Koliya (
Pāli
Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism ...
: ) was an ancient
Indo-Aryan clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship
and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...
of north-eastern
South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...
whose existence is attested during the
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
. The Koliyas were organised into a
(an
aristocratic
Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'.
At the time of the word's ...
oligarchic
Oligarchy (; ) is a conceptual form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, r ...
republic
A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
), presently referred to as the Koliya Republic.
Location
The territory of the Koliyas was a thin strip of land spanning from the river
Sarayū to the
Himālayan hills in the north. The
Rohiṇī river was the western border of the Koliyas, with their neighbours to the north-west being the
Sakya
The ''Sakya'' (, 'pale earth') school is one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the others being the Nyingma, Kagyu, and Gelug. It is one of the Red Hat Orders along with the Nyingma and Kagyu.
Origins
Virūpa, 16th century. It depic ...
s. In the south-west, the river
Anomā or
Rāptī separated the Koliyas from the kingdom of Kosala, to the east their neighbours were the
Moriyas, and to their north-east they bordered on the
Mallakas of
Kusinārā
Kushinagar ( Hindustani: or ; Pali: ; Sanskrit: ) is a town in the Kushinagar district in Uttar Pradesh, India. It is an important and popular Buddhist pilgrimage site, where Buddhists believe Gautama Buddha attained ''parinirvana''.
Etymo ...
.
The capital of the Koliyas was
Rāmagāma, and one of their other settlements was
Devadaha
Devdaha (Deva Daha, देवदह) is a municipality in Rupandehi District of Nepal, the ancient capital of Koliya Kingdom, located 7 km east of Lumbini and east of Butwal and shares a border with Nawalparasi district on the east si ...
.
Name
The name of the tribe is uniformly attested under the
Pāli
Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism ...
form . The Koliyas originally obtained this name from the (
jujube
Jujube (), sometimes jujuba, known by the scientific name ''Ziziphus jujuba'' and also called red date, Chinese date, and Chinese jujube, is a species in the genus ''Ziziphus'' in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae.
Description
It is a smal ...
) tree because they lived in a region where trees were abundant, and because the tree was their
totem
A totem (from oj, ᑑᑌᒼ, italics=no or ''doodem'') is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan system.
While ''the wo ...
.
History
The early history of the Koliyas is little-known, although it is certain that they were related to their western neighbours, the
Sakyas, with whom they intermarried.
By the sixth century BCE, the Koliyas, the
Sakya
The ''Sakya'' (, 'pale earth') school is one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the others being the Nyingma, Kagyu, and Gelug. It is one of the Red Hat Orders along with the Nyingma and Kagyu.
Origins
Virūpa, 16th century. It depic ...
s,
Moriyas, and
Mallaka lived between the territories of the Kauśalyas to the west and the Licchavikas and Vaidehas to the east, thus separating the
Vajjika League
The Vajjika (Pali, Pāli: ) or Vrijika (Sanskrit: ) League, Confederacy, or Sangha, also called simply Vajji (Pali, Pāli: ) or Vriji (Sanskrit: ), was an ancient Indo-Aryan peoples, Indo-Aryan tribal league which existed during the later Iron ...
from the Kosala kingdom.
The princess
Māyā, who was the daughter of a Koliya noble, was married to the Sakya
Suddhodana, who was one of the members of the ruling aristocratic oligarchy of the Sakyas. The son of Maya and Suddhodana was
Siddhartha Gautama
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...
, the historical Buddha and the founder of
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
.
During the life of the Buddha, an armed feud opposed the Sakyas and the Koliyas concerning the waters of the river
Rohiṇī, which formed the boundary between the two states and whose water was needed by both of them to irrigate their crops. The intervention of the Buddha finally put an end to these hostilities.
After the death of the Buddha, the Koliyas claimed from the Mallakas of
Kusinārā
Kushinagar ( Hindustani: or ; Pali: ; Sanskrit: ) is a town in the Kushinagar district in Uttar Pradesh, India. It is an important and popular Buddhist pilgrimage site, where Buddhists believe Gautama Buddha attained ''parinirvana''.
Etymo ...
a share of his relics, over which they built a
at their capital of
Rāmagāma.
Conquest by Kosala
Shortly after the Buddha's death, the Kauśalya king
Viḍūḍabha
Viḍūḍabha ( pi, विडूडभ ; sa, विरूढक ) was a king of Kosala during the lifetime of the Buddha.
Life
Early life
He was the son of Prasenajit and , the daughter of a Shakyan chief named by a slave girl .K ...
, who had overthrown his father
Pasenadi
Pasenadi ( pi, पसेनदि ; sa, प्रसेनजित् ; c. 6th century BCE) was an ruler of Kosala. Sāvatthī was his capital. He succeeded after . He was a prominent (lay follower) of Gautama Buddha, and built many Buddh ...
, invaded the Sakya and Koliya republics, seeking to conquer their territories because they had once been part of Kosala. Viḍūḍabha finally triumphed over the Sakyas and Koliyas and annexed their state after a long war with massive loss of lives on both sides. Details of this war were exaggerated by later Buddhist accounts, which claimed that Viḍūḍabha exterminated the Sakyas in retaliation for having given in marriage to his father the slave girl who became Viḍūḍabha's mother. In actuality, Viḍūḍabha's invasion of Sakya might instead have had similar motivations to the conquest of the
Vajjika League
The Vajjika (Pali, Pāli: ) or Vrijika (Sanskrit: ) League, Confederacy, or Sangha, also called simply Vajji (Pali, Pāli: ) or Vriji (Sanskrit: ), was an ancient Indo-Aryan peoples, Indo-Aryan tribal league which existed during the later Iron ...
by Viḍūḍabha's relative, the
Māgadhī king
Ajātasattu, who, because he was the son of a Vajjika princess, was therefore interested in the territory of his mother's homeland. The result of the Kauśalya invasion was that the Sakyas and Koliyas merely lost political importance after being annexed into Viḍūḍabha's kingdom. The Sakyas nevertheless soon disappeared as an ethnic group after their annexation, having become absorbed into the population of Kosala, with only a few displaced families maintaining the Sakya identity afterwards. The Koliyas likewise disappeared as a polity and as a tribe soon after their annexation.
The massive life losses incurred by Kosala during its conquest of Sakya and Koliya weakened it significantly enough that it was itself was soon annexed by its eastern neighbour, the kingdom of Magadha, and its king Viḍūḍabha was defeated and killed by the Māgadhī king Ajātasattu. Alternatively, the Koliyas might have been conquered by Ajātasattu directly after fighting against Magadha just like the Vajjika League did.
Social and political organisation
The Koliyas were organised into a
(an
aristocratic
Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'.
At the time of the word's ...
oligarchic
Oligarchy (; ) is a conceptual form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, r ...
republic
A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
). Like the Sakyas, the Koliyas were a
tribe, but unlike the Sakyas who belonged to the and
s, the Koliyas belonged to the .
Republican institutions
The Assembly
The Koliyas' governing body was a general Assembly of the heads of the
clans, who held the title of and of ("ruler"). The Koliya Assembly was small and consisted of a few hundred members. The sons of the s, who possessed the title of s ("princes of Koliya"), were also their s (Viceroys), and would hereditarily succeed their fathers upon their deaths.
The political system of the Koliyas was identical to that of the Sakyas, and, like the Sakyas and the other , the Koliya Assembly met in a
santhāgāra, the main of which was located at Rāmagāma. The judicial and legislative functions of the Assembly of the Koliyas were not distinctly separated, and it met to discuss important issues concerning public affairs, such as war, peace, and alliances. The Koliya Assembly deliberated on important issues, and it had a simple voting system through either raising hands or the use of wooden chips.
(Consul)
The Koliya Assembly elected as the head of the state a consul who had the title of ("great ruler") or ("Lord of Koliya"). The was in charge of administering the republic with the help of the Council.
Council
The Koliya Assembly met rarely, and it instead had an inner Council which met more often and was in charge of helping the administer the republic. The members of the Koliya Assembly held the title of s ("councillors"). The s formed a college which was directly in charge of public affairs of the republic.
Class society
The society of the Koliyas and Sakyas was a stratified one within which were present at least the aristocratic, land-owning, attendant, labourer, and serf classes.
Landholders
Similarly to the Sakyas, the Koliyas of Indo-Aryan origin who had participated in colonising the territory of the republic had the right to own land . These landholders were analogous to
mediaeval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
European
baron
Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...
s, and held the title of s, literally meaning "enjoyers (of the right to own land)," and used in the sense of "headmen."
Servants
The lower classes of Koliya society consisted of servants, in Pāli called s (meaning "labourers") and s (meaning "serfs"), who performed the labour in the farms.
The police
The Koliya Assembly possessed a body of peons or police who wore a headdress with a drooping crest.
References
Sources
*
{{Buddhism topics
Kshatriya communities
Disciples of Gautama Buddha
Family of Gautama Buddha
Gaṇa saṅghas