The Sakyas as Gautamas: Monastic Self-representation in the Mulasarvastivadavinaya

This article explores the relationship between the Śākya and Gautama designations associated with the historical Buddha in relation to the re-imagination of his lineage in the textual environment of the (Mūla-)Sarvāstivādins and their wider religio-historical context. In particular, it explores the amalgamation of these two names within an otherwise unknown aetiological story embedded in the Saṅghabhedavastu of the Mūlasarvāstivādavinaya, in a unique narrative sequence designed to re-tell the origin of the Śākya clan. Through a close reading of the text, I provide evidence of the story’s many Buddhist and non-Buddhist sources and propose a relatively late date for the story’s appearance. In this light, I further suggest a reading of this story as an apologetic narrative with a polemic agenda vis-à-vis the imagined critique of allodox practitioners adhering to Brahmanical religious, social and aesthetic-literary values, and as a self-representation instrument for this monastic community.