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History of Sakya Kulas

INTRODUCTION

The problem of caste is an enormous problem in India. Its notorious implications and manifestation can be only compared with the problem of race in America. It is no longer a monster confined to the national boundary but has become an international monster as its evil effects are felt even in America and United Kingdom for the Hindu carries his caste to these secular countries which value individual liberty and freedom as inviolable fundamental  and inalienable human rights of individuals. Unlike racism which keeps on shifting its ‘rationale’ for perpetuating the discriminations inflicted on the Blacks, the ‘Hindu’ religious system subsumes in it all sorts of new scientific, rational and even radical schools of human thought such as Marxism and renders them de-radicalized ,emasculated and remarkably redirects  them in truncated and farcical manner for the justification and continuance of the caste system. That is how many a theories of liberation could not succeed in India in deescalating the virulence of the caste system. Since, caste system is a solidified fossilized form of interests of the vested castes, it does not yield itself for the attacks of modern scientific and rational thought and practice. However, what one notices is that even today this octopus  of caste system not only fears but fails to dare challenge the Buddhists  and Buddhism in India as it did in the past. The longest struggle waged and still being waged in the History of Mankind would be the struggle against the caste system. Right from the days of Lord Buddha, Viswa Mitra and Ambedkar, the fight against caste system had been to assert and secure the freedom of thougt, expression, equality of opportunity, the right to dignity and  the right to be free from being exploited  both mentally and physically. Still these rights are not achieved in India. The origin of caste system has baffled many a able minded scholars and much valuble studied have flown from the pens of such great savants in the subject. Of these, the most important and original contribution and altogether from a new perspective has been presented by Ambedkar. Not only the theory proposed by Ambedkar is unique in its theoretical merit but also that it has come from one of the foremost persons who fought against the system as a victim of the system and thus it deserves serious attention for so far all the theories about caste has been either presented by the thiry parties such as the British and other Orientalist scholars or from the brhamins and the caste – hindus, the creators of the mischief   and the foremost beneficiaries of the  caste system. When a person has a vested interest in a subject of such serious intergenerational question of life and death for the other party, it is not fair to allow one the licence to pile up abuse after abuse, lie after lie on the origins of untouchables and the caste system. The ‘victim’ thus can not be perpetually left ‘speechless’. Such a system may be suitable to the JimCrow laws of Manu, the founder of Hindu- KKK in India. The principles of natural justice demands that no person shall be adjudged as ‘guitly’ until he is heard. Therefore, the principle of fairness embedded in the ‘adi alterum partem’ has to be atleast now respected and thus ,I propose to study the merits of the proposition of Ambedkar on the origins of caste system. While the pursuing of the subject itself has so many advantages, I have an empirical evidence to argue and adduce in support of the proposition of Ambedkar that indeed the untouchables are the Buddhists and they were broken and made untouchables (‘embargoed’) because they had been Buddhists. AMBEDKAR’S THESIS OF THE BUDDHIST ORIGINS OF UNTOUCHABLES: The main propositions of Doctor Ambedkar regarding the Buddhist Origins can be summarized as below: The History of India is a history of mortal conflict between Buddhism and Brahminism. Both the systems differed in all respects in their premises, moorings, practices and the constituencies to which they appealed and attempted to represent. The Buddhist stood for Universal ethical and egalitarian values and opposed tooth and nail any sort of privilege and ideology that advocates the system of inequity. The Buddhists have become successful in their onslaught against the oligarchical designs of Brhaminism and its yajna ritualisms However, against this Revolution the brahminsts staged a counter –revolution by which the beef eating brhamins strategically passed of themselves as vegetarians and the bon- brahims continued to be flesh eaters but eschewd from beef eating. The cow has been iconized as the sacred object and thus beef eating was made a taboo. The system of varna- the feudal logic of oligarical arrangement was progagated by Brahmins and it received the support of the  warring kings who wanted some sort of stability and support to their possessions. The caste ideology of kshrtiyavisation by the brahminical ceremony has given them an edge to them to bully the up coming new warring tribes and races. The trading community which constitutes a great patron of Buddhism has slided  itself in support of either brhaminsm or Jainism and thus bought peace with the local feudal lords and the vilifying brhamins. The vast majority of forest tribes and working masses had no option to assert their individual rights to religion etc but had to follow the dictate of the feudal lords The systematic persecution of Buddhist monks, teachers and confiscation of the land grants of the Buddhist monasteries and the large scale destruction of Buddhist monasteries, libraries and massacre of Buddhist monks has created a vaccum for intellectual articulation and resistance against the brhaminical and feudal forces (10)Dispossession of the property of the Buddhist laity (11) the iron-law of Manu prohibited  education to the masses ; the Buddhist laity has been forced to live outside the village or the “ purmcheri errukkai”( the secluded places of the ascetics) were converted as a ghetto of the embargoed Buddhist population. 12) Manufacturing of all sorts of ideological materials/content for manufacturing of consent(i.e false consciousness among the Buddhist that they are untouchables)

SAKYA- KULIYAS:

In Tamil Nadu there exists a community called sakkaliyars or chakkaliyars. The words are also differently spelled as Sakkiliyars and chakkiliyars or sakkuliyar or chakkuliyar. So far, nobody had investigated the social origins of them. This community is also classed as one of the untouchable communities in Tamil Nadu. On a deep analysis of the various sub- kulas that are existing among the Sakkiliyars, it has struck me that the word  sakkiliyar is nothing but “sakkiya- kuliyar”, that  is the  people of the sakya-kula or sakya clan. The word sakkiliya is a compound word of two words : sakya+kula+ya where the ‘ya’ is a possessive case of the word “kula” which means ‘belonging to the kula’ or ‘of the kula’. Thus taken together these two words  clearly  point  out  evidently  that the sakkiliyars are none other than the people of the sakya-clan or the sakya-kula. What is amazing is that despite the passing of thousands of years, the original name of the people of sakya clan did not disappear and also the people of the original stock of the ancient sakya- kula. What is further to be noted is that neither the term ‘sakya’ nor the term ‘kula’ are  of Dravidian origin or tamil words. They are the very pristine words of the Pali language. Only addition made to these words are the case “ar” to indicate the plural sense of the term that is sakkiya kuliyar whereas the singlular word is ‘ sakya- kuliya’ to indicate a single person of sakya –clan. 2.When the branches of Ancient Sakya –kula came to Tamil Nadu whatever may have been the extent and spread of Tamil Nadu at that moment of history, it is clear that the ancient sakyans were identified by others as what they are that is the ‘ men of sakya-kula’. It also makes sense that the ancient stock of sakya- kula in their zeal to spread the gospel of the Master have ‘gone forth’ on all four directions of the Jambudipa. They have spread to Kasi(today’s Banarasi), Taxasel, Andrapradesh  and such other desas(countries as they were called in those days). Thus, it was no surprise that the sakya-kuliyas also spread to Tamil Nadu also called Dravida Desam or Tamil Desam.[ here put the reference of Emperor Ashoka] 3.That there was a kula system in existence as opposed to the theoretical varna system of the Brhaminical literature, and the anthropological evidence that still exists among the Sakya-kuliyas of Tamil Nadu shows that  they are the vestigial remnants of the ancient sakyas. It has been observed by Scholars that the Buddhist and other non-brahminical sources have a unique mode of categorizing social groups as opposed to the ‘varna’ system used by the Braminical sources. The unique unit of classification of society used by the Buddhist sources is the term’kula’.The term kula (which means clan or family) has been used as  the unit of categorization  by the Buddhist Pali texts for identifying the social groups. Based on kula, the Buddhist texts categorized people as Kshatriyas,brahmanas and gahapatis. The term ‘varna’ as a unit of categorizing the society into hierarchical groups so adamantly used by the brhaminical sources, “never occurs in discussions with the common people” in Buddhist texts. Further, “Wherever it is referred to it is often used to in dismissing these varna divisions as irrelevent” Further it has been noted by Charkavarti  that the system of stratification portrayed in the Pali canon reflects social reality and not the religious sanction unlike the brhaminical conception of hierarchy;further the Buddists sources reveal that there is complex system of ranking in that society  instead a simpler two-tier system of stratification indicated. The terms kula and jati are used not only as conceptual but also as actual schemes of categories based on ascribed status. “However, what really seemed to matter to the Buddhists were the  kula division and it was this term rather than jati that was used by them when they need to indicate social stratifications”. That the brahminical version of the caste theory are not reliable sources to know the rela picture of the social reality has been rightly as early as 1920 iteself had been observed by Rhys David and Fick. In fact Rhys David argued that “ the evidences of the Buddhist literatures, like the evidences of the coins and inscriptions fitted very badly with the brhamin theories of caste and history. Yet somuch reliance was placed on these brahminical theories that we have to declare war against such views.”

4. What about the color and physical characteristics of the Ancient Sakyas? And is there any relation in terms of Physique with the present Sakyas of Tamil Nadu? We do not have any historical evidence regarding the skin color of the Ancient Sakyas. Though, the land of the Sakyas is identified as the present day Nepal, it should be noted that Nepal of the 2500-3000 years must have been different in its geographical extent and demography. Further, the origin of Buddhism had brought the clan of the Sakyans to the forefront of History. That does not mean that the clan came into existence only after the birth of Buddhism. Rather, the Sakya Clan was a pre-existing clan which gave birth to the World Honored One, and thus tis age must be dated farther more projected into the ages of history and thus not not be counted as co-extensive with the age of the Great Religion of Buddhism. Therefore, by extending  thus the origin of sakya clan  some 5000- 6000 years, it would be impossible to identify what would have been their physical characteristics such as the skin –color, nose type etc. Such a racializing notions are now out dated and can not be advanced as evidences of proving the peculiarity of any clan or group of people. Yet, it would be not out of order to see what could have been the color of the Ancient Sakyas, if we take the over all predominant color of the Natives in Jambu dipa. That color was black. Therefore, the Sakyas had been people of dark-blue complexion and this even to day continues to be the same. Despite unofficial  intermixing of races of various complexion particularly that of the Aryans of white-skin, the dominant allels or genes of the native races have prevailed over the  genetic make- up of the intermixing races. Yet, given the extreme sort of untouchability in the last 300 years or so and the ancient hatred and enmity that the brhaminical forces had for the Master and his disciples  and the persecution of subsequent generations of Buddhists for 100s of generations, it is possible to maintain a thesis that the race of the Sakyas did not get dissolved in the ‘metling pot’ if any but got to a greater extent isolated itself and thus preserved its original texture and complexion. The present day sakya- kuliyas( the Sakyas) are dark in color predominantly and also so a great degree of highly fair complexioned people. There ladies are beautiful and nearly majority of them are fair complexioned. Thus, it poses evidence equally that they are the true-to-types of their ancestral sakyas. 5. Sub-Kulas in Sakya-Kuliyas of Tamil Nadu: There exists a number of sub-kulas among the Sakya-Kuliyas of Tamil Nadu. Almost, all of these kulas reveal their origin in one way or other relating to Buddhism. They either take their name directly from the Buddhist Schools prevalent in the ancient days or embalmatically  to the Buddhist  sacred symbols, viharas, chaitiyas , the Holy Tripitikas etc. The following  table of the  sub-kulas and their meanings will indicate sufficiently the above assertion. Table.1. The sub-kulas of Sakya-kuliyas

Sl.No	 Name of the kula	Meaning of the kula

1	Pagadi kattiyas The great cultivators[Pagadi=great/ ruling clan ;kattiya=cultivators]

2.	Sethisala varu or chaitiyasaliyas	 Chaitya Saala= the Budhhist shrine; the people of the chaitiyas

3.	Bodhi varu	People of the Bodhi; the people of the Buddha

4.	Mangavaru 	People of the order of the Monks; the Bhikshus

5.	 Purva sailiyas 	 The people of “the original abode”, one of the schools of Maha yana Buddhism

6.	 Aarama Sailiyas	 The people of the Aaramas; the Buddhists monasteries called Aarramas.[Aarama= resting places]

7.Macchalu varu	The people of the vajra throne or seat of Lord Buddha from which he delivered his Sermons.[ Maccham =mancham= cot or seat]

8.	Gurupujalavaru 	 The performers of puja to the Guru, the Master.

9.	 Puttagalu varu 	 The people who are the custodians of the Holy Tripitakas[puttaga= pitika; the Baskets]

10.	Bihraguluvaru 	The people of the vihars[bigarai= bihar= vihar]

11.	Siddalu varu	 The People of the Siddhas [siddalu= siddhas]

12.	Bhante varu	 The people of the bhante[ bhante= the venerable Buddhists teachers]

13.	Jhana varu	 The people of the Medidation[jhana=meditation]

14.	Dasari varu	The people of ten paramitas or destroyers of defilements [ dasa= defilements;hari=destroyer]

15.	Mudugula varu	 The people of the thunderbolt[mudigulu=thunder]; the people of the vajrayana

16.	Nallmulla varu	 The people of the good sources [nallu=good;mula=source]

17.	Gudimokkulu varu	 The people of the temple –worship[ gudi=temple;mokkulu= worship]

18.	Bahmidigunda varu

19.	Sudaluvaruorvaiduliya varu	The people of Vaiduliya sect of Buddhism

During the second century after the Buddha’s death, the Mahasanghika sect was split up into Ekavyaharika,4 Lokottara, vada, Kukkutika (Gokulika), Bahusrutiya and Prajnaptivada and shortly afterwards appeared the Saila schools. The Caityakas were so called because of their cult of the caityas (shrines). Both of them paved the way for the growth of Mahayanism. The Sailas derived their name from  the hills located round the principal centers of their activity. They were also called the Andhakas in the Cylonese Chronicles on account of their great popularity in the Andhra country. The Pali commentary, however, mentions that ‘both the Cetiyavadin (Caityavadin) and the Andhaka schools were merely names, remote, provincial, standing for certain doctrines’. Among the sections into which the Mahasanghikas were divided, the Caityakas and the Saila schools were the most prominent and had great influence in the South. In their early career the Mahasanghikas could not make much headway because of the strong opposition of the orthodox monks, the Theravadins (Sthaviravadins). They had to struggle hard to establish themselves in Magadha, but they steadily gained in strength and became a powerful sect. This is borne out by the fact that the sect established centres at Pataliputra and Vaisali and spread its network to both the North and the South. Yuan Chwang tells us the ‘the majority of inferior brethren at Pataliputra began the Mahasanghika school’. I-tsing (671-695 A.D.) also states that he found the Mahasanghikas in Magadha (central India), a few in Lata and Sindhu (western India) and a few in northern, southern and eastern India. The inscription on the Mathura Lion Capital (120 B.C.) records that a teacher named Budhila was given a gift so that he might teach the Mahasanghikas. This is the earliest epigraphic evidence that the Mahasanghika sect existed. The Wardak vase in Afghanistan containing the relics of the Buddha was presented to the teachers of the Mahasanghikas by one Kamalagulya during the reign of Huviska. At Andharah (Afghanistan) Yuan Chwang found three monasteries belonging to this sect, which proves that this sect was popular in the North-West. The cave at Karle in Maharashtra records the gift of a village as also of a nine-celled hall to the adherents of the school of the Mahasanghikas. Clearly, the Mahasanghikas had a center at Karle and exercised influence over the people of the West. They were thus not confined to Magadha alone but spread over the northern and western parts of India and had adherents scattered all over the country. Nevertheless, this was not true of the branches of this sect which were concentrated only in the South. The inscriptions at Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda mention the Hamghi (Ayira-haghana) the Caityika (Cetiavadaka), the Mahavanaseliyana (Apara-mahavanaseliya), the Puvasele, the Rajagirinivasika (Rajasaila), the Siddhathika, the Bahusrutiya and the Mahisasaka sects. Most of these were local and, barring the last mentioned, all were branches of the Mahasanghika sect. The Amaravati stupa is situated about 18 miles west of Bezwada. The stupa was probably constructed in the 2nd century B.C. its outer rail was erected in the 2nd century A.D. and the sculptures in the inner rail are supposed t belong to the 3rd century A.D. The  Nagarjunakonda represents, next to Amaravati, the most important Buddhist site in southern India. We owe the monuments of Nagarjunakonda to the piety of certain queens and princess of the royal family of the Iksvakus who were devoted to Buddhism. These monuments may be assigned to the 3rd century, although the Mahacetiya is probably of an earlier date. These structures at Nagarjunakonda obviously flourished as important centres of the branches of the  Mahasanghika sect and became places of pilgrimage. It is thus apparent that the Mahasanghikas extended their activities both towards the North and the South. However, they gained more influence in the South, particularly in the Guntur and Krishna districts where the popularity of the Caityakas and the Saila sub-sects contributed much to their success. The name Andhaka also testifies to the great popularity of the Sailas in Andhra.

6.The other Names of the Sakya-Kuliyas/Sakyas in Tamil Nadu: The Sakya-kuliyas are also called by a variety of names in Tamil Nadu. The most noteworthy feature about these names are that none of them from the Tamil language. The other names are as follows: (i)Madigas[ the etimological root of the word is Maha+Digha= The great Multitude; Digha = Dhirga which means yonder-gone; or the multitude; the other way of derivation of the root of this word is magadi+ga = magadi= the language Magadi that which is spoken by Lord Buddha and ‘ga’ meaning the ‘one who belongs to or pertaining to’ thus madagiga menas ‘the speaker of Magadi’; the word magadi itself renders the meaning the great way, thereby alluding to the greatly advanced nature of that language for it contains the teachings of the Lord, the Way- finder and thus acting as a way to the commofolk to get rid of the sufferings]; the other rendering of the word is the magadigas =the people belonging to Magad; the region where Magadi is the speaking language. (ii) Madaris[Maha+dhari= maha means great; dhari=way thus mahadahri means ‘the great way’ indicating the Mahayana school of Buddhism]; (iii)Masangi which is a compound word of Maha+sanghi= the great Sangha; the people of the great sangha that is the Mahayana school of Buddhism]; (iv)Gosanghi which menas the Go= the cow; Sanghi= the person belonging to the Sangha, the Buddhist church; meaning thereby the Buddhist church that protects the ‘cow’ standing symbolically to all cattles; this word ‘gosanghi’ clearly indicates the Buddhist worldview and uncompromising attack against the cow-killing animal sacrifices of the brahmninic culture and religion] (v) Matangis which means the people of the elephant; elephant had always been so intricately associated with the Buddhists. Therefore, the word ‘matungam’ which means ‘elephant’ symbolically referring to the Buddhists. (vi) Arundhatiyas: Arun+adhiyas= the ever shining light, the unsurpassed Sun of intelligence. Indicating the Buddha as the Sun. See for an interpretation of how the word India derived its name from ‘indu’ =Moon; the one which receives the light of wisdom from Lord Buddha, the Sun and reflects the same to the world, in Huh wan su wan. 7. The distortion of the history and the persecution of the Sakya-kuliyas : The sakya-kuliyas have been subjected to the worst and inhuman forms of persecution through out  India by the axis forces of the chatur-varnas, the hindu-aryan invaders. The hatred of the brhamins the master minds who devised the exploitative system of varna system with the conceit of the local ruling classes who were in any case satisfied in the ‘private sub-ordination and theoretical superiority of the brhamans’,to the Buddhists can not be mentioned in any simpler terms. Their hatred to Buddhism sprang both from the ideological and philosophical differences and as well as the political and social implications of such differences. The Buddhists have not only denounced the rituals and the vedas of the brhaminical forces as false and meaningless but also rigorously opposed any sort of superiority or claims of dominance based on birth or religious status. The ideas of ‘anata’,’annisevara’ i.e ‘No soul’, ‘No God’ of the Buddhists sought to undercut the base of all brhaminical supersititions and ritulas. The philosophical oppositions combined with the practical negation of caste system by the Buddhists meant the reducing of the brhaimins to nothing both in theory and practice in society. The kstriyas who are of the ‘indo Aryan stock’ exhibited similar such  hatred to the Buddhists view for it called for a virtuous and moral way of living instead of wallowing in luxuries. This was not acceptable and unpalatable to the war lords who  wanted to enjoy unhindered access to sex, wealth and luxuries. Naturally, they did not want to ‘be in isolation like a rhino, or a lion and seek their self ‘ which the Buddha called for. An instance of a young man of great riches incidentally approached lord Buddha seeking advice and having heard the above teaching of lord Buddha he left the Buddha. Further, it has to be noted that the ‘brahman’, the so called secret knowledge which the kshtriyas claimed to be the sole possessors itself did not survive the mortal attacks of the Buddhists. The speculative non-nense of ‘brhaman’ was used as an ideological apparatus by the war-lords who by using the bogey of brhaman – the unknowable, unseen and ungraspable  sought to divert the attention of the masses from being liberated from  this worldly exploitation of them by these war-lords but mis-engaged them in  seeking the ‘secret- knowledge’ of that ‘brhaman’! . As the Buddhists have exposed the vacuity, absurdity of the speculative bubble of the ‘brhaman’, the kshtiriyas had nothing to identify with the teachings of the Master. On the other hand we find that Emperor Ashoka, the great being a member of Moria, one of the sub-clans of the Sakya-kula, so organically embracing Buddhism and living by its ideals even when he was continuing to discharge his royal responsibilities. The other great Buddhist emperors like Harsha vardan, Kaniska etc all lived a great morally high life. That is not the case with the warlords who had concocted along with the brhamins the theories of soul and varna system of social control. In deed, the so called Upanishad’s utltimate claim is that one who knows the bhraman which by definition is unknowable, is free to do anything even the heinous crimes of killing for one who has a knowledge is free from the consequences of his actions  and not only that he can indulge in any way he likes and nothing will attach to him. Such was the irresponsible theory of those who lived an irresponsible life at the cost of the surplus of the exploited masses. Buddhists opposed all this and that is why they have been reduced down to ‘untouchables’- ‘unworthy of contact’![not worth to keep in touch]. Ever since the fall of the Mouriyan Empire, the state had become fragmented and the regional satraps had formed their own kingdoms and ‘princely states’. These satraps were looking for an ideology that can douse the fire of Buddhism and the sense of awareness that it has created in the masses regarding the sufferings that are inflicted on them by the socio-political order of the day.

ON KULA AS THE UNIT OF ORGANIZTION IN ANCIENT SOCIETY: Henry Morgan in his path breaking study had revealed about the origin and organization of the tribal society. He has in his “Ancient Society” shown that the tribes are made of number of exogamous clans. That is the members of the same clan can not marry with each other and they have to necessarily marry into the other marriageable clans. Further, Morgan has stated that each clan had traced its origin and named itself after the name of the animal, plant etc. The attribution of origin to a plant or animal is called ‘totem’. In his famous study, he has shown the organization of the ‘Seneca’ tribe as follows:

SENECA(Tribe)

Insert diagram

In an independent study   Russel and Hiralal have  shown the ‘totemic ‘ origin of ‘Ahir’ a caste and its sub-caste. these are divided into exogamous sections. The names of these sections are often titular and traced to totemistic animals. Even, it has been argued by Devi Prasad that the brhaminical ‘gotras’ themselves exhibit the totemic tribal origins of the brhamins and other castes. He has by copiously quoting the various sutras such as theAsvalayana Srauta Sutrahas agrued that the gotras of the brhamins are  clans which had traced their origin in the palnts, birds or animals. For instance the following are some of the gotras which point to their totemic origins: Vastas (calves),Sunakas(Dogs),Riksas(Bears),Bharadvajas(a species of birds),Mudgalas( a species fish Kais(Monkeys),Ajas(Goats),Renus(Pollens),Venus(Bamboos),Kasyapas(Tortoises),Sandilas( A species of fish),Gotamas(Cows)… In the gotra lists of other Brhaminical texts, the following names  are also found: Kusikas(Owls),Mandukas(Frogs),Darbhas(grass),Tittiras(parrots). The suggestion is quite clear. The gotras, in their origin, must have been totemic clans.There can be  no other explanation for this peculiar names… This fact indicates that one can not ignore “ the circumstances that even the ancestors of those brhamanas were once living the life of the savage tribes. This fact could not be completely concealed by the most elaborate myths of ris-descent fabricated in later times to glorify the survivals of the ancestral institutions.” “Buddha , a scion of the Sakya family, called himself Gotama. His father and also his cousin Ananda were addressed as Gotama. They were Ksatriyas.This shows that the Ksatriyas too were organized in gotras. “That it was customary in addressing the individuals in question,to use,not the kula name(sakya) but the gotra name(gotama), shows how high a value was set-precisely in the ranks of the Khattiya(Ksatriya)- upon membership in one of the ancient gotras. This finds expression also in a verse which frequently recurs in the Buddhist Suttas: ‘the Khatitiya is regarded as best among people who set a value on gotta’” Debi Prasad further states that later on the Rajputs and even some of the Jats who claimed Kshatriya Status had among them great many clans or tribes each tracing its origin to some ancestor of renown….while the Rajputs as a whole i.e a caste marry only within their own ranks; no Rajput may marry a woman who is not of the Rajput class. In the several clans, however, the system of exogamy is so constituted that the males must find their wives in clans other than their own.(p-213,ibid..) Thus after examining the system of gotras among the various brahmins castes Debi Prasad concludes that the ‘ clan origin of the system becomes evident  ‘ by the following three essential characteristics of the gotra system: Idea of a common descent of all the members belonging to the same gotra Animal names usually assigned to the gotras The rule of strict exogamy for each gotra.

Therefore, it is abundantly evident that the clan system constitutes the basic structure of the Tribal society. Based on these facts of ‘totem’ and tribal features regrettably a scholar of Devi Prasad stature has gone to the extent of defending ‘caste’ as nothing more than the ‘tribal- clan’ system and thus failed utterly to see typically like many of the Marxist –brhaminical scholars that the’caste’ system is an artificial system of vertical gradation of the ‘tirbal’clans’ taken as such but ranking them as superior or inferior under the political and legal order  schemed by the Brhaminical forces. That is the caste system in the sense of ‘varna’ system has immobilized and compartmentalized various tribes and made them antoganistic against each other and rendered them non-social and anti-social. Devi Prasad also has not bothered to ask the question as to if ‘tribal’ elements are the basic raw materials of the ‘caste’ system then, why caste system did not spring up from the ubiquitous clan system which was the social order of the ancient society everywhere in the world. General society has evolved from the commungling of various tribes in the western society and the tribal clan system yielding to the changes in social and economic conditions and progress has slowly disappeared and gave birth to the class system in the western countries. But, in India the caste system master minded by the alien elements as a ‘dive and rule’ system had served the conveniences of political score setteling between various tribes in India and also thus benefited the brhamins and kshrtias to be successful scavenger class that fed on the feuds of these indigenous too many tribes who were engaged  in war  against each other in their attempt to claim supremacy in the unfolding politic-economic order of that day. The assumption underlying the argument of Devi Prasad that the tribal elements are still surving in the caste system and therefore caste system is not a unique system to India and thus nothing is wrong in it  is quite wrong and betrays the inadequacy of the Marxist enthusiast  attempt to ‘explain away’ the problem of caste in India. Indeed Prof P.Lakshmi Narasu who studied the problem of caste  may find nothing to  his surprise that caste has tribal elements. He had shown not only caste has ‘tribal’ elements but many a tribes have been converted into castes by the brhaminical forces. “ It is by means of the system of castes that the brhamans have always carried on their proselytiising operations. All outsiders, so long as they do not interfere with the existing castes, are allowed to become Hindus without giving up any of their old customs and supersitions ,gods, goddesses, provided they are willing to form themselves into a new caste subject to the brahmans.(emphasis supplied). It is in this way that the unciviised aboriginal populations have been gradually brahminised.[As a result] We have no longer only four castes, but more than a hundred sub-divisions. Almost every trade or profession now forms a caste of its own,having no social intercourse with not patriotic feelings for the other castes.” What additional point  to be added to the above observation of Prof. Narasu is  that not only uncivilized tribes or populations have been brought under the hierarchical order of the varna system but very many so called civilized tribes  of various regions and languages have also to preserve their dominance and interests  have sensed the value that this brhaminical system had promised to them and thus have became not only active allies to the sellers of this system and got themselves incorporated into the system but also the zealous defenders of it. They have by thus becoming the privy to the brhamincal system acted as a police force and helped it protected and consolidated. The views of Ambedkar in this regard are unmistakable and at one’s won peril alone one can challenge the accuracy of his weighty assessement  of the role of brhamans and the kshtriyas. He says that the brhamin has pulverized the common masses with his pen and the khstriya with his sword. In the latter days the role of the kshtriya has been taken away by the Banias.to This, thus completes the picture as to why many ‘castes’ are also’tribes’ and why caste system betrays the ‘tribal’ elements. Rather, incomplete detribalization is not the feature of the caste system  but  the incorporation or engrafting of the tribes as a whole without interfering in their customs(clan based marriage ciurcles), gods, goddess into the political and legal order of the varna system is the reason as to why and how caste systems betray the ‘tribal’ elements in them. This sort of incorporating a tribe or tribes into the political suzernity without interfering in their internal matters of food, marriage, belief system has been the ‘technology’ known and adapted by political powers that be. Even, the British Crown in order to stabilize and consolidate its supremacy in British India had opted  not to interfere ‘ in the internal matters’ so long as the natives paid obeisance and abided as loyals subjects to the Rule of her Majesty. Interfering in the internal matters will foment and instigate rebellion and war which the political system does not want rather it wants a meek external submission by granting strong internal autonomy or tyranny in the internal affairs of the social groups that fall under its control. This is what the brhamins did to many tribes. They as rightly pointed out by Prof Narasu had accepted the tribes without any problem as long as’ they are willing to form themselves into a new caste subject to the brhamans’. This is the reason as why ‘particularly among the backward peoples of india the boundary line separating the tribal organisation from the caste organization is not always quite clear’.(devi Prasad,p,202). The authors about whom Devi Prasad laments that they were not clear about the demarcations between the ‘caste’ and ‘tribe’ is not that far ‘lamentable’ for the Foeriegn authors  have found  that mostly all the tribes that they ahd come across  exhibit the ‘ clan system’ and thus the’ tribal organization’ and yet some  which got fully incorporated in the varna system  talk of themselves primarily in terms of their social ranking vis-a vis the brhamins and others and thus leading the Foerign authorities to classify them as ‘castes’. Therefore, it can be said that the castes and tribes were so named depending upon the degree of incomplete incorporation or incomplete reach of brhamincal system to the various populations. It may be noted that in the above pages I have attempted to show that how the clan system has been existing even among the brhamins and other aboriginal tribes in other countries as well as eminently studied by Henry Morgan. Now, it has to be noted that though the clans system was constant with in the tribes, the tribes have never remained totally immune from the influences of the other tribes. Often they have to encounter each other either by virtue of the geography, or during the course of migrations or often in hostile situations and also the propensity to barter and exchange goods. They have met over a meat and drink and often ended in bloody duals and wars at the peck of the drop of a hat on petty issues of insult  etc. The tribes not only fought against each other for territorial sovereignity, but also entered into alliance with each other  to face a common and strong enemy. The alliance took the typical form of inter-tribal marriage for it was believed that marriage relationship will cement the two tribes into a organic whole strengthened by the tie of blood. The advancement of society propelled by the invention of agriculture, the emergence of war- lords or warring motile tribes and the invasion of even altogether alien tribes etc could have led to uneven detribalization of these tribes. Some clans got detached and attached to the other tribes and some new clans got engrafted into the tribes. Sometimes even a number of tribes merged together to form a strong tribe to face the onslaughts of the enemy or to requip from the acts of nature such as earthquakes, droughts and forest fires. Some of the clans broke away from the tribe and formed a separate tribe altogether. To get a picture of the ancient tribal orgainzations one can very well imagine the  modern day political parties  for their formation and dissolution and splinter groups and the emergence of new groups with new icons/totems resemble very much the ancient tribal organizations. The emergence of religions also placed a major role in “binding “ the tribal societies into new tribes or societies. After all, the word ‘religio’ means’ to bind’ only. Thus, religions specifically missionzing or proselytizing religions, in a way all religion would have been proseltyzing in their initial days for otherwise they could not have got the necessary membership and without the followers they could not have sustained themselves. When sufficiently the religion has grown with lot of members as followers and rich and able people to sustain it and  when the lands and resources gathered in the name of the religion is so much, then , the clericals could have proposed to block the entry of other new members  possibly to avoid completion or a share in the resources of the  religious body corporate. Even, the brhamins had to go far and dry to convert tribes of various languages and regions to  their ‘faith’ of fire-worship and the ritual of  animal sacrifice. Typically, they have approached the people for conversion by following like the early jesuites the ‘model of from the above’ rather than the srahmana tradition which went to the people directly and the kings have to approach the shramanas having seen their influence and moral authority over the masses. The brhamins approached the kings and by praising him in so much of adulatory poetry and songs,by way of giving their grils as a gift to the pleasures of the kings and thus to furnish his harem with fresh stock and variety and by brainwashing him about the merits of conducting of the yajnas and the benefits of such yajnas like the prolonged sexual virility, perishing of the rival kings, increase of revenue, peaceful submission of the people over whom he has suzernity etc. Having thus established them selves with the gifts of land called brhamadeya, and being under the state patronage, they could convert the local educated elites who are willing to uncritically submit themselves to the brhaminical supremacy. The critical educated elites both in the royal court and in the country who had a spirit of self –respect and independence of opinion and  did not want to loose their freedom of thought  to the brhaminical hersy would have been resented by the brhamins and with the active support of the King over a long drawn and subtle trickery, these critical voices could have been altogether eliminated or silenced. That the brhamins did convert the tribes of various regions and languages is evident from the origins of their rishis themselves for they have originated from the totemic groups of ‘ dogs’;’’frog’; ‘ bradvaja, a special fish’ etc as seen already.

On the other hand, the religion of Buddhism had unlike the brhamins was bound by any ritual or dogma and any communal considerations. It had universalistic values and aspired to bring about the ‘happiness of many and the welfare of many’; ‘ it wanted to share the gospel of welfare and truth’ ; it had a new message and it believed that the path that it has found is a bound to deliver the people from their sufferings of this world and to improve them from their current state of affairs and make them to realize the ‘more’ in the man. Mrs Rhys David ‘s “ Sakya: the Buddhist Origins” has traced   convincingly  the grand vision of the early sakyan  and the message of the early sakyan was decisively from the man to the man. A universalizing religion thus will call forth all the tribes and clans to leave aside its sectarian or tribal idiosyncrasies, customs, moores and adopt the higher, nobler and trutly liberating ways of the Master. Thus, while announcing a new set of values it would be also at once implicitly and some times expressly denouncing the old set of values. The Buddha called forth the men and women to become stream enterers leaving aside all the’hetrerogenous mess’ to use the felicitous term of Dr. Ambedkar and forge a universal brotherhood. Thus, a religion will create a new community or society from the followers who have left or overlooked their own tribal or clan origions. The role of religion as a ‘maker of society’ or ‘Architect of a community’ can not be overemphasized. Many a tribes have in that process of becoming proselytized could have left their gotras, totemic sacred things, objects, customs, even the very name of their tribe and got commingled and transformed into a new community. This, even today we are seeing in our own country. (see Anderson for the role of religion  in forging a community’).[ sacred things themselves not sacred forever, they are sacred as long as the society the god itself wants them to be or assigns them the sacredness. What was sacred may be profane and the vice versa. For instance, the ‘cow’ which was the most abused animal by the brhamins for all sorts of sacrifices and the animal to be cut even at the fall of a hat or flimisiest pretext has become the most sacrosanct logo in the anti-buddhist posure by the brhamins]. A universalizing religion like Buddhism calls for the ‘melting pot’ logic i.e it transforms the followers who have got drawn to its message into a homogenous group based on new values  and thus reconstitutes them afresh into a new community. On the other hand, brhaminical varna system follows the logic of ‘ graded salad’ wherein each one is allowed to be in the pre-detremined space and rank and are also pecked up one below the other thus exhibiting its will to hegemonize the constitutent groups without  interfering into their internal contents and characteristics. Bhraminsm thus is a sort of alliance with the tribes that are outside its pale and except that one point of rallying remaining differences are allowed to exist as such. This sort of brhaminical arrangement should not be confused with the ‘salad’ anology of the modern theories of liberty. The modern theories of liberty argue that each individual communities should be given the right to speak for themselves, they call for the reverence for the  democratic space for them against the tyranny of any monolithic cultural or religious hegemony. On the other hand brhaminism is founded on the rule of irrevocable system of graded inequality as rightly characterized by Ambedkar. Benedict Anderson himself had noticed the difference between Hinduism and all other universalistic religions such as Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. He had discarded Hinduism  as incapable of any ‘imagination’ for constituting a community as its caste ideology abhors such ‘imagination’ as a taboo or profane. One has to see how, the constituting of a community is an anathema to Hinduism by seeking its Bible , the Manu smiriti where Manu, the founder of Hinduism was so contemptuous of the intermixing of various communities where as it could have been welcomed and encouraged by Buddhism and christinaity.

8. The custom of erecting ‘Tipalu’ to the deceased prevailing among the Sakya-Kuliyas: The custom of erecting a ‘tipalu’ is still prevailing among the Sakya-Kuliyas of Tamil Nadu. My mother MahaKavi Pappathiyar had once said that the  culture or customs of estabilishing ‘tipalu’ is  a custom pertains only to  the Sakya –kuliyas. As a matter of fact on the buried  site of the deceased person or in memory of a person cremated, normally a stone is erected and it is called ‘Tipalu’. No special linguistic skills are required to trace the origin of this word. The word is composed of two parts: tipa+lu; ‘lu’ is a Telugu inflection to indicate plural sense of the word. So, the word is then ‘tipa’. This is the same word ‘Thupa’ in Pali and in Sanskrit  known as ‘Stupa’. It is evident that ‘Thupa’ is a ‘tope’ associated with the Buddhists. The Sakyas had established a huge Tupa  and kept the portion of remains of the Lord that they received as their Share. This old custom of the sakyas (in English we call sakya+s; but in Pali Sakya-Kula to indicate the Clan and to indicate a person of the Kula either  ‘Kula putta ‘or ‘Kuliya’) is still being continued by the Sakyas who are now found still surviving in Tamil Nadu. This points also clearly that they are the biological remnants of the stock of the Ancient Sakya-Kula. May be today the Sakya-Kuliyas are not able to establish big tupalus for want of economic prosperity and opportunity. Yet, the custom is not abandoned for want of sufficient means but it is kept alive by way of erecting ‘stones’ on the site of the deceased person either buried or cremated. Normally, the persons who lived a full life and died a natural dealth at a ripe age are buried while people who had unnatural death are cremated. However, both are entitled for a’ ‘tupa’ to be erected for commemoration. 9. Are the Sakya-Kuliyas Vaishnavites? Who is Lord Krishna? Is he the Buddha? My mother Maha Kavi Pappathiyar had once told me a story about Lord Krishna. Lord Krishna’s wife Mahalaxmi wanted their son to get married to the daughter of Duriyodana(Dur+udana= of not good rice), the first of kauravas and the king of Hastinapur. When Lord Krishna’s wife Sri Mahalaxmi went to the palace of Duriyodana and asked  his wife’s consent for the marriage of her daughter with her son,Duriyodhana’s wife got annoyed and shouted at her the following words: “How can I give my daughter to the son of Krishna who is a Mendicant who lives by begging alms from others and who eats the flesh of the dead cow” [ settha madu thinnu sivanandi jatiyat Manda Madu thinnu Mayavanar jatiyadi Piccha ettru thinnu permalink pillaiku Macchi vetu mannur mahzhal dharaomamo?]

The matter did not stop at that level. Having heard of the matter, Duriyodana got angry and went not stolen the cows of  Lord Krishna and concealed them in a cave. This and the lamentations of Laxmi made Lord Krishna to wage a war against Duriyodana and by defeating him he had not only recovered his stolen cattles but also made the defeated Duriyodana to give his daughter to his son in marrigage(panigrahan). What does this story indicate? It says so many things hither to unheard. It puts the legend of Lord Krishna in an altogether new perspectives .Firstly, he is a Buddhist for he lives by eating from the alms ; secondly, he eats the flesh of dead cow a distinct custom of the Buddhist for the Buddhsits are prohibited from eating the meat of an animal killed by them or for them or in front of them which plausibly gives rise to a suspicion that it had been killed for the purpose of hosting a meal to them. Thirdly, not only Lord Krishna but Lord Siva also is a Buddhist for he too is being identified as a person who eats the flesh of the dead cow.

Conclusion: It is evident that the word Sakya-Kuliyar or Sakya-Kuliya categorically indicates that the people who are existing presently in Tamil Nadu belong to the same stock of the ancient Sakyas or Sakya-Kula. That they are the surviving biological pedigree of the ancient Sakya is beyond doubt as the name itself reveals their sakyan origins so glaringly that even the hardline brhamin can not ignore it. However, all the other sub-clans such as Bodhivaru, MangaVaru, Purva Sailias, Arama Sailiyas etc sufficiently indicate that various tribes have conjoined and became one in the TathagathaGarbh bybecoming fused with the nuleus of the original biological Sakyans who carried forth the teachings of the Master to all directions. Therefore, many a clans or tribes have got themselves fused biologically and theologically and thus came to belong to the TathagathaKula  or the  Buddha-hood. Even the great tradition has preserved a wise saying of the Lord that when some of the Sakyans having heard the name and fame of the Lord  approached him with  a great Kula Pride and addressed the Lord Buddha that ‘you are a great son of the sakya –clan or sakyiya –kula’ the Lord rightly reprimanded them for their kula pride and  instructively negated their identification of him as a son of the sakyas and declared that he is no longer a sakya but a Buddha, the awakened one and belongs to the realm of countless Buddhas who have gone forth for the welfare of many and happiness of many even before him and also those countless buddhas who are going to come after him for the welfare of many and happiness of many. Therefore, when we see that following rightly the admonition of the lord that all the sakyas have become the sons of the Buddha, it is clear that all the above kulas of the Sakyas of Tamil Nadu indicate that they are no longer biological clans but clans/sects  / schools of Buddhism that have been established by the sakyans and the brethren who have joined the stream of the Buddhahood. Though, the tradition has held that the sakyas have all been wiped of by the interceine war of the kosalens, it seems that such a story is plausible. No whole sale annihilation of the Sakyas as a ‘kula’ could not have been possible in the hey days of the active teaching years of the Master himself. Further, such a theory does not explain as to what happened to the early sakyans who have adopted the teachings of the ‘son of the sakyas’, one of the members of their own clan. Indeed, sources reveal that the Master had spent most of his teaching years among them sakyas busy in teaching and preparing them as way farers in the New Word,the World Gospel. Therefore, it is quite possible that the sakyans both the laity and the monks could have ‘gone forth’ to various places in all directions to enthuisaticlly preach the wonderful Dhamma for the welfare and happiness of those tribes who are strange to the doctrine and needed to be initated. The great Ashoka,the Emperor, himself being a scion of the sub-clans of the Sakyas could have shown all warmth and reverence to the sakyan laity and monks to spread in all directions to sow the seeds of the Saddhamma of the Lord. The Sinhalese chronicles which contain references to the whole sale annihilation of the sakyan tribe may have recorded ‘the gruesome persecutions’ faced by the Sakyans to show case how the ‘noble’ task of preserving the  teachings of the Master  befell on the shoulders of Sinhalese monks themselves. That is nothing more than, ‘what the people of the lord can not do has been done by us’ sort of pride. What is to be further stressed is that by tracing the roots of the sakyans and their continuance as a stock that is not wiped of by history is not to claim  the part of the ‘levities’ of Buddhism. The only limited point is that the ancient sakya-kula did not die or ‘wither’ away but continued by carrying forward the message of the Lord. What they did is just on being admonished by the Lord, they have not only became transformed from being the proud ‘sons of the sakya-kula’ to the ‘sons of the Buddha’, the sons of the Tathagatagarbha but also  became the sons of the Tathagata Kula. By thus becoming the sons of the Buddha, they have ‘gone forth’ in all directions and taught the wonderful dhamma to the bretheren of all sorts of tribes and clans and received them into the Kula of the Buddha and that is how we see so  many schools of Buddhism in India. Though, the sakyans received so many tribes and individuals adepts into the kula of the Lord, they were known by the clan name of the Lord, i.e the sons of the sakya-clan, the Sakya-Kuliya. This explains why the sakiya- kuliya as a clan consists of such schools of Purva Sailiyas, AramaSailiyas, Siddaluvaru etc which indeed are not ‘kula’s in the sense of a tribal unit but a theological community comprising its own monks and laity and the various men and women who had been the founders, supporters of these schools have transformed and became ‘kulas’ and  under grand name of the Sakya-kuliya and today bear against each other the relationship of phrateries. That, a look into Hinduism or brahminism will make it clear that  it abounds with examples as to the fact that certain religious schools which started as a movement  have later on became transformed into ‘castes’. The well-known examples of ‘srivaisnavas’; the ‘veera-sivas’; the ‘Kabirpanthis’ etc which have become castes over a period point to this fact. The benefit of such possibilities can not be denied to the Buddhists schools just because of the dogma of ‘buddhism has disappeared’ from India sort of theories. Such a grant religion could not ‘disappear’ without leaving any of its traces. Even if take the anology that Buddhism has disappeared from India it has not ‘disappeared’ by way of being’ ‘burnt’ such that  nothing   left out for the archeologist to trace out  but it has been ‘burried’ by the brhaminical feudal oligarchic order. Hence, it is possible to trace it in its full form. However, the archeologist also will be limited in his quest for the search of Buddhism if he fails to see the sociological and prakritic  (vernacular sources) them he will be missing the full reality of Buddhism. Indeed, rather than the casteist hindu sects, Buddhists sects or schools have been always broad based and full of catholicity and thus they have embraced many a men and women and tribes in part and in whole in this region and in that regions in this times and in the past. Thus, the Buddhists sects which have evolved over doctrinal differences or due to new insights and innovations etc have attracted and drawn thousands of followers ranging from the erudite to the illiterate of its times and forged in them a great unity of brotherhood. The theory of ‘Tathagata kula’ and ‘Tathagathagarbh’, the innate eligibility of any one to realize the buddhahood could have appealed to all and sundry ; the mighty senapati to the orinary prisioners for the varna ideology of the brhaminists had either expelled the ‘disobedient forces’ and thus earned their enimity or repelled the ‘low and poor’ and thus lost any opportunity to base itself with mass strength. On, the other hand, Buddhism has appealed to the dignity, self –respect of the individuals and it could give the great hope to the masses to be owners of their own fate ; it gave them the grand authority to rewrite their own worth and validity and before  its great moral and spiritual strength   the debaucherous gods and trickery of the brhaminists could not stand. That is how the great schools of Bodhisatva hood called ‘ bodhivaru’; the Purvasailias; Aramasailias etc have evolved into great mass religious movements. Since, these great schools originated in Andra Pradesh, it is evident that they have reached to the tamil people at the earliest than the Kasi or Gurjar ,Rajasthan etc. The remarkable case ‘varu’ attached to the clans of Sakya-Kuliyas such as ‘suddala varu’ or ‘siddala varu’ etc indicate that they are of Telugu Origin. Given, the origin of these sects in Andrapradesh, it is not at all surprising that the words have  Telugu inflections for indicating the adherents of these schools. These, schools when faced the brutal oppression and persecution in the hands of the brhaminal orthodoxy have lost their patronage of both the kings and laity and thus ceased to be ‘missionery’ sects and became a closed entity and transformed into  sub-kulas of the ‘Sakya-kuliya’ obviously under the grand old banner of Buddhism and became the internal ‘marriage circles’ of Sakyia-Kuliyas. It is natural that on the face of onslaught of the enemy for the ‘birds of the same feathers’ to ‘flock together’. Hence,all these Buddhists schools have become  a biological unit and came to be identified as ‘sakya-kuliyas’, those belonging to the ‘kula of the sakyas’, a composite term to indicate and include all those people who are related to the ‘sakya-kula’. The persecution faced by the ‘sakya-kuliyas’ in the hands of the adverseries must have been very great in the early days. The tamil literature is abound with the references as to the annihilation and implaement of the sakiyans. After annihilating as many as possible, the brhaminical and its adherent forces could have imposed demeaning and humiliating occupations on the surviving sakyas. What has been forced by the oppressors and  brhaminical bigots  still is continuing as a stigma and that is why Today, the sakya-kuliyas are  doing the menial works in Tamil nadu. That the winning race will not give any good stead to the defeated one is an obvious point to prove it one need not set out to belabor it for that would be amounting to quoting Homer to say that ‘ sky is blue’. What sort of jobs and prospects will be there for the surviving Tamil speakers in Srilanka in the post- annihilation era? What sort of jobs and facilities will be there for a jew in the regime of a Hitler? And what what sort of future will be there for a Palestinian in the hands of the Isralites? Therefore, it is easy to imagine what could have happened to the persecuted Sakya-Kuliyas in the distant past? First, they were made to prepare the shoes for the winners for making shoes is considered the lowest in the brhaminical theognomy. Even today, we see in Sikishm that a person who has done something blameshy against the precepts of Sikhism is awarded with the punishment of ‘cleaning the shoes’ of all and sundry entering the temple from morning to evening and the punishment can go on for many a days. Many a laity such as the gahapati, the Shernies today known as ‘sheetys’, nobles could have switched over their loyalties and gone over to the brhaminical system when it had risen to dominance as the legal-political and religious order of the day. Only, a few alone will stand for the sake of truth and nobility of the teachings. Did not we even see that in the face of the officers of the state Peter denied thrice the Son of God?; So, many will be willing to sell their Self to save their skin. It is quite natural for human beings. Even in the 1984 Sikh riots, the valouros race of Sikhs have run here and there and even took to masking and shelter and conversion to escape the mob violence and the persecution in the hands of the unruly hooligans of Hinduism. Did not thousands and thousands of Indian Tribes yield to the force of the sword of islam than being swayed by its promises of  the company of beautiful young boys  in the heaven. Since, studies about the ‘disappearance’ of Buddhism are still to be undertaken from the perspective of the communities that are ‘forbidden’ or sanctioned by Hinduism and from the native prakriti sources as opposed to the study of Buddhism based on sanskrtic sources, the study may look new yet it is nothing but discovering the old, rather the grand old story of the  motion of the wheel of dhamma turned by the Lord.