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Concept
Shakya
Summary
Shakya (Pāḷi: Sakya; शाक्य) was an ancient eastern sub-Himalayan ethnicity and clan of north-eastern region of the Indian subcontinent, whose existence is attested during the Iron Age. The Shakyas were organised into a gaṇasaṅgha (an aristocratic oligarchic republic), also known as the Shakya Republic. The Shakyas were on the periphery, both geographically and culturally, of the eastern Gangetic plain in the Greater Magadha cultural region.
The Shakyas lived along the foothills of the Himālaya mountains, with their neighbours to the west and south being the kingdom of Kosala, their neighbours to the east across the Rohiṇī river being the related Koliya tribe, while on the north-east they bordered on the Mallakas of Kusinārā. To the north, the territory of the Shakyas stretched into the Himālayas until the forested regions of the mountains, which formed their northern border.
The capital of the Shakyas was the city of Kapilavastu.
The name of the Shakyas is attested primarily in the Pāli forms Sakya and Sakka, and the Sanskrit form Śākya.
The Shakyas' name was derived from the Sanskrit root śak (शक्) (śaknoti (शक्नोति), more rarely śakyati (शक्यति) or śakyate (शक्यते)) meaning "to be able," "worthy," "possible," or "practicable." The name of the Shakyas was also derived from the name of the śaka or sāka tree, which Bryan Levman has identified with either the teak or sāla tree, which is ultimately related to word śākhā (शाखा), meaning ‘branch,’ and was connected to the Shakyas' practice of worshipping the śaka or sāka tree.
The Shakyas were an eastern sub-Himalayan ethnic group on the periphery, both geographically and culturally, of the eastern Gangetic plain in the Greater Magadha cultural region. The Shakyas were of ‘mixed origin’ (saṃkīrṇa-yonayaḥ) of Indo-Aryan and Munda descent, with the former group forming a minority. The Shakyas were closely related to their eastern neighbours, the Koliya tribe, with whom they intermarried.
Official source
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