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Shakya

Shakya: Encyclopedia - Shakya

The Shakya (Sanskrit shakya, "capable, able", also called Vajji or Lichchavi) were an janapada of Hindu kshatriyas (warrior caste) . The Shakyas formed more or less independent tribes or kingdoms near the foothills of the Himalayas, north of the modern town of Gorakhpur. The Shakya capital was Kapilavastu. The most famous Shakya was Siddartha Gautama, the Buddha, who is also known ...

Shakya

Shakya: Encyclopedia - Shakya

Shakya

The Shakya (Sanskrit shakya, "capable, able", also called Vajji or Lichchavi) were an janapada of Hindu kshatriyas (warrior caste) . The Shakyas formed more or less independent tribes or kingdoms near the foothills of the Himalayas, north of the modern town of Gorakhpur. The Shakya capital was Kapilavastu.

The most famous Shakya was Siddartha Gautama, the Buddha, who is also known as "Shakyamuni" ("sage of the Shakya clan").

The kshatriyas can broadly be divided into two. some dynasties claim descent from the sun. (suryavamsha). Other dynasties claim descent from the moon (chandravamsha). The sun was only one of the Hindu pantheon, equally revered by all branches.

The Shakyas are mentioned in the accounts of the birth of the Buddha (Mahāvastu, c. end of 2nd century BCE) as the "solar race":

"There lived once upon a time a king of the Shakyas, a scion of the solar race, whose name was Suddhodana. He was pure in conduct, and beloved of the Shakyas like the autumn moon. He had a wife, splendid, beautiful, and steadfast, who was called the Great Maya, from her resemblance to Maya the Goddess."