408 Sakyas their privileged position Most likely they were among the most active in the conspiracy against Jesus Since some Pharisees are identified as priests, and some priests cannot be identified as Sadducees, Sadducees should not simply be exclusively seen as part of the priestly clan, nor can all high priests be seen as Sadducees See also Christianity, early; Herods; Judaism, early (heterodoxies); Jewish revolts Further reading: Meier, J P A Marginal Jew: Vol New York: Doubleday, 1991; Skolnik, Fred, and Michael Berenbaum, eds Encyclopedia Judaica New York: Macmillan, 2006 Mark F Whitters Sakyas The Sakya kingdom of early northern India is renowned as the homeland of Gautama Buddha It should be distinguished from the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism that is associated with Vajrayana Buddhism Sakya is identified as a territory on the borders of Nepal and India and had a capital at Kapilavatthu, from which Gautama Buddha’s mother traveled on foot on a visit to her parents and, on the way, gave birth to the Buddha in a park called Lumbini The Sakyas have been identified with a clan and also with the nomadic people better known as the Scythians The Scythians were present during Alexander the Great’s invasion of India and inflicted the only defeat upon the Macedonian as he sought to cross the river The Scythians eventually moved westward and established an empire that stretched as far as eastern Europe during the period of the early Roman Empire The Mahabharata records the Kiratas as rulers of eastern Nepal, and there were other tribes TibetoBurman in nature The Aryan invasions of India represented an influx of peoples who created numerous small states that existed in a state of conflict but also represented increased opportunities for trade In response a confederation of tribes began to congregate in the Tarai region at the far extremity of the Ganges Plain Among the Tarai Confederacy was the Sakya clan This confederacy continued in different forms until the arrival of King Ashoka (r 268–231 b.c.e.), who consolidated the Mauryan Empire into which Nepal was subsumed See also Theraveda and Mahayana Buddhism Further reading: Rhys-David, Caroline A F Sakya or Buddhist Origins Columbia, MO: South Asia Books, 1978; Whelpton, John A History of Nepal Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005 John Walsh San and Khoi tribes The San and Khoi (or Khoi-Khoi) tribes are among the first identifiable tribes in southern Africa The San, considered southern Africa’s indigenous population, were later displaced by the Khoi-Khoi in a struggle for survival in one of the planet’s most unforgiving regions In earlier accounts the two groups have been generally known as the Bushmen and represent one of humankind’s most enduring adaptations to a severe climate Both the San and the Khoi-Khoi, called in some accounts the Khoisan, were adept hunters with their small bows and were able to make poisons strong enough to kill the largest prey, much as the Jivaro tribe in Brazil concocted the deadly curare They would gain the name “pygmy” because of their small stature However, while the San were often hunter-gatherers, the Kho-Khoi also raised livestock The Bushmen over the centuries would find refuge in the Kalahari Desert, where few foes would dare to follow them However, around the 11th century c.e the Bantu people began their historic migration into southern Africa from the north Speaking a different language from the San and Khoi-Khoi and organized into tribal units, the Bantu would change the entire face of southern Africa The Bantu would give rise to the Zulu nation that, under Shaka in the early 19th century, would control much of what is now the Republic of South Africa Cave paintings in the Sahara show hunting scenes, perhaps painted by the Bantu there, from over 2,000 years ago When the Dutch settled what became known as Cape Town in 1652, the life of the San, Khoi-Khoi, and Bantu inhabitants was changed forever Although first intended as a trading station for the vast Dutch East India Company (the Netherlands then rivaled England as the greatest European maritime power), the Dutch in Cape Town, on the Cape of Good Hope, soon desired to colonize southern Africa Inevitably, they followed the logic of conquest: To gain the land they desired, they pushed off the indigenous African inhabitants Called Hottentots by the Dutch, the San and Khoi-Khoi rapidly were reduced to the status of virtual slaves, while the hardiest followed their ancient custom of fleeing into the deserts In a brutal attempt at ethnic cleansing the Dutch launched a campaign to virtually exterminate the tribes to gain room for their own farms and