Book Title: Tribes In Ancient India
Author(s): Bimla Charn Law
Publisher: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute

Previous | Next

Page 276
________________ CHAPTER L THE MALLAS The Mallas were a powerful people of E. India at the time of Gautama Buddha, and are often mentioned in Buddhist and Jaina works. The country of the Mallas is spoken of in many passages of a Buddhist work as one of the sixteen 'great countries' (Mahājanapadas).1 It is also mentioned in the Sabhāparvan of the Mahābhārata, where we are told that the second Pāndava, Bhimasena, during his expedition to E. India, conquered the chief of the Mallas, besides the country of Gopālakaksa and the northern Kośala territories. 2 The Bhīşmaparvan mentions the Mallas along with such E. Indian peoples as the Angas, the Vangas and the Kalingas.3 At the time of which we are speaking, the Mallas appear to have been divided into two confederacies, 'one with headquarters at Pāvā, and the other with headquarters at Kuśīnārā', as we see from the Mahāparinibbāna Suttanta. There is reason to believe that in the Buddha's time Kuśīnārā was not a city of the first rank, like Rājagrha, Vaiśālī, or Srāvasti. When the Lord expressed to Ananda his desire to die at Kuśīnārā, Ānanda said to him, 'Let not the Exalted One die in this little wattle-and-daub town, in this town in the midst of the jungle, in this branch township.... The fact that the Buddha hastened to Kuśīnārā from Pāvā during his last illness indicates that the distance between the two towns was not great; but the description in the Mahāparinibbāna Suttanta does not enable us to make any accurate estimate. Kuśīnārā has been identified by Cunningham with the village of Kāsiā in the east of the Gorakhpur district,5 and this view has recently been strengthened by the fact that in the stūpa behind the Nirvāņa temple, near this village, a copperplate has been discovered, bearing the inscription (parini)rvāņa-caitya-tāmra-patta', or 'the copperplate of the parinirvāṇa-caitya'. This identification appears to be correct, although V. A. Smith would prefer to place Kuśīnārā in Nepal, beyond the first range of hills.6 Rhys Davids expresses the opinion 1 Anguttara Nikāya, Vol. IV, P. 252. 2 Vangavāsi Ed., Vol. I, p. 241; Sabhāparvan, Chap. XXX, śl. 3. 3 Ibid., Bhīşmaparvan, Chap. IX, śl. 46. 4 Digha Nikaya, Vol. II, p. I65. 5 Ancient Geography of India, pp. 430-3. 6 Early History of India, 4th Ed., p. 167, f.n. 5; J.R.A.S., 1913, p. 152. 17

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449