TawannaIbarra at 16:17, 17 July 2025

2025-07-17T16:17:33Z

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{{Short description|Republican tribe in Iron-Age India}}
{{one source|date=June 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox country
| native_name =
| conventional_long_name = Kālāma Republic
| common_name = Kālāma
| era = [[Iron Age]]
| government_type = [[Republic]]
| year_start = {{c.|7th century BCE}}
| year_end = {{c.|5th-4th century BCE}}
| event_end = Conquered by Kosala
| p1 =
| s1 = Kosala
| image_map = Gana_Sanghas_(c._500_BCE).jpg
| image_map_alt =
| image_map_caption = Kālāma among the [[Gaṇasaṅgha|{{Transliteration|sa|Gaṇasaṅgha}}]]s
| image_map2 = Mahajanapadas (c. 500 BCE).png
| image_map2_caption = The [[Mahajanapadas]] in the post-Vedic period. Kālāma was located close to the north of Magadha
| leader1 =
| capital = [[Kesaputta]]
| common_languages = [[Prakrit]]<br />[[Sanskrit]]
| religion = [[Historical Vedic religion]]{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=231-236}}<ref name=ar/>
| currency =
| title_leader = {{transliteration|pi|Rājā}}
| today = [[India]]<br />[[Nepal]]
}}
{{multiple image
| align = right
| caption_align = center
| direction =vertical
| total_width=250
| image1 =
| caption1 =
| image2 = The eastern Gangetic plain after Ajatasattu's, Vidudabha's and Udayana's conquests.jpg
| caption2 = Map of the eastern Gangetic plain after Viḍūḍabha's conquest of Kālāma, Sakya and Koliya
| footer=
}}
'''Kālāma''' ([[Pali|Pāli]]: {{transliteration|pi|Kālāma}}) 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 Kālāmas were organised into a [[Gaṇasaṅgha|{{Transliteration|sa|gaṇasaṅgha}}]] (an [[Aristocracy|aristocratic]] [[Oligarchy|oligarchic]] [[republic]]), presently referred to as the '''Kālāma Republic'''.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=231-236}}

==Location==
The Kālāmas and their capital of [[Kesaria|Kesaputta]]<ref name=ar>{{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> were located on the [[Indo-Gangetic Plain]] between the river [[Ghaghara|Sarayū]] and the [[Malla (tribe)|Mallakas]] to the north, the [[Ganges|Gaṅgā]] to the south, [[Varanasi|Vārāṇasī]] to the southwest, and the kingdom of [[Kosala]] to the west.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=231-236}} The territory of the Kālāmas covered only the countryside around their town.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=231-236}}

==Name==
The origin of the name of the Kālāmas has not yet been determined.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=231-236}}

The name of the Kālāma capital, [[Kesaputta]] originated from the Sanskrit word {{Transliteration|sa|keśa}}, meaning "hair" or "mane." The name of Kesapputta was related to the name of the [[Keśin]], who were a sub-tribe of the [[Pañcāla|Pāñcāla]] tribe mentioned in the [[Shatapatha Brahmana|{{Transliteration|sa|Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa}}]].{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=231-236}}

==History==
The Kālāmas were an Indo-Aryan tribe in the eastern Gangetic plain in the [[Greater Magadha]] cultural region.<ref name="Levman">{{cite journal |last=Levman |first=Bryan G. |date=2014 |title=Cultural Remnants of the Indigenous Peoples in the Buddhist Scriptures |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276914202 |journal=Buddhist Studies Review |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=145–180 |doi=10.1558/bsrv.v30i2.145 |access-date=4 June 2022|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004157194.i-416 |title=Bronkhorst, J. (2007). Greater Magadha, Studies in the culture of Early India, p. 6. Leiden, Boston, MA: Brill.|year=2007|doi=10.1163/ej.9789004157194.i-416|last1=Bronkhorst|first1=Johannes|isbn=9789047419655}}</ref> The Kālāmas originated as a branch of the [[Keśin]]s, who were from the [[Panchala|Pāñcāla]], where they formed one of the three branches of the [[Pañcāla|Pāñcāla]] tribe. From the Pāñcāla area, a branch of the Keśins founded Kesaputta, where they came to be known as the Kālāmas.{{sfn|D. C. Sircar|1985|p=1}} Similarly to the other populations of the Greater Magadha cultural area, Kalams were initially not fully Brahmanised despite being an Indo-Aryan people, they later became Brahmanised when [[Kosala]] was Brahmanised.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004157194.i-416 |title=Bronkhorst, J. (2007). Greater Magadha, Studies in the culture of Early India, p. 6. Leiden, Boston, MA: Brill.|year=2007|doi=10.1163/ej.9789004157194.i-416|last1=Bronkhorst|first1=Johannes|isbn=9789047419655}}</ref>

By the time of the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]], the Kālāmas were a dependency of Kosala and its king [[Pasenadi]], and the Buddha visited the Kālāmas at one point during his preaching. One of the Buddha's teachers, [[Āḷāra Kālāma]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Law |first=Bimala Churn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HBIbAAAAIAAJ&q=K%C4%81l%C4%81ma+tribe |title=Some Kṣatriya Tribes of Ancient India |date=1924 |publisher=University of Calcutta |language=en}}</ref> belonged to the Kālāma tribe, as did the Buddha's disciple [[Bharaṇḍu]].{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=231-236}}

Pasenadi's son and successor [[Viḍūḍabha]] later annexed Kālāma into the Kosala kingdom. The Kālāmas did not request a share of the Buddha's relics after his death, possibly because they had lost their independence by then.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=231-236}} Similarly, the [[Videha|Vaideha]]s and the [[Nāya|Nāyika]]s did not appear among the list of states claiming a share because they were dependencies of the Licchavikas without their own sovereignty, and the [[Bhagga]]s who were a dependency of [[Vatsa]] also could not put forth their own claim, while the Licchavikas, the [[Malla (tribe)|Mallaka]]s, and the [[Sakya (tribe)|Sakya]]s could claim shares of the relics.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=136-158}}

==Political and social organisation==
===Republican institutions===
The Kālāma were a [[kshatriya|{{Transliteration|sa|kṣatriya}}]] tribe organised into a [[Gaṇasaṅgha|{{Transliteration|sa|gaṇasaṅgha}}]] (an [[Aristocracy|aristocratic]] [[Oligarchy|oligarchic]] [[republic]]).{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=231-236}}

====Assembly====
Like the other {{Transliteration|sa|gaṇasaṅgha}}, the ruling body of the Kālāma 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=231-236}}

Like with other {{Transliteration|sa|gaṇasaṅgha}}, the Assembly of the Kālāmas met in a [[santhāgāra]] located in their capital.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=231-236}}

====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.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=231-236}}

====The Consul====
The Kālāma Assembly elected for life a consul {{Transliteration|pi|rājā}}. The consul {{Transliteration|pi|rājā}} administered the republic with the assistance of the Assembly and Council.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=231-236}}

===Religion===
Unlike the other {{Transliteration|sa|gaṇasaṅgha}}, the Kālāmas appear to have been disinterested in [[Śramaṇa|{{Transliteration|sa|Śramaṇa}}]] traditions such as [[Buddhism]], which might have been an alternative reason why they did not demand a share of the relics of the Buddha. Since the Kālāmas were related to the Keśins, they might instead have been more inclined towards [[Brahmanism]].{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=231-236}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |author=D. C. Sircar |author-link=Dineshchandra Sircar |title=The Kānyakubja-Gauḍa Struggle |publisher=Asiatic Society |year=1985 |isbn=9788192061580 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9mdQAQAAMAAJ |oclc=915112370}}
* {{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 }}
{{refend}}

[[Category:Ancient peoples of India]]
[[Category:Gaṇa saṅghas]]

Kālāma - Revision history

TawannaIbarra at 16:17, 17 July 2025