Sakya


Sakya

 

(also Shakya), an ancient Ksatriyan oligarchic republic and tribe in the Nepalese Terai. The city of Kapilavastu was the capital of the republic.

According to tradition, Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, belonged to the Sakya tribe; he is sometimes called Sakyamuni, or sage of the Sakya. Since his first followers were also Sakya and constituted the nucleus of the first Buddhist monastic community, the tribe’s name is sometimes used to refer to Buddhist monks in general.