Ancient Koliya Republic and Ramgram Stupa In Brief
Introduction
The importance of Stupa is also
mentioned in the Buddhist text Tripitaka. There are Buddhist Stupas in other
places as well, but the Ramgram Stupa is the Stupa that contains the Astu(Relic)
part of the eight Stupas built by different kings after the Lord Buddha's death.
After excavating the remaining 7 stupas except Ramgram Stupa, Ashoka Maurya,
the then Magadha emperor, transported the relics (bones and ashes) to different
countries and established them as stupas at 84,000 places. That is why the
Ramgram Stupa is the only Stupa in the world that has a solid part of Astu(relics)
left.
How was Koliya Republic and Ramgram formed?
The
Stupa built by the King of Koliya Republic is Ramgram Stupa, but it is
equally important to know about the establishment of Koliyaya Republic and Ramgram.
In ancient times, King Ram of Banaras was afflicted with leprosy. On the advice
of Rajbaidya(royal doctor), he was exiled from the king and the kingdom. He was
advised to go and live in a forest where there is a kol tree, grind the leaves
and bark of the kol tree and make a paste and apply it on the leprosy wounds.
According to the same advice, King Ram came to the northern region where there
is a forest of kolbriksha. According to Baidya's advice, he started living in
the forest of kolbriksha and also started treatment (According to Ayurvedic
medicine, fibered kolbriksha is also a bushy herb, which is still considered
useful for curing skin diseases). At
the same time the Princess of Shakya dynasty Supriya also had leprosy. She was
also exiled to the forest area of Kolbriksha on the advice
of Rajbaidya.
King Ram of Banaras and Shakya Princess
Supriya were both cured of leprosy while living in Kolbriksha forest. (Due
to the thick vegetation, it was also considered a good habitat for tigers, that
is why this area is also referred to as Byagrapuri in Sanskrit by the Aryas,
and Baghor Tappa in Persian by the Mughal rulers.) While living in the jungle,
a tiger attacked Supriya in the Koliyaya forest. King Ram rescued Supriya from
the tiger. Later, Raja Ram and Supriya got married, both of them started their
married life. After that, neither King Rama went back to Banaras, nor Shakya
Princess went to Kapilvastu. King Ram built a village and the same village was
called Ramgram (meaning village built by Rama). Other villages and towns were
established in the Kol forest area. Later it developed into a state, King Rama of
Banaras and Princess Supriya of Shakya, who were given life by the Kol tree,
named the state Koliya Republic from the Kol tree. .
Rama became the king of Koliya kingdom
and the village built by him became Ram's village i.e. the capital Ramgram.
According to historians, the boundary of Koliya Kingdom extended to Gandaki
river in the east, Churia mountain in the north, Rohini river in the west and
Suryagupta Maurya's kingdom in the south till Pipliban. Marriage started
between Koliyan of Koliya and Sakyan of Kapilbastu and continued till two
hundred years. Giving this continuity Koliya princess Mayavati and Shakya king
Suddhodhana also got married. Siddhartha Gautam was born as the son of Mayavati
and Suddhodhan. Mayavati's sister Prajavati was the younger queen of Suddhodhan
and after Maya's death Prajavati took care of Siddhartha. Siddhartha was also
married to Koliya princess Yashodhara. Siddhartha Gautama later renounced his
home and went in search of enlightenment and attained samyak sambodhi and
became samyak sambuddha. After his Mahaparinirvana, the Koliya king claimed his
right and erected a Stupa on his remains. That stupa is known as Ramgram Stupa
because the Stupa was built by King of Ramgram by bringing the relics.
How was Ramgram Stupa built?
Buddha had said to build a Stupa using his relics after his Demise with Ananda.
After
Lord Buddha's Mahaparinirvana(Demise), Magadha emperor Ajatshatru, who was
present at Buddha's funeral, proposed to take the relics of buddha and build a
Stupa in Magadha, claiming his right over the Buddha's relics. After listening
to Emperor Ajatshatru, Malla King of Kushinagar replied him and said, "Buddha
came to Kushinagar for Mahaparinirvana and then why are his relics taken to
Magadha only?" Malla King proposed that he would build a stupa in
Kushinagar. Later, the Lichchivi king of Baisali also requested that the Buddha
had spent a lot of time in Baisali, so instead of keeping this relic in Magadha
or Kushinagar, let the Lichchvi King of Baisali take it, build magnificent
stupa in Baisali.
After that, the Shakya king of Kapilbastu
said, "Buddha is from the Shakya family, he was also the prince of
Kapilbastu, these relics should be taken by us and a stupa should be made in
Kapilbastu." After listening to Kapilbastu king, Koliya king also
said, "Isn't the right of Koliya king enough for this relics?"
Mayavati, who gave birth to Buddha, was a Koliya princess, so this relics
should be taken by the Koliya king." After that, the Brahmins of
Vidyapith also started saying that although the Buddha was a Kshatriya by
birth, but he became a Brahmin after attaining enlightenment, that's why
Brahmins shoud take this relics and build a stupa, and they should pray in the
stupa.
After listening to all the kings and their claims, the Malla king got angry and drew his sword. Seeing this, all the kings began to draw their swords, and there were signs of war for the relics. Seeing this, A sage named Drona who came there, requested that the Buddha spent his life speaking against war and spreading the message of peace. If you agree, I have a way to resolve this dispute. All the kings were ready to listen to Drona's words and sage Drona suggested a solution, when everyone has the same faith and reverence for Buddha, why build only one stupa? Divide this relics in eight portions and everyone take a portion of it. Instead of building only one, build eight magnificient stupas in your kingdoms. Everyone understood this solution and sage Drona took the ashes/relics and gave them to all the kings and all the kings took them and built a stupa in their kingdom.
How has Ramgram Stupa survived ?
In
Magadha, after the death of the Shaishnag linage king, the kingdom of the Nandabansa
was established. After that, Chandragupta Maurya, the son of Suyagupta, the
king of Pipliban, ended the Nanda Dynasty and became the king of Magadha with
the help of Chadakya. Chandragupta's son was Bindusara. His son and
Chandragupta Maurya's grandson Ashoka Chakravarti became the emperor and
embarked on a campaign to create a united India to fulfill the dream of (Teacher)Guru
Chadakya. During that time, he had to fight with many kings. Emperor Ashoka was
fulfilling Chadakya's dream by doing a lot of violence. Also, Ashoka was in
love with Princess Kaurki from his childhood. Princess Kaurki was the daughter of
Jagannath who was the king of Kalinga Kingdom.
Ashoka attacked Kalinga in order to bring Kalinga
under the rule of Magadha. After the death of King Jagannath, his only child,
daughter Kaurki, started fighting against Ashoka using her inheritance and
finally Ashoka killed his beloved girlfriend Kaurki and incorporated Kalinga
into Magadha. In the war of Kalinga, Ashoka had to kill millions of soldiers.
Ashoka's campaign for a united India was completed, but his heart was buring when
he had to kill millions of people and his girlfriend Kaurki, who had been
helping him since childhood, with his own hands. In the end, he went to the
shelter of a monks for peace of mind. The monks taught the art of experiencing
peace through the practice of Vipassana meditation. He became a Buddhist. He
also made his son Mahendra a Buddhist monk and started preaching non-violence
in the world by spreading the teachings of Buddha.
At the same time, he embarked on a campaign to excavate Buddha stupas having relics built by different kings in different places and to transport those relics around the world to build more stupas. After excavating seven stupas, they fenced them in 84,000 places in the world to build stupas and Buddhist temples.
Finally, when they came to excavate the Ramgram Stupa, the Nagbanshis who were praying at the Stupa requested not to excavate the Ramgram Stupa. Emperor Ashoka, who had renounced violence, did not excavate the Ramgram Stupa after the Nagbanshis made a promise that exavation is only possible on our death. He made the stupa of mud again into a stupa of brick, and returned after making a Bihara for Vichchu to live in. Since that time, Ramgram Stupa has remained as a Single unexavated Stupa till now which is located at Ramgram 7 Ujaini.
· Samyak Sambuddha in Tripitaka, Part 1, Satyanarayana Goenka
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