Asvaghoṣa on Kings and Kingship

The present paper focuses on Asvaghoṣa's treatment of King Suddhodana and Kapilavāstu, the latter's kingdom, in the Buddhacarita (BC) and the Saundarananda (SNa). As I shall try to demonstrate, the poet's depiction of Suddhodana is strongly reminiscent of, and, I think, very likely ba...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Indo-Iranian journal
Main Author: Eltschinger, Vincent 1970- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill [2018]
In: Indo-Iranian journal
Further subjects:B Rājadharma
B Asvaghoṣa
B Ancient Indian kingship
B Dharmarāja
B Yuga theory
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Summary:The present paper focuses on Asvaghoṣa's treatment of King Suddhodana and Kapilavāstu, the latter's kingdom, in the Buddhacarita (BC) and the Saundarananda (SNa). As I shall try to demonstrate, the poet's depiction of Suddhodana is strongly reminiscent of, and, I think, very likely based on, Brahmanical accounts of the rājadharma (BC 9.48) and the dharmarāja (BC 1.75) as they can be found, first and foremost, in the Mahābhārata (MBh). As for his description of the Sākya kingdom, it is obviously meant to be evocative of the "golden age" or, conversely, of its lack of any characteristic of the kaliyuga, which again points to Asvaghoṣa's likely acquaintance with epic descriptions of the kaliyuga and/or the yugānta as they can be found, e.g., in the so-called Mārkaṇḍeya section of the MBh (esp. 3.186 and 188).
ISSN:1572-8536
Contains:Enthalten in: Indo-Iranian journal
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15728536-06104004