Oak and the Tribe of the Buddha

[Maheswaran Nair]

Hello
OK, but the association of Saaka with tree cannot be ignored.Of the 
seven lands-saptadviipa-the sixth one is saakadviipa the other six 
being jambu,plakSa,Saalmali,kuSa,krauNca and puSkara all denoting 
flora.Sabdakalpadruma(incidentally druma=tree) says:Saakyavamsatvaat 
Saakyah.SaakyaScaasau muniSceti Saakyamunih.tathaa hi Saako 
vrkSaviSeSah tatra bhavah vidyamaanah Saakyah.pituh Saapena kecit 
ikSvaakuvamSyaah gautamavamSajakapilamuneraaSrame SaakavrkSe 
krtavaasaaSca Saakyaa ucyante."SaakavrkSapraticchannam vaasam yasmaat 
pracakrire/tasmaadikSvaakuvamSyaste bhuvi Saakyaa iti 
Srutaah"(AmaraTiikaa) 

K.Maheswaran Nair
Professor 
Department of Sanskrit
University of Kerala
India
Un

----- Original Message -----
From: "John C. Huntington" <huntington.2 at OSU.EDU>
Date: Thursday, September 29, 2005 9:21 am
Subject: Re: Oak and the Tribe of the Buddha

> Oak? maybe its a joke (sorry)
> 
> I do not think so! Oaks grown in Europe, North America and 
> California  
> (a species called "live Oak") but not in India. My botanical  
> references to India list no oaks. To be blunt, some one is making 
> up  
> something of no merit what so ever.
> 
> John
> 
> 
> 
> John C. Huntington, Professor
> (Buddhist Art and Methodologies)
> <http://huntingtonarchive.osu.edu>
> Department of the History of Art
> The Ohio State University
> Columbus, OH, U.S.A.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Sep 28, 2005, at 10:49 AM, jkirk wrote:
> 
> > Hello Indologers,
> >
> > This is a query that came to the Buddha-L list, and as I too am  
> > wondering
> > about this translation of shakya--any comment, anyone?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Joanna Kirkpatrick
> > ==================================
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >> Dear list members,
> >> Here's a quotation from the new book _Oak:  The Frame
> >> of Civilization_, by William Bryant Logan, Norton, 2005,
> >> page 24:
> >> 'The name of the historic Buddha, Shakyamuni, means
> >> "the sage of the oak tree people".'
> >> This surprised me, and I haven't been able to find any
> >> corroboration on the internet or in my library.  I'm not
> >> an expert on Pali or Sanskrit, so I can't judge the
> >> accuracy of this statement.  The book is not a scholarly
> >> volume, so there aren't footnotes  -- otherwise I'd just
> >> look at his references and I might have my answer already.
> >> Was the Shakya tribe/clan really named after oak trees?
> >> Sincerely,
> >> Greg Bungo
> >
>