________________
290
TRIBES IN ANCIENT INDIA raised a stūpa over them in their city of Allakappa.1 Their territory was probably near Vethadīpa, for the king of Allakappa is mentioned 2 as being in intimate relationship with the king of Vethadīpa.
The Koliyas were one of the republican clans in the time of the Buddha, and owned two chief settlements—one at Rāmagāma and the other at Devadaha. The commentaries contain accounts of the origin of the Koliyas. For instance, the Sumangalavilāsinīs states that the eldest of the five daughters of Okkāka contracted leprosy (kuttharoga). Her four brothers, being afraid of infection, took her to a forest and there confined her in an underground chamber. Rāma, king of Benares, contracted the same complaint at this time, entered the forest, and cured himself by eating wild fruits and leaves. Hearing the voice of a woman one night, he discovered the princess in her underground chamber. He cured her by means of the fruits and leaves which had cured him, and then married her. He built a town in the forest. removing a big Kola tree in order to do so. Inasmuch as the town was built on the site of the Kola tree, it came to be called Kolanagara, and the king's descendants were known as Koliyas.
We find a variant of the story in the Mahāvastu, 4 which tells us that the daughter of a certain Sākya noble was attacked with leprosy. The physicians failed to cure her; sores appeared all over her body, and the people began to hate her. She was taken by her brothers in a palanquin to a spot close to the Himālayas. They dug out a subterranean room, and she was left there with plenty of food and water. They blocked up the entrance to the cave with planks, and put a large heap of dust in front of it, and then returned to Kapilavastu. After living in the stuffy room for some time, she resumed her former beauty, for the heat had cured her of leprosy. Now, not far from the cave lived a royal sage named Kola. While wandering about in the vicinity of his hermitage, Kola came to the cave where the Sākya girl lived, and saw a tiger scratching up the heap of dust with its feet. His curiosity was aroused; the sage drove away the tiger, removed the planks, and opened the door of the cave, revealing the Sākya girl. Seeing her exquisite beauty, the sage became very much attached to her, and took her along to his hermitage. Sixteen pairs of twin sons were born to the couple. When these sons were grown up, they were sent to Kapilavastu by their mother, who told them
1 Dĩgha Nikaya, II, p. 67.
2 Dhammapada Comm., I, I61. 3 Pt. I, pp. 260-2.
4 Vol. I, pp. 352-5. 5 A variant of Rāma; Kola also is stated to have been a king of Benares.
тов
