded that is of direct historical of interest : it is a striking instance the continuity of Indian history that the great Emperor Samudragupta should boast himself son of a daughter of Licchavis, a tribe famous in the Buddha's time, nine centuries earlier. But there is also material which appeals to the student of Indian politics and of social development. The legendary origin of the Licchavis as of the Sakyas presents us with the marriage of brother and sister, seen also in the Jataka version of the tale of Rama and Sits. We ate, of course, here brought into contact with a problem which is debated in the hymn of Yama and Yarn! in the Rgveda, while in the "Aitareya Brahmana the wise Narada insists that the need of offspring incest that real facts lie at the back of the may justify ; legends is attested by the custom of sister-marriage enjoined, if not by Zoroaster, at any rate in the later Avesta. It is curious that Buddhism appears to have found the practice less repellent than the priestly authors of the Rgveda. "Another relic of primitive practice is found in the usage of to their the late Dr. Vincent Smith the Licchavis expose dead ; deduqpd hence that they were of Tibetan origin, and from this it is an easy step to claim that the Buddha and his doc- trine are un-Aryan; a similar, but independent, train of FOREWORD Vii reasoning in the case of Iran has stigmatised the Magi as aboriginal because they approved a like practice. But we must doubtless, with Dr. Law, disabuse ourselves of any over-estimation of the civilisation of the primitive Aryans, and accept the patent fact that they brought with them to Iran and India habits in no way superior to those of other nomad tribes. A. BBRRIBDALE KEITH. THB UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, November, 1923. PREFACE TH& present treatise was submitted as a tiSSU""** 'the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Calcutta. " A year ago I wrote a work on Ksatriya Clans in Buddhist India" which has been well received by scholars. This treatise is an improvement of the first and I have added four new chapters to it. The object of the entire volume is to present a narrative of the history, manners, customs, etc., of some Ksatriya tribes of ancient India. Scholars like Rhys Davids, Hoernle, Macdonell, Keith, Cunningham and others have no doubt from time to time supplied valuable information regarding some of these tribes but a comprehensive and systematic account of the Ksatriya tribes who play such an important part in the history of Pre-Mauryan India is, I believe, presented for the first time in the following pages. I venture to think that I have col- lected all available information from the works of my prede- cessors but this forms only an infinitesimal part of my work. The major portion of the present volume embodies the results of my own researches, I have utilised original works, Sanskrit, Pali, and Prakrit such as the Vedas, the Upani$ads, the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, the Puranas, the NikSyas, the Jfitakas, the Pali commentaries, the Kalpa Sutra, the Sdtrakritanga, etc. The portions for which I am indebted to previous writers have ca refully been indicat- ed in the footnotes. The rest constitutes my original work. For instance, in the first section of the first chapter the X PREFACE discussion regarding the name, lyicchavi, and its significance, is entirely new and original. In the second section of the first a chapter full and systematic account of the capital of the Licchavis is given for the first time. Buddhaghosa's knowledge of the MahSvana has first been pointed out by me. The third section of the first chapter treats of the manners and customs of the Ucchavis. In it I have out for the first time that were not pointed they vegetarians ; were fond of they manly pastimes ; they had a passion for hunting, regard for elders, and love of education. They knew something about construction of palaces and shrines, etc. I have described their matrimonial rites which have not been noticed by anybody else. The fourth section of the same chapter is entirely new and original and the major portion of the remaining chapters also may claim the same merit. In a work of the kind that I have undertaken, one has got to rely mainly, if not entirely, on literary tradition. I have spared no pains to make full use of the materials that may be gathered from our ancient literature; at the same time I have not overlooked the fact that much of this tradition is late and of little value for historical purposes. I have tried to separate legends from authentic history and have noticed the difference between the two in the marginal notes. But the task is beset with difficulties and it is not always easy to draw the dividing line. It must not, however, be thought that my work is based wholly on literary evidence. I have made use of coins and inscriptions so far as they are useful for my purpose. PREFACE Xi For some of the photographs and the map and for kind permission to reproduce them in this volume, my thanks are due to the Director-General of Archaeology of India, Lionel Heath Esqr., Curator, Central Museum, Lahore, Mr. Rama- prasad Chanda, B.A., F.A.S.B., Superintendent, Archaeolo- gical Section, Indian Museum, Calcutta, and the Superinten- dent of the Archaeological Survey, Frontier Circle. I shall be failing in my duty if I do not acknowledge my indebted- ness to my friend, Babu Puran Chand Nahar, M.A., B.I*., Vakil. High Court, Calcutta, for the photograph of Varddha- mana MahSvIra so kindly lent to me for reproduction in this volume. I find no word to express my deep gratitude to the late lamented Sir Asutosh Mookerjee whose encouragement was a source of inspiration to me in my literary endeavours, par- ticularly in the field of Ancient Indian history. Dr. A. Berriedale Keith, D.C.L., D.Litt., Barrister-at- Law, Regius Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Phil- ology, University of Edinburgh, has laid me under a great debt of obligation by writing a foreword to my humble treatise. BIMALA CHARAN 24, SUKBA'S ST., CALCUTTA, November, 1924. CONTENTS CHAPTER VI. The Bulls The Koliyas The Moriyas The Bhaggas The Kala- mas .. .. .. .. ..200 CHAPTER VII. The Madras .. .. .. .. 214 CHAPTER VIII. The . Kambojas . , . 230 CHAPTER IX. The Gandhfiras . , . 252 Index .. .. .. .. .. ..287 ILLUSTRATIONS Mate PAGE 1. Buddha Gautama (Reproduced from Griffith's Ajanta) Frontispiece 2. Ajttaftatru, King of Magadha .. .. 9 3. Mahftvlra, the last Tlrthankara of the Jains .. n 4. RajSVi&lkagarh .. .. .. 50 5. The Gijjhakata .. .. .. .. 109 6. Prasenajit, King of Koftala . no 7. Mote-Hall of the Gods and the Wheel of Law . 144 8.