Shakya

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Śākya (Sanskrit) or Sakya (Pāli) is the name (derived from Sanskrit śakya, "capable, able") of an Indo-Aryan-speaking nation or janapada of the kṣatriya varṇa (the so-called "warrior caste"). The Śākyas formed independent tribes or kingdoms near the foothills of the Himālayas, north of the modern town of Gorakhpur. The Śākya capital was Kapilavastu (Pāli: Kapilavatthu).

The most famous Śākya was the Buddha, a member of the ruling Gautama (Pāli: Gotama) clan, who is also known as "Śākyamuni" (Pāli: Sakyamuni, "sage of the Śākya nation").

The Śākyas are mentioned in the accounts of the birth of the Buddha (e.g. Mahāvastu, c. end of 2nd century BCE) as part of the "solar race" – i.e., 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)

The Greeks, and many writers and scholars since, have connected them to the Scythians, or Śaka as they were known in India. Although this is disputed by the fact that the Śaka where not known in India before the 2nd century BCE, centuries after the elimination of the Śākyas; the connection may be because the name "Śākya" is a possible cognate with that of the Scythians, a result of their common Proto-Indo-Iranian ethnic or cultural identity.

External links

[Shakya coins]

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