Bhagga
Bhagga | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| c. 7th century BCE–c. 5th-4th century BCE | |||||||
.png) The Mahajanapadas in the post-Vedic period. Bhagga was located between the Ganges and the Yamuna, between Vatsa, Kasi, and Kosala. | |||||||
| Capital | Suṃsumāragiri | ||||||
| Common languages | Prakrit Sanskrit | ||||||
| Religion | Historical Vedic religion Buddhism Jainism | ||||||
| Government | Republic | ||||||
| Rājā | |||||||
| Historical era | Iron Age | ||||||
• Established | c. 7th century BCE | ||||||
• Conquered by Vatsa | c. 5th-4th century BCE | ||||||
| |||||||
| Today part of | India | ||||||
Bhagga (Template:Lang-pi Bhagga; Template:Lang-sa Bharga) was an ancient Indo-Aryan tribe of north-eastern South Asia whose existence is attested during the Iron Age. The Bhaggas were organised into a gaṇa sangha (an aristocratic oligarchic republic), presently referred to as the Bhagga Republic.[1]
Name
The name of the Bhaggas is the Pali form of the name of the Bharga (Template:Lang-sa) Indo-Aryan ethnic group mentioned in Sanskrit literature.[1]
Location
The Bhaggas lived between the Ganges and the Yamuna, in the near north of the Vatsa kingdom's capital of Kosāmbī, and to the west of the Kāsī kingdom's capital of Vārāṇasī. The northern neighbour of the Bhaggas was the kingdom of Kosala.[1]
The Bhaggas lived far from the other republican Indo-Aryan tribes such as the Licchavikas, Mallakas, Moriyas, Koliyas, and Sakyas, who were located between the Himalayas and the lower course of the Ganges, with the kingdoms of Kasi and Kosala separating Bhagga from these tribes.[1]
The capital of the Bhaggas was Suṃsumāragiri.[1]
History
By the time of the Buddha, the Bhaggas were dependencies of the kingdom of Vatsa, and therefore did not have sovereign rights concerning their external affairs and foreign policy although they were internally still organised as a republic. A prince of Vatsa lived in the Bhagga capital of Suṃsumāragiri, as a viceroy of the king of Vatsa, who was the suzerain of the Bhaggas.[1]
The Buddha visited Bhagga shortly after his Enlightenment, during the early phase of his preaching.[1]
The Bhaggas had already been assimilated into Vatsa under the rule of the latter's king Udayana, and they were annexed by that kingdom under his successor, around the time of the Buddha's death.[1]
The Bhaggas had stopped existing as an independent polity by the time of the Buddha, since they were not mentioned among the list of peoples who claimed a share of his relics.[1] Similarly, the Vaidehas and the Nāyas did not appear among the list of states claiming a share because they were dependencies of the Licchavikas without their own sovereignty, and therefore could not put forth their own claim while the Licchavikas, the Mallakas, and the Sakyas could claim shares.[2]
Political and social organisation
Republican institutions
The Bhaggas were a kshatriya tribe organised into a gaṇa sangha (an aristocratic oligarchic republic).[1]
The Samiti (Assembly)
Like the other gaṇa sanghas, the ruling body of the Bhagga republic was a Samiti (Assembly) of the kshatriya elders who held the title of rājās (meaning "chiefs").[3]
The Sabhā (Council)
The Samiti met rarely, and the administration of the republic was instead in the hands of the Sabhā (Council), which was a smaller body of the Samiti, whose members were elders elected from the assembly. The Sabhā met more often than the Samiti.[1]
The Consul
The Bhagga Samiti elected a consul rājā who presided over it and administered the republic with the help of the Sabhā.[1]
References
Sources
- Sharma, J. P. (1968). Republics in Ancient India, C. 1500 B.C.-500 B.C. Leiden, Netherlands: E. J. Brill. ISBN 978-9-004-02015-3.