CHAPTER - III.

THE MIECCHAS IN EARLY BUDDHIST LITER AT THE.

In Buddhist literature we come across with the words

12 3
Milakkha, Milukkha and Milaoa. As has already been pointed

out, the terms Milakkha and Milukkha are linguistically equiva-

4
lent to Sanskrit Mlecoha. Even Mleccha and lilac a are the
a .5
same.

The Vluaya Pitaka lays down If an Ariyaka

disavows the training in the presence of a Milakkhu and be

0
does not recognise it, the training is not disavowed11. Hero

training means — training in the higher morality (sila),

7
higher thought (citta) and higher wisdom (panna). In other

words, it is related to Buddhist faith.

The text thus clearly distinguishes between an Arlyaica

and a Milakkhu. Racially they might - have had belonged to

different stocks.

The Anguttara Nikaya refers to the Milakkhas as a

people of Jambudvipa. According to this text, they lived in

8 Q
the outlying countries, . which lay beyond the pale of Buddhism.
i 10
They are described as unintelligent•

According to tto Digha Nikgya as well the Milakkhas

11
dwelt in the■ bordering countries.
 68

That the Milakkhas/Mleochas lived in a region or

regions within the Indo-Pak sub-continent is hinted at in t;be

12 ■ —
An gut tar a flikaya. The bordering countries of Jambudvips are

regarded in the Digha Wikaya as inferior to the middle coun­

tries, where Buddha was born. A distinction has sometimes

been made between the outlying countries (pace ant imesu janapr.o-

esu) and middle countries (ma.i.lhima janapada) in Buddhist

13
Canonical texts.

The geographical extent of Maj jhimades'a is given in

the early Buddhist literature. According to the Vinaya

14
Pit
1 aka
1 j
• ■■■
the boundaries are as follows j Hthe little town

Kajangala in the eastern direction .... the river called

Salalavati in the south-eastern direction .... the little to^n

called Setakannika
*• in the southern direction ....
9 the Erahmin

village called Thuna in the western direction .... the mountain

called TJsiradhvaja in the northern direction ....".

Thus Majjhimadesa of the Buddhists lay between

Kajangala, i^e., Kankjol, near Hajmahal in the Bhagalpur

district of Bihar in the east and Thuna, i.e., Thaneshwar in

the west, the river Salalavati in the south-east, Setakannika,

i.e., Svetakarnika in the south and Usiraddhaja, i.e., Usira-

giri, a mountain to the north of.Kankhal near tJardwar in the

 -S 69 j-

15
north. The pace ant a (pratyant a) .ianapadas .of the Euddhists

lay beyond the regions specified above.

the
Some idea with regard to the culture of'^people of the

outlying regions may be gleaned from the Buddhist Sanskrit

text Lai it a v istara. The people are described as dark (and ha! ,
16
speeobless (muka). dull (jada) and discourteous (abhavya).

It is further stated that the birth of Buddha and Bbdhisatbva

in the pratyant a janapada is very rare compared to that in th>

/ 17
Madhyadesa.

Nevertheless, the Milakkhus referred to in the Yin ay a

18
Pit aka. as distinguished from the Ariyakas, were not probably

disassociated from Buddhism. The statement that "if a

Milakkhu disavows the training in the presence of an Ariyaka

and he does not recognise it,the training is not disavowed .

hints at the Buddhist faith which a Milakkha could have adhered

to. The above statement in the Vinaya Pitaka may also indicate

the presence of the Milakkhus in Madhyadesa inhabited by the

Ariyakas.

That the Milakkhus lived in an area yielding lac dye

seems to be implied by a passage of the Theragatha. It speaks

of the white, yellow' and red turban, the last being reddened

with Milakkha dye. It may be held that the Milakkhus dealt in

 .19
lac-dye.

The Milakkhas or MilacfcSC are depicted in the Jataka

stories as barbarians, inhabiting the outlying provinces

(paooanta game) and living on hunting wild animals. The

Mahaukkusa Jataka,20 clearly describes them as dwelling in

forests which abounded in wild life. They were like nomads

2l
roaming over jungles, leading a primitive way of life.

22
The Samkhaphala J at aka refers to their habit of eat­

ing flesh of reptiles. That they did not practise cultivation

seems to be evident from the fact that when they were given

sixteen oxen instead of a snake, they preferred consuming the

23
meat instead of employing them in cultivation.

The only Jataka reference to the religion of these

\ 24
Milakkbus is found in tte Bhuridatta Jataka. The relevant
25
passage runs as follows j-

"Sikhim hi devesu vadanti t^eke,

Apam Milakkha pana devam ahu."

It has been translated by Cowell in the following manner —

"Some worship as a god the crested flame / The Barbarians give

to water that high name. //B.26 It may thus Indicate that the

socalled Milakkhus worshipped water as their god, in contrast

to a different people who worshipped fire. Whether it bears

 \

71 : -

any. .covert allusion to their proximity to the sea or maritime

enterprises is not clear.

The meagre information that we get from the early

Buddhist literature indicates that the Milakkbus lived in the

27
Indo-Pak sub-continent and that they did not belong to the

Majjhlmadesa, i.e., Madhyades'a or Middle countries. On the

contrary they dwelt in the pratyanta or frontier states. The

Milakkhus/Milakkhas could have embraced Buddhism if they liked

to do so. Racially, they were different from the peoples who

belonged to the Brahmanical culture.

The manner in which the Jataka stories portray the

Milakkhas/Milakkhus implies that their position was no better

than that of barbarous tribes, living in forests and on hunt­

ing like the wild tribes referred to in Sanskrit literature

as Sabaras, Pulindas, IT is Idas, Kirabas, etc.

The connotation of the term Mleocha thus had already

undergone a radical change by the period when the Buddhist

texts, referred to above, were written and compiled. Nowhere

in the Buddhist texts the term concerned has been used in the

sense of a language or as denoting the speakers of a language.

On the other hand, it has always been used in the sense of a

people or peoples different from the followers of the Brahmar.i-

cal culture.
Notes and References ... p.72
 72

TOES AND REFEBENOES.

1. Samyutta Nikaya, Pb.V (Mahavagga) , Ed. by M.L. Peer,

London, i960, p.460; Bhuridatta Jat aka In Jatakatthavan-

nana, Ed. by Fausboll, Vol.VI, London, 1964, p. 207.

2. Viriaya Pitaka, Ed. by H. Oldenberg, London, 1881, p.27;

Digha Nikaya, Ed. J.E. Carpehtier, London, 1976, Vol.

Ill, p.264; Thera and Theri Gat ha, Ed. by B.. Oldenberg,

Vol.I, London, 1883, p.88 (Gatha No.965), etc.

3. Mahaukkusa Jataka in Jataka, Vol. IV, p.29l and

Samkhaphala Jataka, Vol. VI, p.165.

4. MHakkha'>-^Milacoha3> Mlecoha.

5. Mleeoha ^Mlekkha > ^Mllekkha y*Mileccl\a'-«'Mileco'a. y

Mllaca.

6. The Book of Discipline (Trans.), I.B. Horner, Vol. I,

j
London, 1962, p. 47.

Ariyakena milakkhukassa aantike sikhatn pa&d.kkhati

so ca na patiyijanati .... (Vinaya Pitaka, Vol.Ill, p.27).

7. Vi. Pi., Ill, pp. 23-24; The Book of Discipline, Vol.I,

pp. 42-43.

8. An gutter a Nikaya, Ed. by Hardy, London, 1958, Vol.I, p.35

(I. 19. 1), Gradual Sayings (Trans.), H.M. Hare, London,

1965, p. 33.

9. Ibid., Vol. IV, p. 226.

 : 73

10. Ibid.

11. Digha Nikaya. Vol.Ill, p.264 (XXXIII- 3.2.).

12. An gutter a Hikaya, Vol. I, p. 35.

13. Samyutta Hikaya, Vol. V, p. 391; Anguttara Hikaya,

Vol. I, p. 35, and Vol. IV, p. 226.

14. Puratthlmayadisaya kajan'galam nama nigamo .... Puratthi-

madadakkhinaya disaya Salalavati nama nadi .... Dakkhln&ya-

disaya Setakannikam nama nigamo .... Pacohimaya disaya

Tbmam nama c%ahmanagamo. Uttaraya disaya TJsiraddha.jo

nama pabbato .... (Vinaya Pit;aka, Vol. I, p. 297); The

Book of Discipline (Mahavagga), London, 1962, p. 266).

15. B.G. Law, Historical Geography of Ancient India, Paris,

1968 (2nd Edn.), p. 157; IA, 1905, p. 179.

16. P.L. Vaidya, Lai it avist arah, Mitbila Institute Series,

Darbhanga, 1958, p. 14.

17. Ha bodhisatt-gah pratyantajanapadesupapaddante, yesu

manusya andh.jltya .lada edamuka.jatiya abhayyah aubhasitain-

amartham .jnatum. At ha tar hi Bodhisattya madhyameaveva

.lanapadesu paddante // (Ibid., p. 14).

18. See n. 6.

19. Milkkhura.janam rattam garhanta* aakham dha.jam / Tithiyensin

dhajam keci dharessanty avadatakam // 965 •// (Thera and

Theri Gat ha. Ed. by H. Oldenberg, London, 1883, Vol. I,

p. 88j

contd ... p.74.

 74

''Scorning their own, the yellow gear,

Some will wear red of foreign dye,

And others will be found to wear

White robes of some sectarian flag."

(Psalms of the Early Buddhists, Trans, by Mrs. R.

Davids, London, 1951, Vol. II, p. 388).

20. Wo. 486.

21. Tie Jatakas, Ed. by A. Faiisboll, London, 1963, Vol. IV,

p. 291; Trans, by E.B. Cowell, Vol. IV, London, 1957,

p. 184.

22. Wo. 524.

23. Faiisboll, op. cit., Vol. V, p. 165; Cowell, op. cit.,

Vol. V, p. 87.

"Vanijlja ratthadhipa gaoohamano pat he addasaslm hi

milaoaputte /

Pavattakaya'm uragam mahantam adaya gacchante pamodamahe //"

24. Wo. 543.

25. Fausboll, op. cit.

26. Cowell, op. cit., Vol. VI, p. 109.

27. An. Wi., Vol. I, p. 35.