Moriya (tribe)
Moriya | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
c. 7th century BCE–c. 5th century BCE | |||||||
Capital | Pipphalivana | ||||||
Common languages | Prakrit Sanskrit | ||||||
Religion | Historical Vedic religion Buddhism Jainism | ||||||
Government | Republic | ||||||
Rājā | |||||||
Historical era | Iron Age | ||||||
• Established | c. 7th century BCE | ||||||
• Conquered by Ajātasattu of Magadha c. 468 BCE | c. 5th century BCE | ||||||
| |||||||
Today part of | India Nepal |
Moriya (Pāli: Moriya) was an ancient Indo-Aryan tribe of northeastern South Asia whose existence is attested during the Iron Age. The Moriyas were organised into a gaṇasaṅgha (an aristocratic oligarchic republic), presently referred to as the Moriya Republic.[1][2]
Location
The Moriyas lived to the northeast of Kosala, from which they were separated by the Anomā or Rāptī river. The Moriyas' western neighbours were the Koliyas, while the Mallakas lived to their east,[2] and the Sarayū river was their southern border.[1]
The capital of the Moriyas was Pipphalivana, which the 7th century CE Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang later referred to by the name of Nyagrodhavana.[1][2][3]
Name
The Moriyas originally obtained their name from the Mora (peacock) because the peacock was their totem.[1][2][3][4]
History
Like the other republican tribes neighbouring them, the Moriyas were an Indo-Aryan tribe in the eastern Gangetic plain in the Greater Magadha cultural region. [5][6]
After the death of the
King Ajātasattu of Magadha annexed The Moriyas soon after he had annexed the Vajjika League.[1]
Legacy
The Moriya tribesmen were probably the ancestors of the Maurya dynasty[2][3] who under the leadership of Chandragupta Maurya in the 4th century BCE seized power in Magadha. Chandragupta and his descendants would expand the Magadha empire so that it at one point ruled most of South Asia.[1] The ancestry of Chandragupta is occasionally connected with a possible Moriya king Chandravardhana Maurya.
Under the reign of Chandragupta's grandson
Political and social organisation
Republican institutions
The Moriyas were a kṣatriya tribe organised into a gaṇasaṅgha (an aristocratic oligarchic republic).[1]
The Assembly
Like the other gaṇasaṅghas, the ruling body of the Moriya republic was an Assembly of the kṣatriya elders who held the title of rājās (meaning "rulers"), whose sons were the rājakumāras ("princes").[1]
The Council
The Assembly met rarely, and the administration of the republic was instead in the hands of the Council, which was a smaller body of the Assembly composed of councillors selected from the membership of the Assembly. The Council met more often than the Assembly and was directly in charge of administering the republic.[1]
The Consul
The Moriya Assembly elected from among the rājās a chief who would be the head of the republic and run its administration with the help of the Council.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Sharma 1968, pp. 219–224.
- ^ a b c d e f Kapoor 2002.
- ^ a b c d Cunningham 1871, pp. 430–433.
- ^ Mookerji 2016.
- ^ Levman 2014, pp. 145–180.
- ^ Bronkhorst 2007, p. 6.
- ^ a b Fleet 1906, pp. 655–671.
Sources
- Bronkhorst, Johannes (2007). Bronkhorst, J. (2007). Greater Magadha: Studies in the Culture of Early India. Boston: Brill Publishers. ISBN 9789047419655.
- Cunningham, Alexander (1871). The Ancient Geography of India: I. The Buddhist Period, Including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang. London: Trübner and Company. pp. 430–433.
- .
- Kapoor, Subodh (2002). Encyclopaedia of Ancient Indian Geography. Vol. 2. New Delhi: Cosmo Publications. ISBN 978-8177552997.
- Levman, Bryan Geoffrey (2014). "Cultural Remnants of the Indigenous Peoples in the Buddhist Scriptures". Buddhist Studies Review. 30 (2): 145–180. .
- ISBN 8120804333.
- Sharma, Jagdish Prasad (1968). Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.-500 B.C. Leiden: Brill Publishers. ISBN 978-9004020153.