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<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Republican tribe in Iron-Age India}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2022}}<br />
{{one source|date=June 2022}}<br />
{{Infobox country<br />
|native_name = <br />
|conventional_long_name = Bhagga<br />
|common_name = Bhagga<br />
|era = [[Iron Age]]<br />
|government_type = [[Republic]]<br />
|year_start = {{c.|7th century BCE}}<br />
|year_end = {{c.|5th-4th century BCE}}<br />
|event_end = Conquered by Vatsa<br />
|p1 = <br />
|s1 = Vatsa<br />
|image_map = Gana_Sanghas_(c._500_BCE).jpg<br />
|image_map_alt =<br />
|image_map_caption = Bhagga among the [[Gaṇasaṅgha|{{Transliteration|sa|Gaṇasaṅgha}}]]s<br />
|image_map2 = Mahajanapadas (c. 500 BCE).png<br />
|image_map2_caption = The [[Mahajanapadas]] in the post-Vedic period. Bhagga was located between the Ganges and the Yamuna, between Vatsa, Kasi, and Kosala<br />
|leader1 = <br />
|capital = [[Suṃsumāragiri]]<br />
|common_languages = [[Prakrit]]<br />[[Sanskrit]]<br />
|religion = [[Historical Vedic religion]]<br />[[Buddhism]]<br />[[Jainism]]<br />
|currency = <br />
|title_leader = {{transliteration|pi|Rājā}}<br />
|today = [[India]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Bhagga''' ([[Pali|Pāli]]: {{transliteration|pi|Bhagga}}; [[Sanskrit]] {{transliteration|sa|Bharga}}) was an ancient [[Indo-Aryan peoples|Indo-Aryan]] [[tribe]] of north-eastern [[South Asia]] whose existence is attested during the [[Iron Age in India|Iron Age]]. The Bhaggas were organised into a [[Gaṇasaṅgha|{{Transliteration|sa|gaṇasaṅgha}}]] (an [[Aristocracy|aristocratic]] [[Oligarchy|oligarchic]] [[republic]]), presently referred to as the '''Bhagga Republic'''.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=227-231}}<br />
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==Location==<br />
The Bhaggas lived between the [[Ganges|Gangā]] and the [[Yamuna|Yamunā]], in the near north of the [[Vatsa]] kingdom's capital of [[Kosambi|Kosāmbī]], and to the west of the [[Kingdom of Kashi|Kāsī kingdom]]'s capital of [[Varanasi|Vārāṇasī]]. The northern neighbour of the Bhaggas was the kingdom of [[Kosala]].{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=227-231}}<br />
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The Bhaggas lived far from the other republican Indo-Aryan tribes such as the [[Licchavi (tribe)|Licchavikas]], [[Malla (tribe)|Mallakas]], [[Moriya (tribe)|Moriyas]], [[Koliya]]s, and [[Sakya (tribe)|Sakya]]s, who were located between the [[Himalayas]] and the lower course of the Gangā, with the kingdoms of Kāsī and Kosala separating Bhagga from these tribes.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=227-231}}<br />
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The capital of the Bhaggas was [[Suṃsumāragiri]].{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=227-231}}<br />
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==Name==<br />
The name of the Bhaggas is the Pali form of the name of the {{transliteration|sa|Bharga}} ({{langx|sa|भर्ग}}) Indo-Aryan ethnic group mentioned in Sanskrit literature.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=227-231}}<br />
{{multiple image<br />
| align = left<br />
| direction =vertical<br />
| total_width=250<br />
| image1 = The eastern Gangetic plain after Bimbisara's conquests.jpg<br />
| caption1 = {{center|Map of the eastern Gangetic plain before Udayana's conquest of Bhagga}}<br />
| image2 = The eastern Gangetic plain after Ajatasattu's, Vidudabha's and Udayana's conquests.jpg<br />
| caption2 = {{center|Map of the eastern Gangetic plain after Udayana's conquest of Bhagga}}<br />
| footer=<br />
}}<br />
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==History==<br />
The [[Mahabharata]] and the [[Harivamsa|Harivansa]] states the close connection between the Vatsas and the Bhargas (Bhaggas).<ref>{{cite book |last=Raychaudhuri |first=Hemchandra |author-link=Hem Chandra Raychaudhuri |date=1953 |title=Political History of Ancient India: From the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of Gupta Dynasty |pages=98|url= |location= |publisher=[[University of Calcutta]] |isbn=}}</ref><br />
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The Bhaggas were dependencies of the [[Vatsa|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.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=227-231}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kapoor |first=Subodh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=43Fzt-G_-XYC&dq=Bhagga+of+ancient+india&pg=PA139 |title=Encyclopaedia of Ancient Indian Geography |date=2002 |publisher=Cosmo Publications |isbn=978-81-7755-298-0 |language=en}}</ref><br />
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The Buddha visited Bhagga shortly after his Enlightenment, during the early phase of his preaching.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=227-231}}<br />
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The Bhaggas had already been assimilated into Vatsa under the rule of the latter's king [[Udayana (king)|Udayana]], and they were annexed by that kingdom under his successor around the time of the Buddha's death.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=227-231}}<br />
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The Bhaggas were not among peoples who claimed a share of the Buddha's relics because they had stopped existing as an independent polity by the time of his death.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=227-231}} Similarly, the [[Videha|Vaideha]]s and the [[Nāya|Nāyika]]s did not claim a share of the relics 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 [[Sakya (tribe)|Sakyas]] could claim shares.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=136-158}}<br />
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==Political and social organisation==<br />
===Republican institutions===<br />
The Bhaggas were a [[kshatriya|{{Transliteration|sa|kṣatriya}}]] tribe organised into a [[Gaṇasaṅgha|{{Transliteration|sa|gaṇasaṅgha}}]] (an [[Aristocracy|aristocratic]] [[Oligarchy|oligarchic]] [[republic]]).{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=227-231}}<br />
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====The Assembly====<br />
Like the other {{Transliteration|sa|gaṇasaṅgha}}, the ruling body of the Bhagga republic was an Assembly of the {{Transliteration|sa|kṣatriya}} elders who held the title of {{transliteration|pi|rājā}}s (meaning "chiefs").{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=225-227}}<br />
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====The Council====<br />
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 among the Assembly's members. The Council met more often than the Assembly.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=227-231}}<br />
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====The Consul====<br />
The Bhagga Assembly elected a consul {{transliteration|pi|rājā}} who presided over it and administered the republic with the help of the Council.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=227-231}}<br />
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==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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==Sources==<br />
{{refbegin}}<br />
* {{cite book |last=Sharma |first=J. P. |author-link= |date=1968 |title=Republics in Ancient India, C. 1500 B.C.-500 B.C. |url= |location=[[Leiden]], Netherlands |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|E. J. Brill]] |page= |isbn=978-9-004-02015-3 }}<br />
*{{cite book |last= Eggermont |first= P. H. L.|author-link= |date=1966|title=Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Dec., 1966, Vol. 9, No. 3 (Dec., 1966), pp. 257-296|url= |location=[[Leiden]], Netherlands |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|E. J. Brill]] |page= |isbn=}}<br />
{{refend}}<br />
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[[Category:Ancient peoples of India]]<br />
[[Category:Ancient peoples of Nepal]]<br />
[[Category:Gaṇa saṅghas]]</div>WernerStoate3