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THE BULIS—THE KOLIYAS, ETC.
293 Bhargas are associated with the Vatsas, as well as with the Nisādas (II, 30, 10-11). The Harivamśa tradition describes the Bharga and the Vatsa as the two sons of Pratardana. Attention may also be drawn here to the mention of a people called 'Bhārgavas' in the Purāṇas, e.g. in the Mārkandeya Purāņa (LVII, 43). The Bhārgavas are also mentioned in the Bhīşmaparvan (IX, 358) where the Bhargas also find mention (cf. Pargiter, Mārk. P., pp. 310 note and 327-8, note). It is likely that the Bhaggas, Bhargas and Bhārgavas are one and the same people.
The epic tradition of the close association of the Bhargas with the Vatsas is corroborated by the Buddhist tradition as recorded in the Jātakas. The Dhonasākha Jātaka (No. 353) states that Prince Bodhi, son of Udayana, king of the Vatsas, had his dwellingplace on the Sumsumāra Hill, where he built a palace called Kokanada. It seems that in Udayana's time (i.e. the sixth century B.C.), the Bhagga State was under the suzerainty of the Vatsa king:
The Bhaggas of the Sumsumāra Hill are casually referred to in some suttas of the Majjhima and Samyutta Nikāyas. There is no doubt that the Sumsumāra Hill, their capital, was used as a fort. It was situated in a deer park at Bhesakaļāvana. In the lifetime of the Buddha, Prince Bodhi, son of Udena (Udayana), ruled over the Bhaggas, apparently as his father's Viceroy. He became a follower of the Buddha.2 When the Buddha was amongst the Bhaggas, the householder Nakulapitā came to him and asked for instruction, afterwards becoming one of the devotees of the Master at Bhesakaļāvana.3 The Bhagga country lay between Vesālī and Sāvatthi. In the Apadāna,5 the Bhaggas are mentioned with the Kārūsas.
The social customs, religious beliefs, laws and administrative systems of these minor clans were in all likelihood the same as, or similar to, those of the more important tribes dealt with in other chapters.
1 Majjhima Nikaya, Vol. I, pp. 332-8; Vol. II, Pt. I, pp. 9I-7; Samyutta Nikāya, Pt. III, pp. 1-5; Pt. IV, p. 116.
z Bodhirājakumāra Sutta, Majjhima Nikāya, Vol. II, p. 91; Fausböll, Jātaka, Vol. III, p. 157.
3 Samyutta Nikāya, Pt. III, pp. 1-5.
4 Malalasekera, Dictionary of Pali Proper Names, s.v. Bhaggā. The Cambridge History of India (I, 175) says that the Bhaggas were members of the Vajjian confederacy.
5 II, 359. Other references to the clan are: Anguttara Nikāya, II, 61; IV, 85, etc.; Vinaya Pitaka, II, 127; IV, 115, 198; V, 145; Theragathā Comm., I, 70. See also B. C. Law, Countries and Peoples of India (Epic and Pauranic sources), A.B.O.R.I., Vol. XVII, Pt. III, April, 1936.
