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THE AJIVIKAS
UC-NRLF
B 3
351 M?T
By
B.
JV\.
BARUA,
M.A., D.Lit.
PART
Published by the
UNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA
1920
THE AJIVIKAS
By
B.
PART
Published by the
UNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA
1920
JF ofc ofe
3fc jfe)
i3fc oK
3R
PROBSTHAIN & Co. fcjj Oriental Booksellers, Sj. ~*2 41 Great Russell Street "*5 British Museum. J*"
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CARPNT1*
THE AJIVIKAS
A
Short History of their Religion and Philosophy
Part
Introduction
The History
into three
of the
in
periods
conformity
main
are
stages
passed.
of
The
general
facts
about
these
periods
summed
each.
1.
up below with
of
The
Pre-Makkhali Period.
Problems.
ing
The
rise of a religious
order of wander-
mendicants
or
called the
Ajlvika
order
from
of
Vanaprastha
religion of the
Yaikhanasa
in
the
attitude towards
the
bearing yet
asrama
order
Brahmans and the Vaikhanasas, some indelible marks of the parent higher synthesis in the new Bhiksu
three
or four asramas
of
of
the
the
Brahmans.
2.
Makkhali
Pro
/terns.
Period.
Elevation of
of life at
Ajlvika religion
the
into
philosophy
hands of Makkhali
77847
THE AJIVIKAS
Gosala
;
his
indebtedness to
his
predecessors,
originality of conception.
3.
Post-Makkhali Period.
Problems
India,
The
the
further
development
of
of
Ajlvika
in
Aryan
colonisation
extinction of
from gradual
Ajlvika
transformation
into
absorption
of the
the
;
others
faith
;
causes of
the
decline of
the
the
influence of
determination
of
the
general character of a
Pke-Makkhali Period.
of
The
Buddhist
History
records
the
Ajivikas
1
indicate,
was succeeded in leadership of the sect by Kisa Samkicca. The third leader of the Ajivikas and the greatest exponent of their religio-philosophy in the time of Buddha Gotama was Makkhali Gosala who is often mentioned as
the
list
In the
texts
in
the most
of
the
Pali
and commentaries Nanda Vaccha and Kisa Samkicca are hardly more than mere names, 3 since these Buddhist
sacred
personal history
Majjhima,
E.g.,
238;
p.
I, p.
524
p. 384.
Digha,
48; Majjhima,
Papaflca Sudani
;
(Oeylonese
edition),
463
Tattha Nando
'ti
tassa naniarii,
Vaccho'ti gottam
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
chief pupils of a
renowned Brahman hermit and teacher named Sarabhanga. The hermit, known as Jotipala
1
in
one
of the
Jataka verses
name
as
Kondanna
on
the
(Sk.
Kaundinya 2 ).
of
his
built
forest.
banks
that
Godhavari,
the
Kavittha
crowded,
Seeing
there
hermitage
for
became
of
his
and
to to
was
no
room
the
multitude of
ascetics
dwell there
he ordered most
chief pupils
go
them
many thousands
of
of ascetics.
those
went
away
He came
the
city
of
KumbhavatI,
the dominion of
King Dandakl.
It is
Kisa Vaccha, the guileless hermit, was destroyed with his realm, excluding its three subordinate kingdoms, of which
the Kings Kaliiiga, Atthaka and Bhimaratha were the lay followers of Sarabhanga.
3
among
The Jataka
literature
Brahman hermit
is
called Samkicca,
4
who
like
the
past
that
he was a
a leader
successor of
Saiiikicca
the latter. 5
is
But
neither
represented in
sect.
the Jataka as
in
of the
Ajivika
Further,
view of
discrepancy
that
exists
between the
Kisa
two names, by
no stretch of
into
imagination can
the two
Vaccha be transformed
Nanda Vaccha.
with
V, p. 277.
Ibid, V, p. 2(57.
THE
the
A.1IVIK.AS
leader
distinguish
Ajlvika
rest.
from
all his
namesakes,
is
In point of
justify
fact,
then, there
of
to
the
identification
Kisa
or of
the
views
teacher
of
the
ethical
attained
philosophical
character.
Without
this, I
being dogmatic
cerning
possible
enquiries
con-
are sure to
of
the
Indian
hermits,
Sarabhariga.
result, if
The same,
I believe,
will
be the
we enquire into the Jaina history of The 15th section of the 5th Gosala Marikhaliputta. Jaina Ariga, commonly known as the Bhagavati Sutra,
contains a quaint story of six past reanimations of Gosala,
consummated by
putta.
1
his jDresent
reanimation
in
as
Maiikhali-
It
is
stated
that
Gosala
his
first
human
left
Udai Kundiyayana
for religious
life,
who
his
home
early
in
youth
and that
after
(higher
knowledge),
he
underwent the seven changes of body by means of reanimation. The seven reanimations were undergone
successively by Gosala since his Udai-birth in the bodies of
(1)
Enejjaga
;
(Sk. Rinaiijaya),
21 years
(2)
(3)
Mandiya, outside
Cam pa,
for 20 years
;
(4)
for 19 years
in
Rockhill's Life
of 'the
Buddha. Appendix
II, p. 252.
HISTORICAL
(5)
SUMMARY
outside
Bharaddai
;
(Sk.
Bharadvaja),
Alabhiya,
for 18 years
(6)
Ajjuna
Gomayuputta, outside
at
Vesali,
lor
17
years
(7)
Gosala Maiikhaliputta,
not be
Savatthi in
Hfilabala's
One need
surprised
if
in
this
fanciful
enu-
of
years
there
is
of
such suc-
geographical
centres of
Uddandapura, Campa, Vanarasi, Alabhiya, Vesali and Savatthi. This is at any rate the only legitimate inference to be drawn from the manner in which Gosala
Maiikhaliputta
is
made
the
to
his
to
reanimations
in
Bhagavatl.
is
not
difficult
'
reanimation
rather
secondary
teacher
sense.
He
did
not
mean
thereby
that
one
that
having
another, but
one leader having passed away, the spirit of his teaching was continued in a reanimated or Let rejuvenated form in the teaching of his successor.
me
of
cite
Bhagavatl,
issue.
Section
is
XV,
in
Gosala
as
represented,
in
the
"
16th
:
year of
his
career
an Ajivika teacher,
in
as declaring
With
the
seventh
change.
the
left
Savatthi
in
Halahalas
16 years.'"
as
1
pottery
bazar
body
of
Ajjunaga and
the
'
Maiikhaliputta
'
for
space
of
Here by the
space of 16 years
he referred,
only
to
is
Bhagavatl,
See
Rockhill's
Leumann's
from
the
Bhagavatl,
XV.
Life of the
Buddha, Appendix
254.
THE AJ1VIKAS
to the
period
This suspicion
Savatthi,
remember
that
in his
first
where;
he
is
said to
seventh change,
recognised as a
the very
where he became
and
found shelter
Halahala.
1
teacher (Jina),
rich potter
in the
premises of a
woman named
where Udai Kundiyayana (Sk. Udayi Kaundinya) lived, nor does it state the reason why the Udai-birth was not
counted among the past reanimations of Gosala.
But it recluse was homeless a clearly stated that Udai, too, is who had obtained higher knowledge. Can we not reasonably suppose, even in the midst of such uncertainty, that
Udai Kundiyayana of the Jaina Sutra was, like Sarabhaiiga Kondanna of the Buddhist Jataka, just a typical representative
an ancient religious order of the hermits? Are we not justified in presuming that the Ajivika sect sprang originally from a Vanaprastha or Vaikhanasa order of the hermits and gained an independent foothold as the result of its gradual differentiation from
of
would say
yes,
because accepting
a working hypothesis the historian can well explain why the Ajlvikas representing as they did a religious order of wandering mendicants, antagonistic in
as
many ways
to the
religion
of
should and did retain some clear traces of the austere mode of discipline followed generally by the hermits
wood, austere enough to be classed promiscuously 2 with the practices of in certain Buddhist passages' The Bhagavati account of the Vanaprastha order.
in
the
Appendix
p. 4.
II,
p. 252.
Cf.
Hoernle's tranela-
Appendix
295.
I,
Ahguttara, Part
I, p.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
the
past
reanimations
of
Gosala,
quaint and
fanciful
though
of
it is,
117 years counted backwards from Gosala, and to suppose that a new Bhiksu order, having
the
Ajivikas
kinship
with
the
differentiated itself, within a century or more, from a Vanaprastha order from which it arose. It is, at all
am
of a few predecessors of Gosala, a procedure hitherto followed by the Indian ists, e.g., Professor D. B. Bhandarkar
and Dr. Hoernle. I have to premise, therefore, that the pre-Makkhali history of the Ajivikas is the history of a
formative period
radical
during
in
change
the modification of
which they brought about a life of ancient India by certain rules and views of the hermits
the religious
of
their standpoint
Makkhali Period.
The central figure in the history of the Ajivikas is Makkhali Gosala whose teaching served to supply a
philosophic
basis
to
Ajlvika
religion.
His career as a
first
the
in
six
were
of
spent in
Mahavlra whom
the
company
first
time, in Nalaihda
near Rayagiha. After a close association for six years the two ascetics separated in Siddhatthagama on account of a doctrinal difference that arose behveen them, and
THE AJfVIKAS
in Savatthi
shortly
before
The bone
of contention
was a theory of reanimation which Gosala formulated from his observation of periodical reanimations of plant-life, and
generalised
it
to
such an extent as to
life.
1
apply
it
indiscrimi-
nately to
all
forms of
by six Disacaras or Wanderers with whom lie discussed These Disacaras, convinced by their respective theories.
his theory
of
'
'
(bauttaIt
is
under
his
guidance.
stated in the Bhagavatl that Gosala had a severe attack of fever a few weeks before his death and that his words and actions in a state of delirium gave rise to some new tenets
and p v actices
as
of the xljlviyas,
of eight finalities
things
last
drinks
instruction
and four substitutes. In spite of his that his body should be disposed of
of
with every
mark
dishonour,
his
body a public burial with all honours according to his His death was coincident with original instructions.' an important political event, namely, the war between
King Kuniya
There
is
Amga
that he vie
practices
related,
of
the
Brahman
for
'
instance, that
the
sight
of the ascetic
Vesiyayana
raised
of the sun. arms and upturned face in the while his body was swarming with lice,' he quietly dropped behind, and derisively enquired of the ascetic
glare
Evarft
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
whether he was a sage or a bed of
provoked the Brahman ascetic so
to strike
lice.
His conduct
unpleasant
much
that he attempted
This
incident happened while Mahavira and Gosfila were travelling together, a few months before their separation, from the town Siddhatthagama to Kumraagaraa and back.
1
With regard
to his early
years,
it
is
related
in
the
BhagavatI that he
Savatthi.
He
came
i.e.,
of low
parentage.
a mendicant
who earned
came
to
livelihood
in his hand.
derings Maiikhali
any other shelter, he took refuge for the rainy season in the cowshed (Gosala) of a wealthy Brahman Gobahula, where his wife Bhadda brought forth a son who became famous as Gosala Maiikhaliputta. When grown up, he
adopted
the
the
profession
of
his
father,
that
is,
of
Maiikhali.
In
his wanderings,
young
ascetic
Mahavira
the
in
and
observing
that
learner,
hole er
humour and
bitter
the Bhagavatl-account of
is
Maiikhali-
on the part
a
of the
represent the
character,
man
to
of
material gain,
an apostate disciple
Mahavira.
of
disciple,
son-in-law
1
of
He
is
represented as an
I,
p. 3.
10
THE AJIVIKAS
who
deserted the
ungrateful wretch
company
of his teacher
on account of a doctrinal difference, and shamelessly declared himself to be a Jina, denying his deep indebtedness to his teacher.
Even
said to
as a teacher
Ajlvika
sect,
he
is
have taught
doctrines
and erroneous views which did more harm than good to mankind. He is made to appear as a craze before his
death in
even to
historical
his
words and actions, and confess his shame followers. But complete and full of truth though it is, the BhagavatI account must
his
own
be considered as
and cannot therefore be accepted en bloc. As a canonical commentary (Viyahapannatti, Vyakhya-prajnapti), the
Bhagavatl-sutra must be taken as later in point of date than some of the Arigas, e.g., Ayaramga, Suyagadamga
and Uvasagadasao, which are wanting in detail about the personal history of Gosala, and where the account of his views is more sober. The historian is apt to commit a great mistake and do
injustice to Gosala,
tion
if
BhagavatI as a piece of In view of other records coming from the Buddhists and the Brahmans which
the
genuine
record.
contradict
in
many
implicit
points
reliance
the
statements in
surely
the
BhagavatI, no
can
be placed
on
all
believe.
On
we
a
is
closely
examining the
that
in
all
of
the
Buddhists,
there
notice
similar
of
the
later
accounts
conscious attempt to
reconstruct the
to
early
history
as a
these
Jaina and
who walking on
muddy
piece
of
ground,
with an
HISTORICAL
oil-pot in his hand,
SUMMARY
11
to
run away through the fear of his master. The latter ran up and caught the edge of his garment, and he letting go his cloth, fled away naked (acelako hutvfi). I leave it to the sober critic to judge if the above story of Gosala was not a fiction invented by the Bud1
dhist
commentator
the
fact
that
with the Jaina historian in the Bha<?avatl in relating that Makkhali came to be called Gosala from the circumstance of his being born in a
agrees
cowshed, although he does not expressly mention, like But the Jaina, that the name was given by his parents. the Buddhist commentator differs entirely from the Jaina
with regard
to
the
etymology
of
the
name Makkhali,
most celebrated Sanskrit grammarian, differed in this respect from the Jainas and Buddhists While the Jaina as well as from his own commentators. compiler of the Bhagavati derived the name Mankhali
from Mankha,
his
i.e.,
a picture carried
by a mendicant
in
hand
which a beggar carried about him and tried to extract alms from the charitable by showing it, just as in the present day in Bengal such beggars usually carry crude pictures or representations of Sltala or Olabibi, and
of a deity
in Puri they carry pictures of Jagannath),
the
Buddhist
commentator Buddhaghosa had recourse to a more fanciful etymology, viz., that the name Makkhali was derived
from the warning
" Tata,
of his
i.e.,
ma
khaliti,"
!" 2
employer expressed in the words " My dear man, take care lest
you stumble
1
Sumangala Sumangala
Vilasini,
Vilasini,
I, p.
I, p.
144. 144.
App. II, p. 29; Spence Hardy's Manual of Buddhism, p. 301. Cf. Manorathapurani, Makkhaliti the commentary ou the Anguttaranikaya (Ceylonese edition), p. 287. ma khaliti vacanam upadaya evam laddhanamo titthakaro.
1%
THE AJIVIKAS
Against these
ingenious
etymologies
of
Maiikhali
and Makkhali, we obtain from Panini an important sutra setting forth the real import of Maskarina, the Sanskrit form of the name. Panini in the sutra VI. 1. 154, describes the
On
called
comments on the
this
class
Maskarina not so
taught
"
much because
of
staff
karmani,
actions
'Ihe
;
etc.,"
" Don't
glosses
Ma
krita
karmani,
ma
krita
quietism (alone)
later
desirable to you." 1
on the same
sutra
in
Kaiyata's
of
Mahablmsya, and
all
With regard
vlra,
Makkhali with Mahathe Buddhist records differ from the Jaina which
to the relation of
an apostate disciple of
the latter,
who became
the
BhagavatI
in
is
contra-
the
same sutra
and elsewhere. 3
that Gosala
BhagavatI
itself it is stated
became recognised as a Jina and a leader of the Ajlviyas two years before Mahavlra's Jinahood, and
1
Bhanclarkar's 'Ajivikas,'
p.
289
Hoernle's
'
and Ethics.
maskaro' syastlti
maskarl parivntjakah.
2
Kim
tarhi
ma
krita
karmani
ma
krita
karmani santirvah
'
Ajivikas,'
Inch
Ant.,
Vol.
XLI, 1912,
Ill,
p. 270.
3
The
point
is
p.
f.
n. 255.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
that he predeceased the latter by sixteen years. the KalpasQtra rel ates that Mahavira lived
13
Secondly,
in
one year
Paniyablmmi and six years in Mithila. Both the Jainaand Buddhist records agree in speaking of Gosala as a leader of the Ajivika sect and the powerThey also agree in ful exponent of the Ajivika system. ascetics (acelakas), in differencalling the Ajlvikas naked
tiating
their
rules
of
1
life
in
in
emphasizing their
to
morals, in
religious life,
and
in
fatalistic creed.
In both the
Ajivika head-
Savatthi
2
is
mentioned
as
the
quarters.
we meet with
the term in either form is exmeaning a mendicant worse than a person with
ties.
3
household
In
4
Dialogue of
the
Jaina Sutra
The Mahasaecaka
sutta
of
the
Majjhima
the
Nanda
Vaccha,
Kisa
Sariikicca
and
of bodily
sorts of sensual
pleasures. 5
1
The Buddhist
of
literature
forth
in
The rnles
p.
the
Ajlviyas,
set
the
edition,
p. 318,
80,
sec.
120),
are the
same
Majjhima Nikaya,
I,
and
in the Digha,
I, p.
Jaina
Upanga,
-
I,
That the Ajlvikas were naked ascetics and that Savatthi was their head quar-
in the
VIII.
15.
Cf. Ind.
Ant., Vol.
3
*
XLI
288. 483.
II. 6.
Majjhima Nikaya,
I, p.
"those
who
use cold water, eat seeds, accept things especially prepared for them, and have
intercourse
with
women,
238.
are
oramanas."
1
Majjhima,
I, p.
14
THE AJIVIKAS
an Ajlvika named Upaka, who married Capa, the fowler's daughter and Upaka describes himself as having been a latthihattha, i.e., a wandering mendicant with a staff in hand. I have reason to believe that in the Buddhist
of
;
and Sundarl 3 an evidence is lurking of the immorality and lack of principle of the Ajivikas, who did not scruple to get the Buddha into trouble by spreading damaging rumours about his character and
stories
of
Cinca
up a murder case through the instrumentality Although the stories of those two of their womenfolk. declare indefinitely that all the heretics were allied in this
getting
conspiracy,
it is difficult to
was possible because of the fact that Savatthi, where the scene is laid, was predominantly the headquarters of the Ajivikas, and that the Ajivikas were in conflict with other But it can be imagined that both heretical sects.
and Sundarl either belonged to the Ajlvika order, or had, at any rate, very intimate connection with it. Suffice it to say that we have positive statement from the Buddhist literature that the Ajlvika community, like the Jaina or the Buddhist, consisted of recluses and
Cinca
s
l
exaggerate,
is
and that some individual cases of moral transgression have only been generalised by their opponents and applied Eor it is difficult to imagine that if to the whole sect. the Ajivikas were as a body so viciously immoral and
encroached on the decency of the civic society, they could retain, as they did, an important position among the
1
Jataka, Jataka,
I,
II,
III, p.
298
306.
IV,
p.
187
f.
II, p.
415
f.
Dhammapada-Comy. on Verse
I,
:'
She
is
p.
280, as
female
wandering ascetic in
415.
Sundarl, too,
E.
(/.,
is
described similarly,
p.
e.g.,
in
the Jataka,
II, p.
304.
HISTORICAL
rival
sects.
SUMMARY
15
and a
On the other hand, taking a man as man, woman as woman, we can well understand how
such states of things came to he among the Ajlvikas, as anions: all the Orders, the Jaina or the Buddhist, the
Saiva or the Sakta, the Vaisnava
or
the
Christian.
The
Uvasagadasao and the BhagavatI Sutra make mention of a few rich lay disciples of Gosala belonging to the Vaisya class, e.g., potters and bankers, such as Kundakuliya, a
citizen of
Kampillapura, a banker
2
;
Saddalaputta, a rich
potter of Polasapura
and spent the greater part and Ayampula, a citizen of Savatthi. 4 of his ascetic-life The Majjhima Nikaya mentions a coach-builder who 3 belonged to the Ajivika sect, According to the DhamSavatthi Gosala found shelter
3
;
That the Ajivika community consisted of recluses and householders, both male and female, is well borne out
of Makkhali's
doctrine of chaja-
Gosala
7
said
to
holders
in the Yellow
class,
the Ajlvakinis in
the
White
See
Rockhill's Life
of
the
Buddha, Appendix
I, p.
*
5
if.
Hoernle's Appendix,
ibid, p. 9.
p. 31.
Majjhima Nikaya,
I,
B
7
Dhammapada-Comy. on Verse 53. Lit. " the householders who wear white
Anguttara Nikaya, part
III, p. 38-4
Hoernle's Appendix
:
" haliddabliijati
pafinatta
gihi odatava-
parama sukkaNando Vaccho, Kiso Samkicco, Makkhali Gosala." Note that the bhijSti pafinatta doctrine is wrongly attributed to Parana Kassapa. Cf. Dlgha Nikaya I, p. 58 Sumangala VilasinI, I, p. 162, where the dootrine is attributed to Makkhali GosSla.
:
sana acelakasavaka
16
THE AJIVIKAS
In the Buddhist texts,
1
Makkhali
Gosfila
and other
Parana Kassapa, Nigantha Nataputta (Mahavira) and the rest, are spoken of in the same terms as " the head of an order, of a following, the teacher of a school, well known and of repute, as a sophist, revered
five,
heretical teachers,
hy the people, a man of experience, who has long been a recluse, old and well-stricken in years."- In the canonical Jataka Book, 3 the Heretics are compared in a body to a crow, stripped of its gain and fame after the appearance
of
and sweet-voiced peacock, while the commentator, who identifies the crow of the Jataka story with 4 compares the Heretics with the Nigantha Nathaputta fire-flies whose faint light faded before the rising glory 5 Similarly, the Divyavadana of the sun, i.e., the Buddha. contains a curious story of two magic-fights in each of which the Buddha overwhelmed the six Heretics by his
the
crested
Riddhi, once in Bajagriha and the second time 6 There are again canonical Discourses where in Sravastl. the Samana Gotama is described as a younger contemsuperior
porary of the six Titthakaras, both younger by birth and 7 This receives confirmation junior by renunciation.
tradition,
recorded
1
in
the
8
BhagavatI,
pp. 47-49
titthakaro
anuppatto."
s
Sutta Nipata,
III,
6, p.
Milindapanho
p. 4.
II, p. 66.
*
*
s
128
The Heretics are named Puranah KaSyapo, Maskari Gosalaiputrah, Samjayl VairattTpntrah, Ajitah Kesakambalah, Kakudah Katyayano,
Divyavadana,
p.
143
foil.
Nirganthah Jfiatiputrah.
'
Sntta Nipata,
T,
p.
91
Cf.
Samyutta,
*
70.
See
ante, p. 13.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
such
other
Suttas,
17
that
Nigantha
1>y
Nataputta,
a few years,
1
i.e.,
the
former at Pava having been followed by a schism dividing his disciples, the Niganthas, into two
rival
parties.
other hand,
all
represents
poraries of
the
Heretics as
if
they were
contem-
by Dr. Rhys Davids Menander, who reigned, with the Greco- Bactrian ruler
King Milinda,
identified
according to the
Buddhist tradition,
3
the
Samaiinaphala Sutta, exactly in the same way as the contemporaries of Ajatasattu, King of Magadha, I have reason to suspect that the Milinda-story grew out of literary plagiarism involving an anachronism, which can by no means be either explained away or harmonized
with the earlier and more authentic chronology furnished by the Jaina and Buddhist texts. The Milinda account
must accordingly be rejected as spurious and false. The deep mystery which hangs like mist over the relation of Makkbali with Mahavlra cannot fully be
of six Heretics
the
express purpose of
which
is
to present,
on a traditional
it
basis,
an outline of the
derived from
either
the Jaina or
of information,
that Gosala
was one
two
false disciples of
I
Mahavlra,
that
if
to
mean
called
upon
to
pronounce a
definite
Samagame.
p.
143
Ekaifi
samayena
Nigantho
viharati
adhunfi
kfilakato hoti.
Tassa Kalakiriyaya bhinna Nigantha dvedhikajata bhandanajSta annamannam mnkhasattihi vitudanta viharanti. vivadapanna, kalahajata
2
3
Trenckner's Milinda,
p.
foil.
DIgha Nikaya,
3
I, p.
47
foil.
18
THE AJlVIKAS
if
indebtedness,
teacher
than on that
a false
of
one
who
is
disciple.
And
the critic,
judging one
the
way
consider
following
points
1.
That the priority of Gosala regarding Jinahood before Mahavira can be established beyond doubt by the history of Mankhaliputta in the Bhagavatl, confirmed in some important respects by the history of Mahavira in
the Kalpa Sutra.
It is expressly stated in the
of
the
72
years of
Mahavlra's
he lived 30 years as
householder, and spent 42 years as recluse, viz., 12 as a Again out learner (Sekha) and 30 as a Jina or Kevalin.
of the 12 years of his Sekhahood, he spent
upwards
of one
year as a clothed mendicant, while in the second year he That is to say, he spent the became a naked ascetic.
1
first
year as a
member
of the
religious
order of
Pars'va-
natha, whose followers, called Nirgranthas, used to wear clothes, but in the second year he left that order and
"
The
latter year,"
as
Dr.
Hoernle
ing to the Bhagavatl, met Gosala and attracted him as 2 Of the remaining ten his (apparently, first) disciple."
years,
he spent
six in association
with Gosala.
If out of
the
24 years
of
his
ascetic life,
as a learner
and 16 as a Jina, it follows that after their separation, Mahavira had to wait four years longer before
his
Gosala attained this exalted state within two years from the date of separation. Dr. Hoernle admits that this priority of Gosala in regard to Jinahood, 3 But here I before Mahavira is a noteworthy point.'
Jinahood,
while
1
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
would
this, as
19
ask,
is
it
the
right conclusion to be
drawn from
to
disciple
'
him,
naturally enough
who
resented the
presumption
'
'
How of a disciple in taking precedence of his master ? can it he imagined that Mahavlra received Gosala as a
disciple at a time
when he
And
that
neither
Gosala nor
Mahavlra
was
technically
of
two
intelligent
members
the
same religious order, two disciples of a common teacher, and two comrades under the guidance of an Ajiviya leader?
It is clear
animations of
from the BhagavatI story of the seven reGosala that Ajjuna was the Ajiviya leader
Gosala succeeded him
his
of
two years
after
separation
from Mahavlra.
far as it
The
general history
Mahavlra, so
can be gathered
from the Jaina literature, goes to show that he attained Jinahood four years after his separation from Gosala, when he founded a new Nirgrantha order with which the old order of Parsvanatha was amalgamated afterwards,
through the
vatI account
intei cession
common Jaina
school of
Kesl and
Mahavlra, but
the
historical
it
away from
truth
to
nexion whatever with them until after he was separated Apart from this, there are a few from the latter. other facts which go to disprove the Jaina tradition.
These are
Hoernle's translation of the Uvasagadasao,
p. Ill, f.n.
20
2.
THE AJ1VIKAS
That
in the Jaiua
and phrases of Gosala which are neither Ardha-Magadhi nor Pali, but represent at once some older
vehicle of expression or literary
medium, more
i.e.,
i.e.,
closely allied,
as will be
shown
later, to
the Dialect,
earlier
than the
more
3.
literary
the languages
of the Niganthas
to
Leumann
no
and
where the Ajlvika creed is sharply criticized and considerably modified and improved. That the intense hostility of Mahavlra towards 5. Gosala cannot reasonably be brought forward as a proof
of the latter's discipleship
and
is
enemy
of
his to be
the worst of
which
1
is
II, p.
249,
f.
n. 1.
I,
p.
pi
samanupassami yo evara bahnjanahitaya patipanno bahnjanasukhaya bahuno janassa anatthaya ahitaya dukkhaya devamanussanam y at hay 1 dam bhikkhave Makkhali
Moghapnriso.
3
Ibid,
p.
286
Kesakambalo bhikkhave
site sito
unhe
unho dubbanno duggandho dukkhasamphasso, evam eva kho bhikkhave yani kanici puthu samanappavadanam Makkhali-vado tesam patikittho akkhayati.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
6.
21
And
lastly,
Mahavlra
Buddha and Mahavlra, Aristotle and Plato, Ramanujaand Saiikara, or of Kant and Hume, to be viewed
whose views are sharply
out of
the
question,
criticised
by the
former, leaving
instance, whether
in this particular
was a younger
am tempted
must
to
hold
with Prof.
Hermann
Jacobi, that
on the development
of Mahavlra's doctrine,
be
"
we
doubt the statement of the Jaina, that Mahavlra and Gosala for some time practised austerities
have no reason
to
but the relation between them probably was what the Jainas would have us believe." from different
together
;
1
am
tempted,
as
in
other
words,
to
represents,
a teacher at
least,
an
the
earlier
stage
of
the
period
covered by
early
history
of
Jainism and
Buddhism as expounded by Mahavlra and Gotama. Gosala must be ranked among the five heretical teachers who together with Nigantha Niitaputta (Mahavlra) are distinguished as six titthiyas from the Brahman wanderers on the one hand, and from the Brahman hermits and legislators on the other. They are distinguished as a
class
of
recluses
differed
from the
goes
to
Brahmans
and method.
An
Gosala's
tenets
when
biological consideration
and animistic
p. xxix.
belief
were
II, Introd.,
22
THE AJlVIKAS
in the
predominant
physical speculation.
The
creative genius
of
the
older
Upanisad period, the period of the Aranyakas and the Brahmana Upanisads, was followed hy a new spirit
of free-thinking
and sophism
under
the
influence
of
which the intuitional philosophy of the Upanisad itself became sectarian at the hands of the Brahman wanderers, a chaotic state of conflicting ideas and religious
sentiments when
rational theory of
philosophy failed
to
provide a correct
of the universe,
acting as
an unfailing guide
ethical
Sceptics
the
category of
Akriyavadins
It also
the upholders
doctrine of non-action.
may
the
summum bonum
of
Now,
task
to
in
the
absence
of
any
it is
records
from Gosala
and faithful account of Gosala's views and practices. A few isolated fragments have survived, no doubt, in the existing literatures of the Jainas, the Buddhists and the Brahmans, but these too are so much coloured by
sectarian bias and so very contradictory in
is
places that
it
them all into a focus. Before any way can be made, evidences must be collected from all the possible sources of information, and the evidences thus collected must be sifted with the minutest
well
nigh
impossible
to bring
Over and above this, a tremendous effort of imagination and genial intellectual sympathy are essential at
care.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
every step.
?.S
So far as the sources of information are concerned, I may here remain content with mentioning the
following
1.
:
Jaina Sources
I.
(a)
Suyagadariiga
II.
(I.
1.2.1-14;
6)
with Sllanka's
Tlka.
(b)
I)
with
(c)
(Sees.
118
2.
(a)
Samannaphala
Sutta
(Digha
(b)
pp.
53-54)
with Budclhaghosa's
commentary.
Samyutta Nikaya,
portion
of
the
Samannaphala
account of
Purana Kassapa.
(o)
Aiiguttara
(d) Anguttara
Nikaya (Pt, III, pp. 383-84) with the Manoratha-Purani represents Kassapa were a disciple of Makkhali if he as
Gosala.
(e)
Mahasaccaka Sutta
also I, p. 36.
(Majjhima
I, p.
231), of.
(/) The Chinese and Tibetan versions of the Samannaphala Sutta, translated in Rockhill's Life of the Buddha, where the doctrines of the six Heretics are hopelessly mixed up.
(g) Trenckner's
{h)
Milinda-Panho,
p. 5.
cf.
Mahabodhi-Jataka (No.
Jataka-Mala, XXIII.
528),
Aryasura's
THE AJIVIKAS
Comparing these sources and noting their points of agreement and difference I mav mention just a few
characteristic features of Gosala's philosophy
1.
1
:
Gosala
of
1
was, to
start
with,
the propounder of a
doctrine
parikaravdda),
of a theory
trans-
formation (parinamavada), which he came to formulate from the generalisation of the periodical re-animations of
plant
life.
This
is
the
central
idea
of
his
system
2.
lhe
basic
idea
of this
illustrated in the
Bhagavati and
of
Samannaphala Sutta
evolution
i.e.,
implies
process
natural
of
and spiritual
births
is
through
the
ceaseless
',
rounds
the
in the
and
deaths, 3
samsara-suddhi
as
doctrine
aptly summarised in
5
Majjhima 4 and
3.
Mahabodhi Jataka.
Species (sarigati
= sarigai = pariyaya)
7 ,'
,
Nature (bhava=sabhava) 9
" Niyati-sangati-bhava-parinata.
The term is so rendered by Prof. Lenmann. See his translation of the extracts 251. from the Bhagavati, XV, in Rockhill's Life of the Buddha, Appendix II, p. 53. I, Digha the 5 parinata, adjective p. cf. The term is implied in the 3 Digha, I, p. 54: sandhiivitva samsaritva dukhass' antam karissanti, cf. the
1
253,
f.
n.
3)
Leumann (Rockhill's Life of the Buddha, A pp. II, : anupuvvenam khavaittS paccha sijjhanti bujjhanti Java antam
31.
karenti.
* 4
Majjhima,
I, p.
Suyagadanga,
in
I,
1.2.4.
I,
7 - !
the Buyagadaiiga,
1.2.3
I,
1.4.8.
9
According to Buddhaghosa's
I,
p. 161.
10
Digha,
I,
p.
53.
Buddhaghosa explains
meaning
diversified
(nfinSppakaram patta).
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
4.
25
The organic world is characterised by six constant and opposed phenomena, viz., gain and loss, pleasure and
pain, life
and death.
pananaim savvesim bhuyanaim
" Savvesirii
tarii
of the
and the same theory conveys a great message of hope hy inculcating that even a dew-drop is so destined as to
attain in course of natural evolution to the
of perfection in
6.
highest state
humanity.
period
or
The
of
longest
life
duration
fixed
for
the
evolution
greatest in
7.
from the meanest thing on earth to the man covers S4 hundred thousand Mahakalpas.
L>
This necessitates a
division
of time
into
Maha-
kalpas, Kalpas, Antarakalpas and so forth, during which the uuiverse of life progresses onward along the fixed
path of evolution. 3
8.
The theory
of progression
itself
necessitates
the
and groups them on a graduated scale in different types of existence which are considered as unalterably fixed. The Parinamavacla seeks to establish, even by 9.
its
fatalistic creed, a
moral government
of
law
in
the
where nothing is dead, where nothing happens by chance, and where all that is and all that happens and is experienced are unalterably fixed as it were by a
universe
Uddesa I. is an extract from the Bhagavati, Saya, XV, Bhagavati text quoted by Prof. Leumaim. See Rockhill's Life of the Buddhn,
The passage
App.
3
II, p. 253, f. n. 3; DIgha, I, p. 54. Rockhill's Life of the Bnddha, App. II, pp. 253-54; Digha,
I,
p. 54.
2fi
THE AJIVIKAS
10.
It
teaches that as
as
man
is
ways and
he stands highest
of
the
gradations of
name, must be and that the duty one within the operation of man as the highest of beings is to conduct himself according to law, and so to act and behave himself as not
the
law,
to
on the rights of others, to make the fullest use of one's liberties, to be considerate and discreet, to be pure in life, to abstain from killing living beings, to be
trespass
free
from earthly possessions, to reduce the necessaries of life to a minimum, and to strive for the best and highest, i.e., Jinahood, which is within human powers. The fatalistic creed which is a logical outcome 11.
1
of
Parinamamda confirms
its
action has
and
hell
are
consequences
hereafter
of
life.
In accordance with the deterministic theory of Gosala, man's life has to pass through eight develop2 mental stages or periods (atthapurisabhumiyo), at each
which the physical growth proceeds side by side with the development of the senses and of mind with its moral 3 and from this underlying theory and spiritual faculties
of
;
of
interaction
of
it
discipline (kava-bhavana)
tion of soul than
13.
is
no
less
mental (citta-bhavana).
of
The
division
mankind,
or,
of living
concep-
mind which is colourless by nature and falls into different types mlakaya, pltakaya, etc. by the colouring of the different habits and actions, and hence the supreme
1
DTgha.
I, p.
54
Anguttara,
III, pp.
383-84; Majjhima,
I,
p.
238; AupapStika
Digha,
I,
p. 54.
T,
Sumnncrala-Vilasiiii,
pp. 162-163.
Majjhima,
I,
p. 238.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
spiritual effort of
27
man
it
consists in
it
restoring
mind
or
to
its
original purity,
i.e.,
rendering
of all
colourless
supremely
white by purging
1
impurities
that
have stained
it.
By
was not entirely a new growth in the country, but one which bore a family likeness to the older and existing doctrines and theories in the midst of
that Gosala's philosophy
which
it
arose, with
new
synthetic
spirit
seeking to
and the civic and moral life of the Aryan people into one scheme of religious ethics. Considered in this light, a better understanding and fuller appreciation of the theoretic aspect of his philosophy and the practical side
of
his
religion
are
impossible
without a
comparative
expect to show in
the
for
following
his
pages,
constituted
natural environment
own
is
system.
to
Accordingly,
be
conceived as a
whereby the
doc-
firmly
established
theory of
and
in
in the
close
environment
dogmas,
all
interconnected
of Indian thought.
3.
Post-Makhali Period.
the
Jaina
in
potter-shop
life
in
Savatthi,
the
(leaving behind
him
and a teacher
1
of philosophy).
Anguttara,
III,
He
383-84
;
Digha,
I,
53
36.
pp.
p.
162
Majjhima,
I, p.
28
THE AJIVIKAS
may
be infer;
prediction of
it
Mahavira's,
in
seven days
and
he predeceased, as
is
Mahavira, the latter by sixteen years. His death (better Nirvana) was coincident with an important political event,
Kuniya (Ajatasattu), formerly the Viceroy of Ariga and then the King of Magadha after the usurpation of his father's throne, and Cedaga (Sk. Cetaka), the King (better, a powerful citizen) of Vesali.
viz.,
Some important
of the suffering
details
are
and intense pain that attended Gosala's The Jaina historian is fond of looking upon his fever. fever with its attendant ailments as the dire consequence
magic duel which he had so foolishly fought with Mahavira, his former teacher and then his superior rival.
of a
presently
expect
2
to
the course of
The
Bhagavati
:
account
mentions,
among
(a)
Visit of a
company
of six Disacaras or
Vagabonds
(better,
Wanderers)
to Savatthi
Attheda,
whom
(b)
made by
own ideas, from the ten canonical books, viz., Mohammittas contained in the Puvvas and
Maggas.
(d)
the
the
eight
two
loss,
pleasure
and pain,
nimit.tas.
Jaina-Sutras, Part
I,
Introd., p.
xii.
'
Hoernle's Appendix
I,
pp. 4-11.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
(c)
29
Visit
of
Mahavira
to
Savatthi, accompanied by
whom
he tried
some merchants and a fierce serpent in an ant-hill, that he possessed magic powers of destruction which the latter must beware of.
to convince
by a story
of
(g)
Mahavlra's denunciation
of
Gosala
who acted
r
like a thief in
(i)
ciples
Savvanubhui
censured Gosala
former teacher.
Magic duel fought between Gosala and Mahavira, which resulted in the defVat and discomfiture of the
(/)
former.
Advantage taken by the Niggantha ascetics under Mahavlra's instruction of this mental state of Gosala, and
(k)
conversion of
(I)
many Aj
rium
mango
potter-woman
Halahala,
(made
is
in his hand)
" This
know what
is
like
is
like the
root
!"
of
80
(n)
THE AJIVIKAS
Development
from
Ajlviyns
few new doctrines of the Gosala's personal acts and from events at
of
viz.,
the doctrine
of
Eight
last
Finalities
(attha
eara-
mairii)
last
the
last
drink,
the
solicitation,
the
last
tornado,
sprinkling
missiles,
-;
and
who
is
Mankhaliputta himself
the
doctrine
of
Four
;
Drinkables
and Four
:
cattari
apanagaim)'
the
is
by the hand
is
(e.g.,
what
a rock
and the
(1)
or a pot or a jar
which
cool or
it
;
from
(2)
hog-plum
or
is
jujube
fruit
or a titiduka
when
it
drinking of
(3)
its
juice
mudga
or inasa or simbali
beans when
these
are
tender or
their juice;
(A)
'
and
'
the
pure drink
for
six
that
this
consisting
in
eating
food
1
Sutta (Warren's
ed. 17)
is
related
elephant used
their bath
-
and sport
in the
Ganges.
p. 7,
F.
n.
the
first
three
1.
refer to events
p. 7.
f.
which happened
n
at or
Appendix
n.
The commentary explains panagaim by " jalavisesa" vratayogySh, i.e., kinds of water that are fit to be drunk by the ascetics: and apanagaim by "panaka-sadrisani
sitalatvcna dahdpaSama-hetava,"
i.e.,
Appendix
I. p.
8,
f.
n.
HISTORICAL
months
SUMMARY
on
31
wooden
Gosala's
prophecy
magic ])ower, would die of typhoid fever in six months, and Mahavlra's counter prophecies that the former having been hit by his magic power, would die of the same fever in seven days, while he himself, although attaeked with the same malady would live for sixteen years longer the
life
of a Jina.
(p)
declaration
Mahavira was the true Jina while he himself was Gosala, the son of ATarikhali, a wicked man, whose body deserved to be dragged, after his death, by a rope for people to spit at, and buried with every mark of
dishonour.
1
His death in the premises of Halahala's potter(q) shop and a public burial of his body with all honours,
according to his original instructions.
(r)
Synchronism
of
his
in the
series of rebirths
which
is
repre-
sented
by King Mahapauma
Punda,
Vinjha mountains.
(/)
Persecution
of
the Niggantha
Mahapauma
at tin? instigation of
magic potency
(m)
named Sumamgala.
Blind
whom
honoured as the
p, 60,
f,
last Tittharikara.
Heart of Jainiam,
32
THE AJIVIKAS
Those who are inclined to accept the BhagavatI account of Gosala's last days as true in the literal sense,
may
find
their
views
beautifully
expressed in
Mrs.
Stevenson's " Heart of Jainism " (p. 60), where she makes " Now he (i.e., Gosala) the following observation
:
that
of re-animation,
by which he explained to Mahavira that the old Gosala who had been a disciple of his was dead, and that he who noAv animated the body of Gosala was quite another deceived nobody and this theory, however, person
;
Gosala,
discredited
in
the
eyes of the
townspeople,
fell
almost
the
main
facts
to
be gathered from
the BhagavatI
account of Gosala's
object of enabling
last days,
him
to
and
is
And any
can
intelligent
am
confident,
easily
lie
perceive
many
miss
real
facts
myth and
sectarian misrepresentation.
He may
is
all
the
Jaina
is
mad man
to
posterity,
to
whom
and
of
he bequeathed the richest treasures of his wisdom erudition, and, above all, an invigorating message
his theory of re-animation.
I leave
it
hope through
to
how
far
he
had merited such inhospitable and impolite treatment in the hands of the Jaina author of the BhagavatI Sutra. But I cannot help making one or two observations in
passing.
First,
it
Jaina
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
former
is
S3
his
account, that he
conduct of the Niggantha Samanas who had taken advantage of and doubly increased the mental worries and discomfiture of
Gosala by going to discuss with him some serious problems of Jaina religion and theology, and that at the
However,
of his
deliberate attempt to
make
and actions in the delirium of fever, without a word of sympathy for the agony under which he suffered, he has not been able to conceal a few outstanding facts of
for
of Gosala's words
the the
latter's
life.
He
has mentioned,
A\/ampula, an Ajiviya layman, put to his dying master Avas about the nature of the Ha/la insect, just in the same way that he has related that the two ascetics, Mahavira and Gosala,
instance,
that
question which
had separated
Siddhatthagama on account of a doctrinal difference which arose between them in connexion with the latter's theory of re-animation. These two points, marking out as they do the beginning and close of his philoin
sophic career, go only to indicate that he was a naturalist, one whose life was spent in the study of plants and all
other forms of
life,
and
in finding out
scientific
explana-
Secondly, I do not
clearly
see
as
to
what
spiritual
advantage the
Jaina author has sought to gain by describing Gosala's fever as the dire consequence of a ma>ic duel he had so foolishly fought with Mahavira, though
not unaware of the fact that a Jaina himself was inclined to attribute the typhoid fever from which Mahavira
himself suffered shortly afterwards to a similar cause. 1
Hoernle's Appendix, I, p. 10 '-Soon after his arrival at the Salakotthaga Ceiya near the town of Midhiyagama, Mahavira got a severe attack of bilious fever,
:
34
THE AJIVIKAS
any other plausible explanation accounts, whether Jaina or Buddhisclaim the superiority of Mahavlra
his superior
and over-
of
destruction,
than that in
by those
of his followers
who courted
among
superstitious people
visit of
Mahavlra
in
to
Savatthi
respects
with
the
disciples
Ailviyas
position
many
exalted
withal in
social
doctrines
and
to,
articulate
than,
although similar in
many
points
leader fatal to the reputation of the Ajlviya progress of the Ajlviya creed in
and checked
the ancient the
history
further
city of Savatthi
which
is
so
famous
also
in
of
net over
the
a spider
mother creed.
the victory only one-sided, I would ask, or did fact that he o-ain some only to lose others, despite the
o-ained far
more than
lost ?
mean when he
Mahavlra's disciples, Savvfinubhui and Sunakkhatta, were killed by Gosala's magical powers of destruction ? I am of opinion that both Savvauubhui and Sunakkhatta were converted to the
relates that
Ajlvika
faith.
As
of
to
Sunakkhatta
important
in particular there
an
all
fulfilled the people of the town thought that Gosala's prophecy was going to be This greatly troubled the mind of one of Mahavlra's disciples, called Siha."
The discourse is embodied in the Mahaaihanada and in the Lomahamsa- Jataka (No. 94-).
Suttn, Majjhiina,
I,
pp. 68-83,
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
of
35
which
lie
is
introduced
and
in
Buddha
sets
up an enquiry
is
into
which
a circumstantial
evidence proving that Sunakkhatta had something to do and was in some way connected with the Ajlvikas at some
later
period
of his
life.
All
the
stories
about
him,
whether older or
religious
later,
he was
the
sort of
man who
attached
to
greater
spiritual value to
the
moral
a teacher's
greatness
in mystical faculties
He had
joined the
Buddhist
Order
apparently in
the
hope of finding in the great Buddha and his religion of the Middle Path all that he wanted to get, and when
disappointed, he left
it
to
join with
a Korakhattiya in
repudiating
the
Buddha
in public as a theorist
without
1
According
attached
to
Jaina
recluse
go back again
putta.
It
to a self-conceited
Jaina
named
staying
'
Patikain
was while
the
Buddha was
the
horror-
by dwelling on the religious views of Sunakkhatta which were consonant with the Ajlvika
1
" N'atthi
viseso,
relates that
Sunakkhatta reverted
to
Kora the
latter
The
Mabasihanada
in
had been reborn as the offspring of Sufcfca does not mention Kora Khattiva.
The story
story
of
Sunakkhatta
the Singhalese
Amavatura seems
Vol.
I
to
Nikaya,
T.
IT.
Chap.
36
THE AJIVIKAS
and
discipline.
faith
The Mahasihanada
Sutta,
which
lays
Vesali, embodies a
more detailed analysis and elaborate discussion of the principles and practices of the Ajlvikas, and this older account in the Majjhima confirms, as will be shown anon, the Jaina account in the Bhagavati in
many important
phases of Ajlvikism as
it
developed after
Thus with the aid of contemporary and subsequent accounts from the Buddhists I can suggest that the true meaning of the Jaina statethe Nirvana of Gosala.
by Gosala's magical powers is that he passed many a time from one order to another, and that the last order which he joined
of
Sunakkhatta
and the
last faith in
Next
been
hit
as
to
which he died was the Ajiviya. Mahavlra's prophecy that Gosala having
fever in
history.
magic power must die of bilious (typhoid) seven days, I doubt if it can be viewed as sober This prophecy of his is in conflict with his
by
his
statement
that
eight
new
practices
acts.
of the
Ajiviyas
Considering that
is
seven practices
drinking
the
what
the
excreted by
etc.,
hand,
are
apt
that
eighth practice,
his personal
called
the
Pure
Drink,
also arose
from
to lie
example,
and as we know,
starvation, the
to practise this
Ajiviyas had
down
at a time
on the bare
If
grass.
the
of
Ajiviyas
blind imitation
can be reconciled
1
The
Amavatura
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
death only by the
die in seven
37
supposition that he
did
not actually
but survived the attack of fever for a period of six months, during which he practised the penance of Pure Drink in the manner above described, and attained after his death to the immutable world
days,
(Accue Kappe).
The new
the
war between Kuniya and Cedaga, and these reminiscences, combined with Mahavira's second prophecy that Gosala would predecease him by sixteen
memory
of
Gosala's
death,
influence
on Ajlviya religion. An account of this war is em1 but it would be an bodied in the Nirayavaliya sutta
,
unpardonable digression here to discuss the complicated It can nevertheless be imagined that question of date.
the
with tornado
and war made such a deep impression on the Ajlviyas as to lead them to associate these events in their memory, to look upon them as the work of some mysterious spiritual agencies and turn their coincidence into a
doctrine
:
the
last
drink,
the
last
the
last
sprinkling
big stones as
missiles,
2
and
who
is
Marikhaliputta himself.
According
to the
main centre of the Ajlviya activity during the leadership of Gosala and subsequently, and this is confirmed by a few passages of the Vinaya Pitaka pointing to Savatthi where a naked ascetic was invariably as the place
1
Warren's edition,
Bhagavati, XV.
p. 17. foil.
I.
1254: carime pane, carime wire, carime riatte, carime amjalikamme, carime pokklialassa samvattae maliamelir. carime seyanae gamdhahatthi,
-
oS
THE AJIVIKAS
be an
1
sidered to
Ajivika.
Professor
D. R. Bhandarkar
draws attention to an interesting episode in the Mahavagga recording two instances, where a maid in the service of lady Visakha mistook the Buddhist bhikkhus for the
when she saw them "with their robes thrown off, letting themselves be rained down upon "- and the second time, when the bikkhus entered, into their respective
Ajlvikas
chambers, taking
off
their limbs
and being refreshed in body," The Ajlviya lay-disciples mentioned in the Uvasagadasao, the BhagavatI sutra and in the Dhammapada commentary were all either
citizens of Savatthi or residents of
some outlying
districts
and suburbs
potters
list
of
Savatthi,
and bankers
as will
:
(1)
Kampillapura
sattu, alias
in
the dominion of
King
Jiya-
Pascnadi Kosala.
said to
He
married lady
Pusa and
place, a
is
of six kror
measures
a safe
capital of six
six
thousand
the
heads of cattle."
his
He had
the
gods.
Subsequently he
a
is
said to
have become
a
a Jain a.
(2)
Saddalaputta,
rich
potter
of
Polasapura,
in the
dominion of
Mahavagga, VIII,
Mahiivagga, VIII,
15.3.
15.4.
Vinaya Texts,
Vinaya Texts,
S. B. E.,
Part
21S.
II, p.
217.
op.
c-it.
p.
Hoemle'a edition and translation of the pTasaga DasSo, VI. 163. Ham bho KundakoKya samanovasaya devannppiya." Ibid, VI. Hi<>
;
''
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
King
Jiyasattu.
39
married Aggimitta and vied He ran 500 with Kundakoliya in opulence. potteries where a large number of employees
1
He
received
food in lieu
of
prepared a large
pitchers
number
of
bowls, pots,
sizes,
pans,
2
and
jars
six
different
and
used to carry on a trade on the king's highroad with that large number of bowls and jars
of various sizes."
He,
too, is said to
have become
(4) (5)
citizen of Savatthi.
banker
of
Savatthi,
of
who
possessed
Kror
measures
gold
(cattalisakotiyo
mahasetthi).
Dhananjaya, a banker of Magadha, naturalised subsequently in Kosala. The banker Migara embraced o-ot rid of his Aiivika creed and
the Buddhist faith through the instrumentality Hence the standing daughter-in-law. of his
epithet Migaramata,
the
mother
of Migara,
applied to the
name
of Visakha.
There are a few Buddhist discourses which bear out the fact that the Ajlvika propaganda work was not confined to Kosala, but ranged over a wider area extending as far
west as Avanti, and as far east as the frontier district of Bengal (Vangantajanapada). For instance, in a passage
of the
tells
the
Buddha
Ariga and
1
Magadha were
seething with
3
4
p. 384, foil.
40
THE AJ1VIKAS
tittharikaras
of
whom Makkhali
Gosiila
was one
'
and
in another passage
Sariputta informs Moggallana that he met an Ajlvika named 2 Panduputta, the son of a coach-repairer, near Rajagaha.
The
Upaka, of which there are several versions in the Buddhist literature,' relates that the Buddha had met the Ajlvika en route to Benares from Gaya, shortly According to a later version of after his enlightenment.
story of
5
same story in the Suttanipata-eommentary, Upaka having parted company with the Buddha proceeded as far east as the frontier district of Bengal where he was He fell in love entertained by a fowler with meat broth. with Capa, the fowler's daughter, and when their love lie affair Avas disclosed she was given him in marriage. birth given after had life household Capa became sick of to a son and went back to the Buddha whom he came The to look upon as ananta-jina, the peerless Master. District where he had so long lived as householder was situated outside the Middle Country, as may- be inferred
the
from the expression that "he proceeded towards the Majjhimadesa." 4 Thus, the Buddhist evidences can be brought to bear upon the BhagavatI account which speaks of Rayagiha, Uddandapura, Campa, Vanarasi, Alabhiya,
Yesali and Savatthi as the
several
successive centres of
A number
of
Gosala's
disciples
Disacaras, and amongst them may be Sunakkhatta and others. The Disacaras formed a group of six wandering mendicants before their conversion to the Ajiviya religion, and they are named Sana, Kalanda,
included the
"ijjhima-Nikaya,
-
II, p.
2.
Ibid,
1,
I,
pp. 31-32.
p. 170, foil.;
II,
Ibid
Therigatka
Vol.
I,
Paramattha-jotika,
:
II,
Vol.
7,
pp. 2oS-L'(30.
Paramatthajotika,
p.
260
The
his
boundaries of
the Middle
Bhandarkar with
p. 42, foil,
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
Kaniyara,
putta.
1
41
Attheda,
Of them the
to
Ajjana
Gomayuputta
seems
whom
who
of a
is
Majjhima
in the
31)
Pandu's son,
carts.
i.e.,
Ajjuna,
the
son
repairer
of old
24th
year
of
his
interview
with Gosala.
represents
them
as
if
thought and
whereof they
collected
and arranged
into a
canon
consisting of eight
extracts
ideas
made by
the
own
six
should
their
have paid a
visit
to
own and
that
this
literature
have
been
canonical.
The
interpretation
would seem
Gosala
who
survived him
order after
Gosala's
principle
The BhagavatI
Sutra
not
explain
what
the
its
Puvvas
wherein
eight
Some
names
as Sana,
Appendix
p.
249.
42
THE AJIVIKAS
it
state
what
his
was of the contents of the Ajlviya canon. The commentator says that the Maggas consisted of two on music treatises gitamarga-nrityamarga-laksanarii, which is hardly correct. It appears from the Bhadrabahu inscription at Sravana Belgoja that the eight Mahanimittas formed part of the original Jaina canon, although no trace of them, as
: '
noticed by Prof.
one.
2
in
the
existing
There seems to be
at
much
truth in
any
and Maggas with the Puvvas can be rendered clear by the history of the Jaina canon. According to the Jaina tradition, whether &veta,mbara or Digambara, " besides
the Aiigas, there existed other and probably older
called Puvvas, of
works,
which there were originally fourteen." 3 The ^vetambara tradition says that the fourteen Purvas were incorporated in the twelfth Ariga, the Dristimda, which was lost in the 10th century after Mahavlra's
This tradition
is
death.
in conflict
Mahavlra
the
Puvvas
latter
to
his
disciples
called
some truth in this traditional interpretation none can deny. 4 The substance of Prof. Jacobi's views on this point is that the fourteen Puvvas or oldest sacred books of the Jainas were superseded by a new canon, for the very name Puvva means " former," i.e., the earlier composition. The most natural interpretation of the tradition that the Angas and the Puvvas existed side by
1
b}'
Ill,
p.
153.
Appendix
II, p. 249,
f.
n.
1.
3
4
1,
Introd., p. xliv.
xvi, p. 353,
HISTORICAL
side
SUMMARY
was held
first
43
in
up
till
the
4th century
that the
were in
As
14
T areas
*
were incorpo-
rated in
justifies
the
it
The
Dristivada, as
dfistis
name
be
implies,
dealt
chiefly
with the
or
philosophical
" It
schools.
may
thence inferred
the purvas
held between Mahavira and rival The title pravada which is added to the name of each purvat seems to affirm this view." The Jaina scholars headed by Jacobi, Weber and others tend to hold
related
controversies
teachers.
doctrines
in
and partly superseded by the Arigas. The same process of abridgement, systematisation, and partial supplementation seems to have taken place
in
growth of the Ajivika canon. The eight Mahanimittas did not surely exhaust the puvvas when it is exthe
and
consisted of extracts
made
ideas.
ing to
their
own
Some
idea of
the contents of
from
the
Bhadrabahu
:
Bhadrabahu-svamina
Ujjayinyam astanga-mahanisarii-
vatasara-kala
vaisamyam upalabhya."
as follows
:
By Bhadrabahu-svamin, who
possesses the
knowledge
a dire
x.
the
past, present
signs
Hoernle's
Introduction
to
his
translation
of
Seo
44
THE AJIVIKAS
calamity in Ujjayini, lasting for a period of twelve years. It is clear from this that the Eight Mahanimittas consisted
is
chiefly
if
of astrological
It
doubtful
the
Maggas were
Ajiviya
later
community.
to
no wonder
were
additions
although
it is
difficult to say
when
were made.
The puvvas from which the -abstracts on astrological and astronomical matters were derived contained perhaps, like the Puvvas of the Jainas, the philosophical views and controversies besides the
rules
of
the
Ajiviya order.
The separation
of the
Mahanimittas from
the general body of Ajiviya tradition was coeval probably with a change which came about in the life of the Ajlviyas
after
their
master's death.
The change
is
nothing
else,
and
make
The
literary
traditions
of
many
ever,
to seek for
them
or
fruitful
when
discovered.
what At the
present state of our knowledge, I can only say that the the Jainas and the Buddhists, had a Ajlviyas, like
literature of their
it
own, and
it
is
lost.
Prom
the evidence
of the
of
to believe that
has
survived
in
some form
the
Brahmans, and chiefly in that of the Jainas. A few stereotyped fragments that have survived in seem to preserve literatures the Jaina and Buddhist
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
certain turns of
are,
45
though they
Ajlvikas
bear evidence to
that
the
had
developed a literary
scientific
medium
of
side,
or vehicle of expression
and
to
nomenclature
on one
their
own, closely
to
allied
the
Dialect
other, distant
Sanskrit.
It
difficult,
as in
the case
of
Ardha-
magadhi and Pali, to point out any local dialect on which the Ajlvika language was based. Considering that Savatthi was the main centre of their religious propaganda during the leadership of Gosala and subsequently, one may be tempted to hold that it was derived
mainly from the dialect of Kosala, while its scientific nomenclature was partly coined and partly derived from
the Brahmanical literature then extant.
But the objection will arise that if their language was of a local origin, how could it be spoken and well understood over the whole of the Middle Country, or why should it be different, however slightly, from Ardhamagadhi and Pali, although Savatthi was as much the centre of the Ajlvikas as that of the Jainas and Buddhists ? I am far from saying that their language was entirely free from all
local influences,
growth of
no
less
literary
languages
the
in the
rise
than in that of
of
powers
caste
and religious
orders,
to
the
historian
and the
bear in
supposing
the
Pitaka had
local
developed side
influences
were
the
same,
the
differences
between them
and
affinity
with Sanskrit
not so
much
46
as
THE AJlVIKAS
by that of
tribal,
and communal differentiations, conscious or unconscious. The communal differentiation is conscious, while the tribal and caste differentiations arc generally unconscious, and conscious only where a member of a tribe or caste makes himself conspicuous to his fellows by his imitation of the diction and accent The tribal or race influence of some other tribe or caste.
caste
is
;i
place
is
inhabited by a tribe
lines,
or
race.
Proceeding
its
on
these
the
greater
closer
affinity
it
with
Sanskrit
member
of
an aristocratic
and
was adapted
to the
learned
Brahmans, while the Ajivika language having originated with a person of lower social position, and having been
adapted
to the dialects
of the Vaisyas,
e.g.,
the bankers,
and refinement This is confirmed by the fact that wherever in tone in the Nikayas we come across homely dialogues and folk-tales, similes and maxims, it is found that the language differs invariably from the standard Pali of the Buddhist Theras and Theris, and approximates more or less to the Dialect, i.e., to the language of the Middle Country with its local, tribal and caste variations.
matical precision,
the
purity of
diction,
A
is
fuller
discussion
of
this
intricate linguistic
I in
problem
Here
with citing a
few instances
(a)
of
i
:
Gosala
is
reproduced in
Mankhaliputtassa dhammapani
n'atthi utthane
va
kamme
va bale
va
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
(b)
47
The same
is
reproduced
in Pali:
parakare n'atthi
purisa-thamo
n'atthi
purisa-
parakkamo.
sabbe
aviriya
Sabbe satta
sabbe
jiva
sahhe
pana
"
bhuta
avasa abala
niyati-sari gati-bhava-parinata
I, p.
(Dl^ha.,
(c)
63).
to Pali
" N'atthi
balam
n'atthi
vlriyari
n'atthi
{a)
Caurasiti
divve,
mahakappasayasahassaim,
satta
satta-
sarhjuhe,
satta
sannigabbhe,
satta pauttfiparihare,
panca kammanisayaca
sahassani
sahassaim
satinniya
vaitta tau
satthim
cha ca
kha-
kammamse
aniipuvvenarii
XY.
1.).
"
panca ca kammani
ca
tlni
ca,
ca
kammani kamme
asanfiigabbha,
addha-kamme
dvatthi-patipada
satta
satta
satta
sannigabbha
satta satta
niganthigabbha,
pesaca,
2
satta
deva
satta
manusa,
supina,
satta
cullaslti
supina-satani,
In
Rome
edition the
itu'itaih
text
reads va
sijjhanti
sabl a dnkkhanarii
karimsu
XV.
1.
The variant
is
pisaca.
This reading
i-<
48
THE AJIYIKAS
maha-kappuno
ca
pandite
ca
'
satasahassani
yani bale
sandhavitva
samsaritva
dukkhass'
I, p.
antarii
karissanti "
(Digha,
1).
3.
() " Se-jje
inie
gam'-agara
Java
:
sannivesesu
du-gharautavijjuyan-
palaventiya
ghara-samudaniya
" Acelaka
muttacara
hatthapalekhana
titthabhadantika
na
na
ehibhadantika
na
abhihatam
na
uddissakatam na
dvagarika
nimanhonti
tanam
sadiyanti,
Te ekagarika
va
va honti ekalopika,
dvalopika,
sattagarika
"
va
honti
I, p.
sattalo-
pika
Majjhima, v
23S).
above
not
that
and rules
and
their
distorted
forms by
i.e.,
the
in
own
languages,
pectively.
Ardhamagadhi
or Jaina Prakrit.
Eor
ending
while in
is
Pali
declension
"
the
case-ending
in
similar cases
and am
for neuter.
va."
Digha, catalogued as
in
1(b), contains
grammatical
"n'
atthi
atta-kare
is
n'atthi
para-kare n'atthi
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
purisakare,"
49
while
these
expressions
are
altogether
1(c),
where the Ajivika language is more adapted to Pali. The contrast in view can at once he brought out by comparison of 1(a) and 1(c).
1(a)
:
n'atthi bale
i
va vlriye
va purisa-parak-
kame
thamo
It
va.
1(c): n'atthi
n'atthi purisa-parakkamo.
may
draw any distinction in their declension between masculine and neuter stems ending in a, in so far as the nominative
singular
is
concerned.
Mahakappuno occurs
fitted
in
2(b)
as
the language
singular
Pali,
The extract 2(b) also contains an Ajivika word supina, the meaning of which is confounded by the Buddhist commentator with that of the Pali word supina. " Satta
supina,
satta
supina-satani."
of
Supina stands in Pali and Buddhaghosa naturally explains it: "supinati mahasupina, supinasataniti khuddaka supina-satani." 2 but as a matter of fact, the word is Ajivika and denotes
sorts of
hundred minor
for dream,
dreams."
analogous forms suvina in Ardhamagadhi, supanna or suvannu in Pali and suparna in Sanskrit. These forms supina, suvina, supanna, and suparna, when
bird, like its
can well indicate the relative position of the Ajivika language, Ardhamagadhi, Pali and Sanskrit.
side,
1
put side by
Snmangala-vilasini,
I, p.
164.
50
THE AJIVIKAS
The Buddhist story of Upaka preserves an Ajivika expression " huveyya pavuso m with its variants " hupeyya pavuso," 2 " hupeyya avuso," which is Sanskritised in the
;H
my
good friend
!" 5
Huveyya
or
hupeyya which
is
is
over from
and
were interchangeable
language.
ti
same story the Buddhist commentator displays humour by reproFurthermore, in a later version
of
the
" sace Cavam labhami, ducing Upaka's actual words no ce, maramiti," i.e., " If I gain Cava, I will jlvami
:
live
if
The Ceylonese
(p.
is
edition
of
Bud-
no
ce,
maramiti." 7
Cava
usual
or
Chava
form
the
whereby Upaka
refers
the
fowler's
daughter with
Pali
whom
of
he
fell in
love
is
not
8
Pali,
the
the
name being
the
Capo,.
It also
may
be noted that
of
the use of
present tense
is
marami instead
The idiomatic use of the verb can be best illustrated by these " Yena tena upayena ganha, sace na two sentences
unidiomatic in Pali.
:
labhissami
n'atthi bale
marissamiti
sahayata.
"9
;
" 10
Majjhima,
I,
p. 171
1,
Paramattha-jotika,
2-3
*
MahSvagga, Vol.
p. 8.
p.
Lefmann's Lalita-vistara,
Paramattha-jotika,
406.
p.
5 6
'
388
evam
"
pi
nama bhaveyya.
Vol.
II,
I.
p. 258.
C/. Paramattha-jotika,
cemaramlti."
8
Paramattha-jotika,
II,
Vol.
I,
p. 258.
p. 1.
I,
10
Phammapada-commentary,
p. 17,
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
the Pali idiom
is
51
such cases
is
Instead extracts 2(a) and 2(b). " in the Jaina extract 2(a) we aiitam karemti
the
"
in the
Buddhist
The
in
nominative singular
is
properly differentiated.
the surmise that the
numbers and tenses are not Are these not sufficient to justify
Ajivika language
may
be judged
from
its
Ardhamagadhi ?
With regard
said to
to
have been formulated on the basis of Gosala's personal acts and incidents, I find substantial agreement
between the Jaina and Buddhist accounts. The doctrines as enumerated in the BhagavatI Sutra comprise (1) that of eight Finalities, and (2) that of four Drinkables and four
Substitutes.
which
is
These are interdependent as the last drink included in the former seems to have afforded
latter.
It
is
the
drink,
the last song, the last dance, the last solicitathe last sprinkling elephant,
the
Of these, the first four items refer, as pointed out by Dr. Hoernle, to Gosala's delirious acts, and of the remaining four, the first three items refer to events that happened at or about the time of Gosala's death. The conjunction or coincidkara
who
Maiikhaliputta himself.
last
Ajlviya Titthaiikara,
with tornado and war was prima facie turned into a theological doctrine of which the meaning is obscure. The doctrine finds no mention in the Buddhist literature,
52
THE AJIVIKAS
is
it
nor
relates
the
its
Ajiviya attitude
may
furnish a clue to
to
meaning
it
goes
last
be regarded, as the
is
This
texts
corroborated by the
state
which
of
that
the
peerless
last.
masters
(anantajinas)
"
whom
Makkhali
was the
The Ajlvikas act like sons of those whose sons are dead. They exalt themselves and disparage others, and recognise three only as their leaders, viz., Nanda Vaccha, Kisa Samkicca, and Makkhali Gosala. " It appears from the Ariguttara explanation of Gosala's doctrine of six abhijatls, wrongly ascribed to Purana Kassapa, that the Ajlvikas placed
J
their
three
leaders
in
the
supremely white
class
class,
while
" last
and their
more
difficult
to
how many
to
years.
Seeing that
his
the
as
Ajlvikas
their
last
looked
back
Gosala
after
death
suggest the
interpretation
the
doctrine of
eight Finalities
the
synchronism of
Gosala's
death
political events as
and that
Majjhima,
it
is
to be regarded as
testimony of
Gosala being
1
the
524
:
last
titthankara,
1. p.
Kisam
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
rendered doubly significant in
cidence with
53
human
history
by
its
coin-
many
It seems to me that the practices of four Drinkables and four Substitutes were all connected with the hard penance of suicidal starvation to which the Ajiviyas
and that
the
first
religious suicide
(marana indiya) as the Jainas call it. In stage, the dying Ajiviya saint was permitted to
e.g.,
drink something,
what
is
and what drops from a rock in the second stage, he was permitted not to drink anything but to use some substitutes, e.g., to
or a jar
which
it
;
cool or
ing from
or a
it is
to
hog-plum
or a jujube
when
juice
;
mouth kalaya
or muclga or
he
had
to
forego even
In practising the
to
lie
down
for
This indicates
the
longest
period
it
allotted
for the
penance was
having
by
means
of religious suicide. to
This
new method
of death
'
by starvation seems
threefold
i.e.,
thrice-
way
'
{tidha tidha)
introduced by Nayaputta,
method
ayavajjam
AySratnga Sutta,
I,
7.8.12
Ayam
se avare
dhamme Nayaputtena
sahie,
54
THE AJIVIKAS
by the followers of Parsva, e.g., The underlying motives of Mahavlra's parents. barbarous practice, as described in the Ayararhga
apparently
1
adopted
by
this
Sutta,
2.
Endurance
(titikkha).
life.
3. 4.
5.
Sanctity of animal
6.
Attainment
of Nirvana.
is
maranam no
vi patthae ;
na
sajjejjil jivite
marane taha."
nor wish for death
death."
4
;
"
He
life,
he
life or
religion in
his
Lomahamsa
Discourse
The
Ajivika religion
its
is
described there as
and
its
in the
Mahasihanada Sutta by these two expressions purification by food (aharena suddhi) and purification by transmigration (saihsarena suddhi). The four-fold brahmacariya consisted of
1
2.
'
Tapassita
s 3
parama
titikkha,
ibid,
I.
7.8.25. Cf.
titikkha
Nibbilnam paramam.
*
3
I. p.
75.
in the
I. p.
8
7
p.
77
Jataka,
391.
pp. 80-82.
p.
77
Jataka,
I. p.
390.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
3.
55
Jegucchita
comfort-loathing,
and
4>.
Pavivittata
point,
solitude.
Of
in the
i.e.,
met with
Mahasaccaka and a number of other suttas. 2 It seems to me that the fourfold brahmacariya was tacitly implied in Tapassita, and was indeed the outcome of a According farther analysis of the older body of rules.
to
the
brahmacaryya,
the
his
habits
all
passing
for
others
solitude.
As an
ascetic
(tapassitaya),
etc.
;
he had
to
as ugly in
to
his
(lukhasmirh)
be
many
by
his
rubbing
off
it
off
hand of others as comfort-loathing (jegucchismim), he had to move about being mindful so as to bestow his love on a drop of water, and careful not to hurt small creatures and as solitary recluse (pavivittasmim), he had to flee like a deer from the face of men. The great moral
having
it
own hand,
;
rubbed
by
the
involved in this
" So tatto,
mode
3
of holy life
4
is
so sito,
naggo na caggim
i.e.,
iisino,
esanapasntomuniti" 5
in
Naked, no
fire
is
The hermit
As regards
jujube
1
his
food,
live
on
fruits,
and on muggas,
238
;
Majjhima,
I. p.
cf. p.
77.
2 3 4 5
Anguttara, Part
I,p. 295.
Majjhima,
I, p.
p. 536.
536.
Majjhima,
Cf.
I,p.
79
Jataka,
I,p.
I, p.
390.
II. p.
Jataka translation,
230; Dial. B.
208.
56
THE AJTVIKAS
On
this
or powdered.
hariisa
point
Loma-
Jataka
differs
Sutta just described. The former describes the Ajlvika as the ascetic " unclothed and covered with dust, solitary
and
lonely,
fleeing
like
deer
fish,
has been
shown
that
Rayagiha, Uddandapura,
Cam pa,
successive
and principal centres of xljivika activity up These names indicate that of Gosala. till the Jinahood Ajivikism which was at first a local movement of Rayagiha spread within a century or more over the Middle Country,
of this
the
the
extreme western
Ajlvikas had
to
At
this
various
centres
encounter two
formidable
Brahman and
It appears
Kumaraputta, 2
common
enemies.
Ajlvika movement
more accurately,
the
early
to the
The scenes
of
years
of
Gosala's career as
mendicant are laid round Rayagiha and The latter was probably the farthest point
east
1
Paniyabhumi.
in
territorial
pabbajitva
division
aliosi
Jataka,
390; Ajivikapabbajjam
acclako
palavi,
mahavikatabhojano
macchagomayadini paribhunji. ' Parsva's followers were called Kumarasamanas. (Uttaradhyayana, lecture 23) or Niggantba sania'nas, Kumaraputtaa (Suyagadamga II. 7. G).
3
viz.,
164).
In
the Bhagavati
Sutra
we meet with
the
names
Lohiyagaftga, AvatTganga,
p. 253).
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
Middle Country.
river-port
in
'
57
easterly point
is
concerned,
it
Nigganthas (Parsva's followers) even before the Jinahood of Gosala. According to the Bhagavati account Gosala and Mahavira met each other in Nalamda and thenceforward they lived together for
six years in
Paniyabhlimi,
which was a place according to the Jaina commentaries in Vajjabhumi, elsewhere, described as one of the two
divisions of Ladha. 2
Prakrit ballad,
for
The Ayaramga Sutta contains a fine where it is related that Mahavira wandered
some time as a naked mendicant in Ladha of which Vajjabhumi and Subbhabhumi were apparently two divisions. Ladha is described as a pathless country (duccara).
When
dogs by the
said that
the place generally maltreated they saw the ascetics, they called up cry of " Chucchu 4 and set them
It
of
was
difficult
to
travel
in
Ladha.
many
recluses carried staves in order to keep off the dogs (latthim gahaya naliyam). 5 have seen that Upaka, the Ajivika, described himself, while he has living in a frontier district
Some
of
the
bamboo
We
mendicant carrying a staff, his expression pure asirii " implying that the Ajlvikas habitually went about with a staff in hand, which was a
" latthihattho
of Bengal, as a
why
Panini described
the
1
"
it
is
a place in
Vajrabhumi.
8, 3, 2. to.
* *
5
is
to
be listened
Ayfiramga,
1. 8.
Ayaramga
Ibid,
I. 8. 3.
4.
I. 8. 3. 5.
58
THE AJTVIKAS
class of
Maskarina as a
staves
as the westerly
(maskara-maskarino-venuparivrajakayoh).
point
is
So
far
concerned,
life
we have
seen that
out of Savatthi.
The Buddhist
literature
into
conflict
with the
mentioned in the BhagavatI Sutra that the Ajlvika centre was shifted not long after Gosala's death to Punda,
a country at
the
foot
of
the
Virijha
mountains,
of
city
kino;
provided
with a hundred
said
Mahapauma (Mahapadma),
is
otherwise
to
known
as
have persecuted the Jainas at the instigation of the Ajlviyas, whose royal patron he was. The wicked
king was destroyed by the magical powers of a Jaina
Arahat Vimala. 2 It is also recorded in the BhagavatI that Ambada Dadhapainna, a wealthy citizen of the great Videha country, sought to bring about a reconciliation between the The fifteenth hostile sects by conferring with the Jainas. 3 chapter of the BhagavatI MItra seems to have been the
saint
named Sumaiigala,
the disciple
of
record of an age
when
spread
over
Aiiga,
which
some are
countries
division of
Malava,
which were situated outside the territorial the Middle country, e.g., Vaiiga, Malaya, Accha, Koccha, Padha, Ladha, Avaha and
to
The same chapter also points when many Vedic and non- Aryan deities were
1
Sambhuttara. 4
an age
affiliated to
ViiSkhayatthu,
Dhammapada Commentary,
I,
IV. No.
8.
Hoernle's Appendix,
pp. 11-12.
Hid,
4
p. 14.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
the Ajiviya pantheon,
e.g.,
59
The
iijlvikas
believed that
to those
who
prac-
penance of Fure Drink, two gods Punnabhadda and Manibhadda appeared on the last night of six months, and held their limbs with their cool and wet hands;
tised the
if
they furthered
the
work
of
serpents,
and
their
if
terious
fire
arose
in
bodies
consume them. 2
as
if
represented
the twin
Mahapauma. 3
We
and
Punnabhadda and Manibhadda are described as representing two distinct groups of worshippers, distinct from The Niddesa the Ajlvikas, the Niganthas and the rest.
list
includes
and devotees
Ajlvikas,
the
the
Niganthas,
the
(2)
bhaddadeva,
Manibhaddadeva,
Aggi,
Naga,
points to a
time
when
list
the
more
older
of
ten
Hoernle's Appendix,
Ibid, p. 11.
I,
p.
1-1.
1 8
Cullaniddesa,
pp.
173-174
Ajlvika-savakanaiii
Ajivikadevatft,
Nigantha-
avakanara Niganthadevata
etc., cf.
60
religious
THE AJ1VIKAS
orders
of
which
the
five
in the
first
second
various groups
1
of
devotees
which are not to be found in the former. The anomaly thus involved can perhaps be explained away by the supposition that some of the orders had died out
when
or
the Niddesa
older
list
was
Mundasavakas
list was considered as redundant, e.g., Paribbajakas and the Tedandikas or in the case of the
that the
;,
that
the
Devadhammika, the
of
In support
to
the third
may
the
commentarial
fragment on precepts
is
in the Brahmajalasutta,
where there
of the
the
goddess
Luck
2
.
at once judge
for himself
are
referred
Panini's
Upariga the
of
Aupapatika
the latter
The former
speaks
devotion to
clan
and
country, while
Anguttara,
pt. Ill,
Ajivika,
Nigantha,
Paribbajaka,
Dial.
Magandika,
II. pp.
2
Tedandika,
Aviniddhaka,
Gotamaka,
Devadhammika.
B.
220-222.
I,
DIghanikaya,
pp.
in the Milinda, p.
191,
as
ganas
Mails,
Atona,
PisacS,
Pabbata,
Brahmagiriya,
Nataka,
Naccaka, Langhaka,
Paniui, IV.
3.
95-100.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
were called upon
to believe.
61
The very
fact that
Vasudeva,
Jainas
is
Baladeva and Emperor were recognised by the among prominent personalities (Salakapurusas)
evidence that some sort of synthesis
the different religious
an
took
place
in
among
same
communities, living
under the same
to
the
country and
perhaps
different records of
Buddhists concur in
religious sects
pointing
had
to
make
by accepting the deities of one another, especially to an epoch when the Emperor had to be worshipped. as a god.
The Mahabodhijataka
that
politics
also
bears
(Khattavijja)
teaching
one
All
should
seek
one's
material
into
advantage even bv
a
.
killing; one's
1
parents
passed
religious
fact
viz.
dogma.
these
seem
in
to
bring out
one
that such
changes
Indian religion were coeval with the foundation of an empire and consequent on the growth of the idea of
personality in
religion
and
state.
Seeing
that
the
seems probable that the process of deification in religion and state ran side by side with
the
making
of the
Magadha Empire.
no
gainsaying
that
There can be
the
Ajivikas
rule.
the
Maurya
regarded in
by penal
legislation
Jataka, Vol.
V,
ti
p.
228
Khattavijjavadi
It
is
" Matapitaropi
to
maretva atfcano va
the doctrine
ganhapesi.
especially
be
noted that
to
which
2
is
not older,
cf. p. 2-40.
Anguttara,
pp.
77
Tathagato
ca
raja ca
cakkavatti
<lve
acchariyamanussa
;
anutappa
thuparaha. Cf
Qigha
II. p. 142.
62
THE
sacrifice.
1
A.JIVIKAS
be
eited
in
and
This
is
not surely to
as
an
face
in-
the
in
of
other evidences
proving
that
the
ascetics
general
The
naked
the the
samnyasins,
Ajlvikas,
to
particulary
of
to
mendicants
of
like
was repulsive
then as
"
persons
good
taste,
especially
the
the
Buddhist lady
of
the sight
the
Such
of
is
shameless
decency,
expressed
persons,
completely
devoid
3
the
sense
cannot be Arahants."
The same
regard
4
:
feeling
to
more
ascetic
emphatically
in
with
the
naked
Jaina
of
the
mouth
vyafijatiavitah
Yasvavam
The
real attitude of a
clearly brought
of out in a story of the Paiicatantra. the story is that Manibhadra, an unfortunate banker of
The substance
Pataliputra, 8
dream
1
to
was directed by the angel Padmanidhi in strike him with a lakuta when he would appear
251
Shamasastry's Arthasastra,
Ajlvikas at the time
of
the
iraddha and
Those who entertained the Buddhists and sacrifice were punishable by a lino of
175 records the following Brahmanio
hirottappavirahita arahauta
100 panas.
'-
The Paramatthajotika,
belief: "
III.
Vol
1.
p.
Dhannnapada Commentary,
uaina uahonti."
400
"evurupa
Divyavadana,
Ibid, p. 370.
p. 165.
1.
Pataliputra
is
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
03
next morning before him in the guise of a Ksapanaka, and strangely enough, carrying out the angel's suggestion
the
hanker was much surprised to find the body of the A covetous barber Ksapanaka transmuted into gold. who happened to witness this wonderful feat of miracle
no time to go to
the
the
religious
the
Ajlvika,
the
Jaina and
The
the
Ajlvika
and Jaina
faiths
is
tat
puja karau.
"
and
Thus the cunning barber managed to induce the Ksapanakas to accept invitation to dinner in his house, and when they came in a body next morning, he struck them with a strong lakuta as they stepped into his house one after another. The news of the murder and panic of the Ksapanakas soon spread through the city. The tried, found guilty arrested, and barber was severely punished. The Ksapanaka of the story is evidently a mixed character combining the Jaina with the Ajlvika. In the story itself the Ksapanaka is described as a naked mendicant (nagnaka), a Digambara worshipper of the Jinas, (kevala-jnana-s'alinam). replete with supreme knowledge It goes to show that both the Jaina and the Ajlvika, in common with other naked ascetics, had pretension to
supernaturalism
and
of
miracles,
and
that
with
them
perfecitself
Jinahood
tion.
constituted
human
is
The name
banker Manibhadra
fi4
THE
A.7TVTKAS
of great
representing
importance as confirming the Bhagavatl account the disciples of Gosala as votaries of the
Visnugupta's
the
story
is
them with them carried about them, to apply, in other words, his own Dandanitito the Dandins. But this course was not meant to lie adopted literally, since a principle which was valid in theory might lead to disastrous consequences when blindly adhered to in The disastrous consequences here contemplated practice.
to
possess
to strike
the
Ksapa-
paints
character
Ksapanaka of the Pancatantra story, is relegated to the same period, and is a mixed character' representing the Ajivikaand the Digambara Jaina under one name. Mr. Telang points out that Canakra introduced the Ksapanaka to Raksasa, and that a Brahman minister became so close a friend of his as to Ksapanaka who,
2
like
the
itself
by the
The
chief motive of
in
the play
not
far
to seek
Visakhadatta
eulogising
Machiavelli
houseless,
sought to show
dispassionate,
how even
a naked
mendicant,
reality
of
meditating on the
the
a
living
could be
made
friend
century
Prof.
Cf.
Telang's
introduction
to
his
hi
edition
the Mudraraksasa,
p.
17.
Prof.
Ibid, p. 19.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
of ferocious
of
65
Mammon
is
(Mudraraksasa)
1
to
serve as
a tool
Canakya (Canakya-pranidhi).
The Ksapanaka
instead
living
of
of
an exponent
3
of
the reality
of
the
principle
4
(jivasiddhi),
irascihle
respecting
the
teaching
of
for
the Arahants,
or
hot-tempered, greedy
consulted
lucre,
adept in
palmistry,
fortune-teller,
"5
"There
wishing success to
6
laymen
naka
as
in
their
business
concerns,
victory of
the
cause
of righteousness. 7
question serving as
a spy
or 'Canakya's tool'
it is
called,
cannot be reasonably taken as a true repreorder except under the supposition that
sentative of his
his pretensions
demeanour.
Ksapanaka seems
to have a touch of reality receiving confirmation from two older Sanskrit treatises, the Kautilya Arthasastra and the Vatsyayana Kamasutra, which in their general form, style and purpose can be said to belong to the same
materialistic age.
of the houses
and estab8
as
in
much
we
find
JTvasiddhirapi Canakja-pranidlii.
s
5
Ibid, p. 252.
is
the
first
*
'-
Ibid, p. 212
Sasanam alihantanaih.
savaganam. "
"
e
7
"
Dhammasiddhi
4.
liodu
savaganam."
Sakhl-bhiksnkl-ksapanika-tapasi-bhavanesu sukhopaj*ah
I
Kamasutra, V.
:
42
cf.
Bhiksuki-sraniana-ksapana-miilakilrikabhir na samsrijyeta.
am
66
is
THE AJIVIKAS
laid
down
to select
girls
and female
love
ascetics
1
play
is
the
part of messengers in
in
intrigues,
which
illustrated
of
the
MalatI
sister
Madhava by
the
character
the
Buddhist
marriages. 2
disciple Avalokita
for
and friend
secret of
One
in the
may
find
parallels
in
the
stories
Devasmita
in
Kathasarit
Sagara
and
of Nitambavati
the Das'a-
such indefensible
a real
state
How
of things this
is
moral corruptions,
to
although
the
cases
of
prove
that
with
of a centralised
form of government it was possible for Canakya to organise a most elaborate system of espionage under
of all,
whether recluses or
wise or
idiot,
house-
cultivators
or
traders,
male or
female, could be
utilised
for
the
promotion of material
advantages, and under which even a Ksapanaka meditating on the reality of the living principle could
easily
be induced to serve the purpose of a state, as a tool in the hands of Canakya. The Arthasastra devotes two chapters,
XI and XII,
espionage
in
different
It
to
the
subjects
of training persons of
in
(gudhapurus6tpatti) and
employing
spies
(guclhapurusa-
pranidhi).
possible,
Sfthitya-darpana, TTT.157:
,*,
JStaka, L
p.
257.
p. 427.
Divy&vadana,
JStaka,
I, p.
493.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
recluses of different orders,
67
mundas and jatilas, hermits and wanderers, males and females, who were seekers of livelihood (vrittikama) by such clandestine means. The
spies in the guise of female
ascetics
in the
were
employed
to
harems (antahpure), the siddha hermits outside a fort, and the Sramans, if necessary, in a forest. The spies disguised as mundas, jatilas or hermits had to live together with a large following
in the
suburbs of a
city,
pretending
to subsist
on
pot-herbs and
the interval
to
of a
month or two. Thus we have sufficient reasons the Ksapanaka of the Mudraraksasa as true to
the state
of
accept
life,
but
moral corruptions in which the Ajlvikas and the Jainas were implicated along with various other orders
was in no way peculiar to the age of Canakya and Candragupta Maurya, for, as I expect to show in part II, these were among the natural adjuncts to the growth of the centralised forms of government and to the erection
of ascetics
of
monastic
of the
cloisters.
inti-
Ksapanaka with Malayaketu upholding the banner of Malaya country which, according to the Bhagavati account, became a common stronghold of the Jainas and the Ajlvikas, and the use of a Ksapanaka by Canakya
weapon against King Mahapadma Nanda is of some King Devasena Mahapauma of historical importance.
as a
macy
we have seen, and it is not improbable that the Jaina Sutra has confounded the emperor of
Punda
is
as a patron of the
Magadha with
the
foot of
Yinjha
reminds
mountains.
The
very
name
a
of
King
like
Mahapauma's
gates
Pataliputra.
hundred
one of a
magnificient
metropolis
The
Pingalavatsa
the service of
as
an
king
08
THE AJIVIKAS
1
Vindusara as a court-astrologer,
preserves
while a
effect
.Tataka
story
an old tradition
life-time.'
2
to the
that astrology
the
Ajivikas
even in the
The Divyavadana testifies to the fact that Pundavardhana was a stronghold of the Ajivikas in the time of king Asoka. 3 Prince Vltasoka was a patron of the Ajivikas who are confounded, as noticed by
Prof. D. R.
He was
a strong believer in
which the
conflict
The
is
clearly
Buddhist thesis
nagnacarya na jata na panko nanasanarh sthandilasayika va
Na
moham
avisirnakankham.
Alaihkritam capi eareta dharamam dantendriyah santah
sarhyato brahmacarl
sarvesu bhutesu nidhaya dan Jam sa
bramanah
sa
sramanah
sa bhiksuh.
2.
Ajlvika antithesis
Bhuktvannam saghritam prabhutapisitam dadhyuttamalamkritam Sakyesvindriyanigraho yadi bhaved Vindhyah plavet sagare. 7
at
1
also relates
to
that
18,000 Ajivikas
toll
pay a heavy
I, p. 9.
of death
in
Bombay
("al.
Dasakumaracarita,
Divyavadana,
;
edition, p.
21.
p. 19.
Mudraraksasa,
p.
339. Cf.
Dhammapada,
verse
141-142; Mahabharata,
III,
verse 13455
e
Divyavadana,
Visvamitra-Parasara-prabliritayo vatanibu-pnrnasanah;
te' pi
strinanVsrimukha-
paftkajam dristvapi
mohamgatah
bhufijate
manavastesam
as Nirgrantha upasakas.
HISTORICAL
cine
SUMMARY
69
day
in the
the BuddhaDeeply grieved at similar sacrilege committed by another Nirgrantha upasaka at Pataliputra, the king burned him alive together with his kinsmen, and announced by a royal proclamation that the reward of a XHnara would be given to a person avIio could produce the
Nirgrantha upasaka
image.
among
the victims.'2
It
is
in-
conceivable
The tradition just referred to must be regarded as spurious and baseless for the simple reason that the Buddha is nowhere represented by an image in any sculpture which can be dated in Asokan age. We are aware, moreover, that King As'oka in his seventh Pillar Edict, where he sums up the various measures adopted by him towards the propagation of dhanmia, expressly states that he had employed his Dharmamahamatras for
believe.
to,
other
Brahmans, the Ajlvikas and the Jainas, as among Furthermore, the king elsewhere 3 sects.*
that
declares
he granted
two
cave-dwellings
to
the
Ajlvikas
years.
Divyavadana,
p.
Paudavardhane
ekadivase
astadasasah-
asrauyajivikauam praghatitani.
3
Devanam
Dhamma Mahamatapi me
me
ime viyapata
pi
te
bahuvidhesu
se saihghatasi pi
pi
me
;
kate
hohamtiti
nigamthesu
me me
3
kate
ime
viyapata
liohamti
nanapasathdesu
me
hohamtiti.
mahamatS dhammamahamatS
cu
amnesu pasamdesu.
Piyadasina davadasavasabhi (sitena)
duvadasavasabhisitena
(2)
i.e.,
Cave Inscriptions
(1) Lajina
iyam nigohaknbha
dina ajivikehi:
LSjina Piyadasina
70
THK AJIV1KAS
liberality
on the
of the
Mauryas even
Asoka
is
the
Nagarjuni
succeeded
made by King
Das'aratha,
in
who perhaps
throne
of
grandfather
Asoka
the
Magadha.
ing
gifts
No
to
inscription has
sect,
any other
Buddhists
which one might well expect from him, seeing that he was the grandson and successor of the greatest Buddhist Emperor of India. The presumption is that whatever his faith may have been, his mind was
obsessed
with
the
to the
time of Pataiijali
circa
who
placed by modern
scholars in
Pataiijali
150 B.C.
in
his
comment on
154,
staff
name Maskari
he taught
"ma
kritakarmani,
actions,
ma
krita-
karmani,"
actions,
"don't
perform
don't
in
perform
departure
from
he had no personal
The Milindapaiiho
wrongly
represented
some
is
who
contemporary
of
Mil in da
1
(Menander B.C.
is
in essence the
same
as that
which
be found
in the
Samaniiaphala Sutta,
it
N'attlii
Kusalakusalani
kammaui,
te
n'atthi
sukatadukkatanam
puna
ye te idhaloke khattiya
paralokath gantva ip
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
as this of
71
his
general theory
is
evolution,
that
even a dew-drop
destined
to attain perfection
through transmigration.
if
It
would be
interesting, nevertheless,
its
Sagala,
of
situated
island
as to
to
Alexandria), enumerated
port.
1
an important
the
Here
in the
would
just
two controversies
common
the Jainas
(1) the controversy as to
whether water
udakam
(2) the
a crime
"
Na
attanarii
patetabbam ?" s
The BhagavatI Sutra also refers to an Ajlviya committing religious suicide at Vicleha some centuries after
Gosala's
death. 4
When
Chinese pilgrim
sects
of
Northern
India in
Savatthi,
is
that
time on
of
history
the
Ajlvikas found
Middle Country.
list
Referring to
laying
tions
Varahamihira's
of
religious
orders
down
and planets, 3
his
enumeration
was based
Rhys Davids
Mahaniddesa, p. 155,
Indus.
4
of
opinion
that
it
was an
island in
the
Milinda
p.
25S.
Ibid, p. 195.
Hoernle's .Appendix
8
I, p.
14.
Vrihajjataka,
XV.
1.
in
72
THE AJIVIKAS
Kalakacarya, and substantiates his position by
teacher
citation of actual
list
words of the
latter.
Varahamihira's
includes
man.
(5)
naked one.
(7)
Vanyasana, or hermit. 2
5
There are two lists' of Kalakacarya. The explained by the commentator comprises
:
first list
as
Tavasia=Tapasika, hermit.
Kavalia = Kapalika, skull bearer.
scarlet robe.
Caraa = Caraka. = Ksapanaka. (7) Khavanai The second list consists of sagnika. (1) Jalana=jvalana, God- worshipper, (2) Hara=Tsvarabhakta,
taraka.
(3)
i.e.,
Bhat-
Sugaya = Sugata,
i.e.,
Buddhist.
of Kesava,
(4)
Kesava=Kesavabhakta, worshipper
i.e.,
Bhagavata.
(5) Sui
= Srutimargarata,
i.e.,
of sruti,
Mlmfuhsaka.
Sakyo raktapatah
kiipali
Ajivikas eaikadandi
Vriddbasravakab
carako cakradbarab
kah
vanyaSanah tapasvT.
Commentary
hitl-cave
inscriptions of
XX,
p.
362.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
(6)
73 of
Brahma
Vanaprastha.
i.e.,
(7)
Ksapanaka.
Professor
service
R.
by rectifying a fatal error in the interpretation of Utpala's commentary, which led such veteran Sanskritists as Professors Kern and Biihler to suppose that the Ajlvikas were the worshippers of Narayana, i.e., Bhagavatas. But now thanks to Prof. Bhandarkar no one doubts that Utpala's meaning was just the contrary. The Ajlvikas and the Bhagavatas furnished him with a typical instance whereby he could illustrate upalaksana, a figure of
1
" Ajivikagrahanam
to accept
Thus we
distinct
Varahamihira
who
is
A.D. 525), the celebrated astronomer said to have been one of the nine gems adorning
the court of
of eastern
King Vikramaditya
to
that
Avanti
in
the
whose reign
by
eclecticism in
and adherents
dominion, where he listened to their respective views (svan svan siddhantani), 3 and the Kumbha-mela
taking place at the interval of twelve years
institution
is
modern
which serves the same purpose of bringing together the different sects from the various parts of the
1
p. 116.
265
10
74
THE AJIVIKAS
These sects and schools in the Harsacarita
others
:
country.
in-
cluded
(1)
among
calls
them
as
(3) (4)
of Visnu,
i.e.,
Vais-
vavas
(5)
Varnis
= Brahmacaris
(?)
;
(6)
Kesaluncanas
(12) Aisvarakaranikas
(13)
= Naiyayikas
; ;
Karandhas = Hetuvadins
(14) Dharmas'astris=^Smritijnas
this list
which are
of the
(a) that
the
name maskarl
is
used to denote
the
wanderers in general, a significant fact showing that the Ajivikas did not give up their nomadic habits up till
the
7th
not a solitary instance Buddhist as a (6) that the commentator uses the term
synonym
of
and
schools
among
others, the
etc.,
whose names can be traced neither in the texts that are pre-Asokan in date, nor in the Brahmanical works that can be dated
Hindu
as pre-Paninian.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
75
the
of
As regards the first point, it is important to note that Amarakosa counts the Maskarl among the five classes
samnyasins,
1
1076)
the Ajlvaka
distinguished
from a Parivrat or
wandering mendicant practising very severe austerities, 2 and in two later Jaina and Buddhist works the ckadandin and the tridandin are enumerated as two divisions of
Parivrajakas 3 or Paramahamsas
in
faculties
who
aspired
worldly concerns. 4
With regard
that
it
is
to the
second point,
it
may
for
be noticed
not a solitary
been
confounded
with
the
Buddhist,
there are
other cases, where the Ajivika has been confounded with the Jaina, 6 and the Buddhist with the Ajivika. 7 Indeed,
such confusions of sects as these have no meaning in history except as showing that the sects thus confounded the one with the other appeared to have a close kinship
between them
the
to the
eye of an
outsider.
Accordingly
Divyavadana conis that the two sects living side by side at Pundavardhana differed so slightly from each other, whether in their views or in their outward appearances, that it was difficult for a
of
meaning
the passage of
the
Amarakosa, VII.
Acarasara,
5. 42.
XI.
127
Parivrad...ugraearavanapi
Sjivakah.
See
Pathak's
Ajivikas,'
3
verse 545
ekadandi-
Sarojavajra's
uvesafi.
Dohakosa
Eka(va)
in
dandi
tridandi
bhava
above
vesen
says
:
viruia
hosa
hafisa
Advayavajra
his
comments on the
See
ekadandi-
tridandi
bhagavavesam bhavati
na
labhyate
varan na
fiSnam
sarvasannyasatvat.
pp. 82-84.
5
Divyavadana,
p. 42.
XI.
127
" ajTvikah
bauddhabhedam
",
i.e.
76
THE AJIVIKAS
Buddhist observer to draw any sharp distinction between them. Similarly with reference to the passage where the
commentator of the Harsacarita identifies the Jaina other than the Svetambara with the Buddhist, the historian is that his suggestion was based either to understand upon hearsay or that he had kept in view some particular sect of
who
closely resembled
the Jaina,
Savatthi,
the
sect
of
from Fa-Hien's account, to the end of the 4th century A.D., and a remnant of whose practices the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsiang found to be in use at
as appears
Karnasuvarna
in Eastern
Bengal
in
the time of
King
Harsavardhana.
The followers
of
Buddhists in the sense that they did not pay homage to Gotama Buddha, but they must be said to have been Buddhists in the sense that they showed reverence to
three previous
Buddhas.
As
Hindu
Hiudu who
is
taught
to believe
the Risis of old, long before the appearance of two powerful heresies,
known
as
the oldest
definitely
known
Sanskrit text of
among
cerned,
the
1
typical
instances
of
speculative philosophy
literature
is
(anviksaki).
con-
the
Milinda-Panho
is
the
oldest
text
which
Yoga, the Nlti and the Visesika in the list of the various sciences and arts studied by King Menander in the 2nd century B.C.
includes
the
Samkhya,
the
Milinda-Paflho, p.
Beat's Records
3.
of
the Western
World,
II. p.
201
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
The subsequent
77
up from a few
stray
references
all
to
them
in
literature
parts
Prof.
of
India,
particularly
in
Pathak in his paper on the Ajlvikas has collected some important references from the Digambara Jaina works extant in the Canarese country. In the oldest of them, dated Saka 1076, the Ajlvikas are represented as a Buddhist denomination, and
1
Deccan proper.
existence
in the
heaven
Hindu
whose aspiration did not reach beyond the Brahma- world. 2 In another work belonging to the same age, the Ajlvikas entitled to the immutable state are distinguished similarly from the Carayas and the Parirhbajas? In a third work, the Carakas are characterised as naked, while the Ekadandin and the Tridandin are enumerated as two main divisions of the Parivrajakas.* In the fourth, the
Parivrcit,
Kamji, 5 while
8
13th
who
were meat-eaters.
is
led to conclude
Prom these references Prof. Pathak that " the Ajlvikas were well-known to
the
later
Chalukya and Yadava periods as a sect of Buddhist Bhikshus who lived solely or chiefly on Kamji. "
the
Jaina authors of
7
f.
Caraya ya
paririibaja
Commentary on
bauddhabhedam appakamji
Ajfva ambila-kSlan umbaru.
Buddhist argument
in
favour of meat-eating
is
said to
be
adagam timbarn.
See
Mftghanandi's Sravakacara.
'
p. 90.
78
THE AJIVIKAS
in
Madras
Presi-
century,
of poll-tax
for
The reasons
imposition
tax
are
nowhere
the Ajlvika
movement
to
merge
their identity
ascetics.
compel the Ajlvikas by external pressure in the Shivaite and other orders
of
Hindu
of the
Ajlvikas rang-
twenty centuries
is
to
be
conceived as
long and intricate process of religious development in the country which led ultimately to the extinction of
the sect.
The foregoing investigation has shown that the Ajlvika movement which commenced in the 7th or the 8th century B. C, somewhere near the Gangetic
and was confined at first to the tract of land between Campa and Benares, gradually extended to Within a few centuries of Gosala's death this Savatthi.
valley,
movement
of the
crossed
at
many
Middle country.
two important centres of the Ajlvika activity in the time At the time when the Jaina Bhagavati of King Asoka. Sutra was compiled their influence was diffused over the whole of Northern India from the Bay of Bengal to the
Gulf of Cutch.
Towards the
close
of the
Maurya
rule
the Bactrian city of Sagala in the Punjab became a centre of liberal movements, while the kingdom of Avanti
in the
Deccan
an
in
its earlier
territorial
extension long
remained
ganda.
1
The centre
shifted
I,
after
and
Harsa
108.
to
Cf. Id.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
the
79
in
the Canarese
many
reverses
of
fortune
till
The
pathetic
story
of
maltreatment
its
of the Ajlvikas
rude
inhabitants
of
Similar experiences
the
Aryan
of the
recorded
several
in
Aranyakanda
the Jataka.
Ramayana and
naturally
stories
This
as
to
suggests
most
in the
fruitful
enquiry
annals of Aryan Aryan culture, followed everywhere by non- Aryan reaction, and modified by the race-cult and national characteristics which it absorbed.
colonisation
the
part they
played
and propagation
of
to analyse
the causes
of
and it is certain that such an enquiry cannot be undertaken apart from the development of various relifaith,
of philosophy
its
which went
to
taneous processes of
seem
which are
Where are the iVjivikas who maintained their existence among the rival sects up till the fourteenth
(1)
century A. D.,
(2) Is
it
if
not later
supplanted
and supplemented
Finally,
if
it
it ?
course of Indian
history,
nor
80
THE AJIVIKAS
without determining
the
place
of
the
Ajivikas in the
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