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THE AJIVIKAS
UC-NRLF
B
3
351 M?T
By
B.
JV\.
BARUA,
M.A., D.Lit.
PART
I
Published by the
UNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA
1920
;
\
THE AJIVIKAS
By
B.
M. BARUA, M.A., D.Lit.
PART
I
Published by the
UNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA
1920
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THE AJIVIKAS
A
Short History of their Religion and Philosophy
Part
I
HISTORICAL SIM MARY
Introduction
The History
periods
into three
of
stages
Ajivikas can broadly he divided
of the
conformity
in
with the
three
passed.
The
summed
up below with
general
about
facts
a
these
periods
1.
The
are
view to indicate the precise
study
nature of the problems that confront us in the
each.
main
development through which their doctrines had
periods and problems are as follows
of
:
Pre-Makkhali Period.
Problems.
ing
— The
order of wander-
rise of a religious
mendicants
Vanaprastha
or
called the
Ajlvika
in
a
of
the
attitude towards
the
Yaikhanasa
hermits, hostile alike
from
order
Brahmans and the Vaikhanasas,
some indelible marks of the parent
higher synthesis in the new Bhiksu
religion of the
bearing yet
asrama
order
;
a
of
the
three
the
or four asramas
of
Ajlvika religion
into
Brahmans.
2.
Makkhali
Pro
/terns.
Period.
— Elevation of
philosophy
of life at
the
•77847
a
hands of Makkhali
THE AJIVIKAS
2
Gosala
;
indebtedness to
his
relations with the
his
predecessors,
contemporary Sophists, and
originality of conception.
3.
Post-Makkhali Period.
Problems
— The
development
further
religion, the process
extinction of
faith
;
;
colonisation
in
absorption
or
from gradual
of the
Ajlvika
Digambara Jaina, the Shivaite and
the
others
Aryan
the sect resulting
transformation
into
of
Ajlvika
spread of Aryan culture, the final
the
India,
of
causes of
other
the
the
decline of
the
Ajlvika religion and
influence of
philosophy on Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism
determination
of
the
general character of a
history of Indian religion.
1.
The
History
Buddhist
records
Pke-Makkhali Period.
commenced, as the
with Nanda Vaccha who
Ajivikas
the
of
indicate,
1
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
second in the Buddhist
In the
four Nikayas and
first
of six heretical teachers. 2
list
in
the most
of
the
Pali
and commentaries Nanda Vaccha and Kisa Samkicca
are hardly more than mere names, 3 since these Buddhist
texts
sacred
books keep us entirely in the dark regarding the
personal history
two teachers. It is only in the
and its commentary that we
of the
Canonical Jataka Book
find the
1
a
J
mention of a Kisa Vaccha among the seven
Majjhima,
E.g.,
I, p.
Digha,
T,
Papaflca Sudani
Vaccho'ti gottam
;
238;
p.
I, p.
524
;
Anguttara, Part IIT,
48; Majjhima,
(Oeylonese
p. 384.
IT, p. 2.
edition),
p.
463
:
Tattha Nando
Kiso'ti tassa nainan'i, Sarakicco'ti got tain.
'ti
tassa naniarii,
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
3
renowned Brahman hermit and teacher
named Sarabhanga. The hermit, known as Jotipala
chief pupils of a
1
to his parents, is addressed
name
by his family
His hermitage was
in
Kavittha
the
became
multitude of
of
many thousands
of
banks
of
Godhavari,
that
his
hermitage
was
there
go
room
no
dwell there
to
to
the
Kaundinya 2 ).
(Sk.
the
for
he ordered most
elseAvhere, taking with
them
But Kisa Vaccha was one
of ascetics.
who, following the instruction of their teacher,
those
went
and
ascetics
Jataka verses
of the
Seeing
forest.
chief pupils
his
on
built
crowded,
one
in
Kondanna
as
away
alone.
KumbhavatI,
He came
to
live
the
city
King Dandakl.
the dominion of
in
in
of
It is
related in the Jataka that this king having sinned against
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.
The Jataka
3
among
literature
of the Buddhists also preserves a brief account of another
Brahman hermit
who
called Samkicca,
Sarabhanga
be judged from
like
4
It is to
honoured as a Bodhisatta.
Samkicca's allusion to Kisa Vaccha's humiliation in
is
the
past
neither
that
successor of
Kisa Vaccha nor
the Jataka as
in
he was a
view of
Saiiikicca
of the
leader
a
discrepancy
the
no stretch of
two names, by
Vaccha be transformed
into
difficulty arises in connection
kicca and Kisa Saiiikicca,
applied to the
represented in
is
Ajivika
that
-
5
exists
between the
imagination can
Kisa
Nanda Vaccha.
with
the two
The same
names Saiii-
since the epithet Kisa (lean),
Jataka No. 522.
Fausboll's Jataka, V, p. 140.
Ibid, V, p. 151;
»
Further,
sect.
second name, was apparently
1
But
the latter. 5
Ibid, V, p. 2(57.
V, p. 277.
.
meant
to
THE
4
Ajlvika
the
distinguish
Samkicca and the
no other ground
A.1IVIK.AS
In point of
rest.
the
justify
to
Vaccha with Nanda Vaccha,
Samkicca, than the fact
teacher
the
from
leader
then, there
fact,
identification
is
Kisa
of
Samkicca with Kisa
or of
views
the
that
namesakes,
all his
of Sarabhariga,
Kisa Vaccha, bear a priori, like those of
of
the hermit Samkicca, a close resemblance
the
to
ethical
teaching of Makkhali Gosala at whose hands the Ajivika
attained
religion
a
philosophical
Without
character.
on such a disputable point as
being dogmatic
cannot but strongly feel that
Nanda Vaccha and Kisa Samkicca
cerning
are sure to
lead the historian back to a typical representative
Vauaprastha or Vaikbanasa order
such as
Sarabhariga.
The same,
of
con-
enquiries
possible
all
this, I
Indian
I believe,
the
of
hermits,
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,
inevitable
result, if
contains a quaint story of six past reanimations of Gosala,
consummated by
putta.
1
It
is
stated
existence was born as
home
early
in
reanimation
his jDresent
youth
that
Gosala
his
in
first
who
Udai Kundiyayana
for religious
having acquired Samkhanarii
life,
(higher
Maiikhali-
as
human
his
left
and that
after
he
knowledge),
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
21 years
1
(Sk. Rinaiijaya),
outside Rayagiha, for
;
(2)
Mallarama, outside Uddandapura, for 21 years
(3)
Mandiya, outside
(4)
Roha, outside Vanarasi,
Cam pa,
See extracts from the Bhagavati
II, p. 252.
in
for 20 years
for 19 years
Rockhill's Life
of 'the
;
;
;
Buddha. Appendix
HISTORICAL
(5)
Bharaddai
for 18 years
(6)
SUMMARY
Bharadvaja),
(Sk.
5
Alabhiya,
outside
;
Ajjuna
Gomayuputta, outside
17
lor
Vesali,
years
(7)
Gosala Maiikhaliputta,
Hfilabala's
Savatthi in
at
pottery bazar, for 16 years.
One need
not be
surprised
fanciful
this
in
if
enu-
meration and chronology of the seven reanimations under-
gone by Gosala since his Udai-birth during a period
years
117
there
preserved a genealogical succession of
is
seven Ajivika leaders, together with a
cessive
of
their activities as liaya-
centres of
geographical
such suc-
of
list
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
giha,
Maiikhaliputta
reanimations
made
is
Bhagavatl.
the
in
enumerate and describe
to
It
ascertain that Gosala used the word
thereby
secondary
a
figuratively, in
teacher
one
that
not
is
difficult
reanimation
'
He
sense.
did
his
to
'
rather
not
mean
died, was reborn as
having
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.
another, but
me
cite
that
a passage from Professor Leumann's translation
the extracts from the
of
illustration of the point
the
in
as declaring
"
year of
16th
With
the
seventh
16 years.'"
1
change.
bazar
pottery
entered that of Gosala
is
career
his
Gosala
issue.
is
in
represented,
an Ajivika teacher,
as
:
Halahalas
as
at
XV,
Section
Bhagavatl,
the
I
body
Here by the
'
Buddha, Appendix
ttxtract*
II, p.
from
254.
the
XV.
the
for
'
space
of
he referred,
Bhagavatl,
See
in
Ajjunaga and
space of 16 years
Bhagavatl,
Savatthi
in
of
Maiikhaliputta
evident from his history in the
Leumann's
left
Rockhill's
only
to
Life of the
THE AJ1VIKAS
6
the interval of time reckoned from the year of his succession as
an Ajivika leader, and certainly not
which had elapsed since
is
he
is
remember
is
said to
the very
have been reanimated
city
teacher (Jina),
rich potter
that
in his
where he became
and
first
found shelter
woman named
Halahala.
period
This suspicion
his real birth-day.
forced upon us as Ave
to the
Savatthi,
where;
seventh change,
recognised as a
in the
premises of a
1
The Bhagavati account does not
mention the place
where Udai Kundiyayana (Sk. Udayi Kaundinya) lived,
nor does it state the reason why the Udai-birth was not
But it
recluse
was
homeless
a
clearly stated that Udai, too,
is
who had obtained higher knowledge. Can we not reason-
counted among the past reanimations of Gosala.
ably 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 represen-
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
tative
of
the parent asrama
I
?
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
this
as
many ways
religion
to the
of
Brahmans and Hermits,
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.
the
in
1
Rockhill's Life of the Buddha,
tiou of the UvasagadasSo,
1
Ahguttara, Part
Appendix
I, p.
295.
Appendix
I,
p. 4.
II,
p. 252.
Cf.
Hoernle's tranela-
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
the
reanimations
past
though
it is,
of
7
quaint and
Gosala,
fanciful
enables the historian to carry back the history
117 years counted backwards from
Gosala, and to suppose that a new Bhiksu order, having
of
the
kinship
Ajivikas
with
for
Jainas and the Buddhists, completely
the
differentiated itself, within a century or more, from a
Vanaprastha order from which it arose. It is, at all
events, certain that the Ajivikas
Gosala, and whether that history
had a history before
commenced with Nanda
Vaccha or with Enejjaga, both the Buddhist and Jaina
records lead us back to a Sarabhariga
Kondanna
or to a
Udai Kundiyayana who might be regarded as a
guished representative of the ancient
this,
I
am
distin-
To deny
record the names
hermits.
afraid to say, will be just to
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
change
in
the modification of
which they brought about a
life of ancient India by
certain rules and views of the hermits
the religious
and by the gradual differentiation
from that of others.
their standpoint
of
Makkhali Period.
2.
The central figure in the history of the Ajivikas is
Makkhali Gosala whose teaching served to supply a
philosophic
basis
to
Ajlvika
His career as a
religion.
recluse covers, according to his history in the Bhagavatl,
a short period of 24 years, of which
profitably
spent in
Mahavlra whom
Paniyabhumi,
he had met for the
the
in
first
first
the
six
were
company
of
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
8
never met afterwards hut once
in Savatthi
shortly
before
the ignominious death of Gosala, which took place 16 years
before the Nirvana of Mahavira.
The bone
of contention
was a theory of reanimation which Gosala formulated from
his observation of periodical reanimations of plant-life, and
generalised
nately to
to
it
all
apply
such an extent as to
forms of
life.
indiscrimi-
it
'Gosala for his part, after the
1
separation, went to Savatthi, where in Halahala's potter-shop
after a six months* course of severe asceticism, he attained
Jinahood.' There he became the leader of a sect, called the
Ajlviya. In the 24th year of his mendicancy he was visited
by six Disacaras or Wanderers with whom lie discussed
These Disacaras, convinced by
their respective theories.
his theory
of
'
the change through reanimation
parihara), placed themselves
under
(bautta-
'
guidance.
his
It
is
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
of eight finalities
things
last
drinks
as
instruction
with every
mark
of the xljlviyas,
notably the doctrine
(attha caramaim) and
the
use
of four
and four substitutes. In spite of his
that his body should be disposed of
of
dishonour,
his
disciples 'gave 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
There
is
that he vie
Amga
and King Cedaga of Vesali.
indication in the Bhagavatl account of Gosala
King Kuniya
of
wed the grotesque
ascetics with contempt.
at
the
sight
It
is
of the ascetic
the
practices
of
related,
for
Vesiyayana
'
Brahman
instance, that
sitting with up-
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
raised
Evarft
khaln Barvajivavi parittapariharaih pariharamti."
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
whether he was a sage or a bed of
provoked the Brahman ascetic so
to strike
9
His conduct
lice.
much
that he attempted
Gosala with his magic power.
unpleasant
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
years,
to his early
the
in the vicinity apparently of
came
i.e.,
of low
who earned
picture which he carried
came
derings Maiikhali
related
in
the
of
city
Savatthi.
He
His father was a Maiikhali,
parentage.
a mendicant
is
it
was born in the settlement Saravana,
BhagavatI that he
his
by showing a
Once on his wan-
livelihood
in his hand.
to
Saravana and failing
to obtain
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
In
Maiikhali.
the
young
and
profession
hole er
that
is,
of
a
Gosala happened to meet
Mahavira
Nalaihda, near Rayagiha,
ascetic
that
the
was received with
of
father,
his wanderings,
observing
learner,
his
of
in
although yet a mere
great honour by a rich houselatter,
Rayagiha, he approached Mahavira with the
request to accept him as a disciple.
It goes without saying that
humour and
quaint
irony runs through
the Bhagavatl-account of
putta Gosala. There
is
effort
on the part
a
man
who was induced
of
of
to
material gain,
Jaina author,
to
son-in-law
1
of
represent the
most contemptible
low parentage, of low profession,
adopt the ascetic
life
an apostate disciple
of
more heinous character than another
the
Maiikhali-
an attempt throughout, a conscious
of the
greatest Ajlvika teacher as a person of
character,
bitter
Mahavira.
He
is
by a prospect
Mahavira, of a
disciple,
Jamali,
represented as an
Hoernle's translation of the Uvasagadasao, Appendix
I,
p. 3.
THE AJIVIKAS
10
ungrateful wretch
who
company
deserted the
of his teacher
on account of a doctrinal difference, and shamelessly
declared himself to be a Jina, denying his deep indebted-
Even
ness to his teacher.
Ajlvika
sect,
he
is
said to
as a teacher
have taught
and leader of the
doctrines
all false
and erroneous views which did more harm than good to
mankind. He is made to appear as a craze before his
death in
words and actions, and confess his shame
followers.
But complete and full of
truth though it is, the BhagavatI account must
his
even to
own
his
historical
be considered as
production of a later self-conscious age,
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,
if
he accepts without proper examina-
the Jaina account
tion
BhagavatI as a piece of
In view of other records
coming from the Buddhists and the Brahmans which
genuine
historical
contradict
in
BhagavatI, no
on
all
the
many
points
implicit
the
reliance
in
all
literature
the
later
conscious attempt to
the
of
statements in
can
that the Jaina would have us
examining the
that
in
record.
surely
Buddhists,
accounts
there
reconstruct the
Gosala in such a manner as
to
be placed
On
believe.
is
early
Jaina and
the later
closely
we
notice
a
similar
history
make him appear
person of low parentage and vicious character.
respects
the
In
of
as a
these
Buddhist traditions agree.
For instance, Buddhaghosa in
of
his commentaries, speaks
Gosala as a servant in the household of a rich man,
who walking on
a
muddy
piece
of
ground,
with an
HISTORICAL
oil-pot in his hand,
SUMMARY
11
stumbled from carelessness and began
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 Bud-
to
1
dhist
commentator
in order to account for
Makkhali was a naked
the
fact
that
ascetic as all the Ajivikas were.
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
Buddhastfiosa
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
just as Fanini, the
from Mankha,
his
hand
i.e.,
a picture carried
by a mendicant
in
(or better, as Dr. Hoernle suggests, the picture
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,
ma
of his
khaliti,"
you stumble
i.e.,
employer expressed in the words
" My dear man, take care lest
!" 2
1
Sumangala
Vilasini,
I, p.
144.
2
Sumangala
Vilasini,
I, p.
144.
See Hoernle's Translation of the Uvasagadasao,
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.
THE AJIVIKAS
1%
Against these
etymologies
ingenious
Maiikhali
of
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
Maskarinas as a class of wanderers who carried
a maskara or bamboo staff about them.
CLu^ " Maskara-maskarhW venu-parivrajakayoh."
On
comments on the
the other hand, Patafijali in his
above sutra of Panini, suggests that the Maskarina was
much because
Maskarina not so
called
this
class
wanderers carried about them a maskara or bamboo
as because they
karmani,
actions
'Ihe
;
etc.,"
taught
— " Don't
quietism (alone)
later
glosses
"
Ma
karmani,
krita
ma
of
staff
krita
perform actions, don't perform
is
desirable to you." 1
on the same
sutra
Kaiyata's
in
Pradlpa and the Kasika-vritti do not merit any further
upon the authority
consideration, as these are based
Patanjali's
Mahablmsya, and
all
of
point to the fact that the
maskarinas denied the efficacy of action. 2
With regard
vlra,
Makkhali with Mahathe Buddhist records differ from the Jaina which
to the relation of
seeks to represent the former as
who became
the latter,
an apostate disciple of
separated from his teacher after
a close association for six years spent in Paniyablmmi.
This account of Makkhali in
dicted
the
BhagavatI
by certain statements met with
and elsewhere. 3
First, in the
in
BhagavatI
contra-
is
same sutra
the
itself it is stated
became recognised as a Jina and a leader of
the Ajlviyas two years before Mahavlra's Jinahood, and
that Gosala
1
'
Bhanclarkar's 'Ajivikas,'
Indian Antiquary, Vol. XLI, 1912,
Ajivikas,' Encyclopedia of Religion
maskarl parivntjakah.
Kim
tarhi
and Ethics.
ma
krita
p.
Patafijali says, "
karmani
ma
krita
289
;
Hoernle's
maskaro' syastlti
karmani santirvah
sreyasityahato maskari parivrajakah."
2
See the quotations in Bhanclarkar's
'
Ajivikas,'
Inch
Ant.,
Vol.
XLI, 1912,
p. 270.
3
f.
The
n. 255.
point
is
discussed in Hoernle's Translation of the Uvasagadasao,
p.
Ill,
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
13
that he predeceased the latter by sixteen years.
the KalpasQtra rel ates that Mahavira lived
Secondly,
one year
in
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
of
rules
their
tiating
the Vanaprastha order,
from those of the hermits of
in
magnifying their uncleanli-
emphasizing their
in
ness,
life
1
imputing a secular motive
to
mercilessly criticising their
Savatthi
records,
quarters.
corruption of
their
mentioned
is
in
Ajivika head-
the
as
and
In both the
fatalistic creed.
we meet with
In some of the Buddhist passages
2
morals, in
religious life,
the term in either form is exmeaning a mendicant worse than a person with
the form Ajlvaka, and
plained as
household
ties.
3
Dialogue of
a
In
Jaina Sutra
the
Kritanga, Ardraka, a Jaina teacher, openly accuses Gosala
of sexual immorality.
Majjhima
4
The Mahasaecaka
sutta
the
of
Nikaya preserves a Dialogue where Saccaka, the
Jaina, in reply to Buddha's question whether Ajlvikas or
the
followers
Nanda
of
Vaccha,
Kisa
Makkhali Gosala, practised the most austere mode
discipline, says that they indulged in
pleasures. 5
1
The rnles
edition,
p. 318,
The Buddhist
of
80,
p.
and
the
sec.
Ajlviyas,
120),
in the Digha,
forth
set
are the
literature
same
in
the
all
and
Sariikicca
of bodily
sorts of sensual
contains a love story
Aupapatika Sutra (Leumann's
Majjhima Nikaya,
as those stated in the
Again, the rules of the Vanaprastha hermits, described in the above
Upanga,
-
p. 68, sec. 74, are similar to those stated in the Digha,
Ant., Vol.
from two episodes
XLI
(1912),
p.
in the
Vinaya Mahavagga VI. 2
;
VIII.
Cf. Ind.
15.
288.
3
Majjhima Nikaya,
*
Sutra Kritanga (ed. Dhanapati),
I, p.
483.
II. 6.
Cf. Jaina-Sutras, Pt. II, p. 411
:
"those
use cold water, eat seeds, accept things especially prepared for them, and have
intercourse
with
women,
oramanas."
1
Jaina
p. 166, sec. 14.
I,
That the Ajlvikas were naked ascetics and that Savatthi was their head quar-
ters are clear
who
I,
165, sec. 14.
I, p.
Majjhima,
I, p.
238.
are
(no better than) householders, but they are no
THE AJIVIKAS
14
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
Cinca
of
stories
1
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
conceive that such an alliance
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
5
householders, both male and female.
It is clear that the
corruption of their morals which the
Buddhists and the
Jainas insinuate and
not without founda-
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
tion,
encroached on the decency of the civic society, they
could retain, as they did, an important position among the
pp. 280, 437, 440
1
Jataka,
I,
-
Jataka,
II, p.
:'
She
is
415
f.
;
;
II,
pp. 121, 160
;
III, p.
Dhammapada-Comy. on Verse
described in the Jataka,
I,
p.
280, as
a
298
;
IV,
p.
female
Sundarl, too,
5
E.
(/.,
is
described similarly,
Anguttara, Pt. Ill,
p.
304.
e.g.,
in
f.
wandering ascetic in
Savatthi (paribbajika Savatthiyam).
*
187
306.
the Jataka,
II, p.
415.
SUMMARY
HISTORICAL
15
On the other hand, taking a man as man,
woman as woman, we can well understand how
sects.
rival
and a
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
the
or
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
potter of Polasapura
l
;
Saddalaputta, a rich
Halahala, in whose potter- shop in
2
;
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
;
a banker of Savatthi was a
mapada commentary Migara,
lay follower of the Ajlvikas.
6
That the Ajivika community consisted of recluses and
householders, both male and female, is well borne out
by the Buddhist version
bhijatiyo
holders
7
is
said
in the Yellow
the
the Ajlvakinis in
to
have placed the Ajivika housethe
class,
White
Ajlpka mendicants and
and the three Ajivika
the Supremely White class. 8
leaders including himself in
1
class,
Uvasagadasao (ed. Hoernle), Lecture VI.
-
Ibid, Sec. VII.
3
Leumatm's Extracts from the BhagavatI, XV.
Buddha, Appendix
I, p.
4
II, p. 252.
Rockhill's Life
of
the
if.
Hoernle's Appendix,
ibid, p. 9.
5
Majjhima Nikaya,
p. 31.
B
Dhammapada-Comy. on Verse 53.
Lit. " the householders who wear white
I,
of the unclothed one (acelaka)."
•
See
Hoernle's translation of the Uvasagadasao, Appendix
*
7
doctrine of chaja-
— division of mankind into six abhijatis or mental
Gosala
types.
of Makkhali's
Anguttara Nikaya, part
sana acelakasavaka
clothes and are the adherents (savakS)
Hoernle's Appendix
III, p. 38-4
:
II, ibid, p. 22.
" haliddabliijati
pafinatta
:
gihi odatava-
sukkabhijati pafinatta ajivaka ajivakiniyo
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.
:
•
THE AJIVIKAS
16
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
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
crested
the
of
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.
from the Jaina
recorded
tradition,
that Gosala predeceased Mahavira by
the
BhagavatI,
the
6 years, and from
8
1
Buddhist tradition, recorded in the Samagama and
Digha Nikaya,
1
in
I,
pp. 47-49
:
"Samghi c'eva gani ca ganacariyo ca Sato yasassi
sadhu sammato bahu-janassa rattaunii cira-pabbajito addhagato vayo
titthakaro
anuppatto."
Cf.
Sutta Nipata,
III,
s
Dialogues of the Bnddha,
*
See Baveru Jataka
*
Fausboll's Jataka, Vol. Ill,
s
Ibid, p. 126: Titthiya. hi
No.
6, p.
91
;
Milindapanho
p. 4.
II, p. 66.
in Fausboll's Jataka, No. 339, Vol. Ill, p. 128.
p.
128
:
Tadil kako Nigantho Nathaputto.
anuppanne Buddhe labhino ahesura, uppanne pana
hatalabhaskkara suriyuggamane khajjopanaka viya
jata.
The Heretics are named Puranah KaSyapo, Maskari
Gosalaiputrah, Samjayl VairattTpntrah, Ajitah Kesakambalah, Kakudah Katyayano,
Divyavadana,
p.
143
foil.
Nirganthah Jfiatiputrah.
'
Cf.
Sntta Nipata,
Samyutta,
*
See
T,
p.
70.
ante, p. 13.
91
;
Saniano hi Gotamo daharo c'eva jatiya, navo ca pabbajjaya.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
such
other
that
Suttas,
Nigantha
Mahavira, predeceased the Buddha
1>y
17
Nataputta,
a few years,
i.e.,
1
the
former at Pava having been followed by
a schism dividing his disciples, the Niganthas, into two
decease of the
rival
parties.
represents
2
The Milindapanho on the
the
Heretics as
six
other hand,
they were
if
all
contem-
by Dr. Rhys Davids
Menander,
who reigned,
with the Greco- Bactrian ruler
poraries of
King Milinda,
identified
Buddhist tradition,
according to the
the Buddha's Parinibbana.
are described in
3
five centuries after
But remembering that they
an older canonical discourse,
the
viz.,
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
unravelled in this introduction,
which
is
on a traditional
to present,
history of the Ajivikas. Suffice
derived from
that Gosala
basis,
an outline of the
to say, that the evidences
the Jaina or
either
of information,
it
express purpose of
the Buddhist sources
do not bear out the Jaina pious belief
was one
and tend rather
of the
false disciples of
prove the contrary.
to
the historian be
two
upon
called
to
I
Mahavlra,
mean
pronounce a
that
if
definite
opinion on this disputed question he cannot but say that
1
Majjhima Nikaya, II,
Tena kho pana
p.
143
:
Ekaifi
samayena
Samagame.
samayam Bhagava Sakkesu
Nataputto Pavayam
Nigantho
viharati
adhunfi
Tassa Kalakiriyaya bhinna Nigantha dvedhikajata bhandanajSta
annamannam mnkhasattihi vitudanta viharanti.
vivadapanna,
kalahajata
kfilakato hoti.
2
3
Trenckner's Milinda,
DIgha Nikaya,
3
I, p.
p.
47
4
foil.
foil.
THE AJlVIKAS
18
indebtedness,
than on that
a false
any, was more on the side of the
if
one
of
who
And
disciple.
is
points
judging one
before
the critic,
or the other, shall do well to
way
teacher
branded by the Jaina as
consider
the
following
:
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
1.
the Kalpa Sutra.
It is expressly stated in the
the
72
Mahavlra's
years of
Kalpa Sutra that out
of
he lived 30 years as
life,
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
"
joined the Ajlvikas.
specifies, "coincides
The
latter year,"
as
Dr.
Hoernle
with that in which Mahavira, accord-
ing to the Bhagavatl, met Gosala and attracted him as
2
Of the remaining ten
his (apparently, first) disciple."
years,
the
he spent
24 years
six in association
of
his
with Gosala.
ascetic life,
If out of
Gosala spent 8 years
and 16 as a Jina, it follows that after their
separation, Mahavira had to wait four years longer before
as a learner
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.'
his
Jinahood,
1
-
3
while
Jacobi's Kalpa-Sutra, Sec. 117.
Hoernle's translation of the Uvasagadasao,
Ibid, p. Ill, f.n. 253.
p. 110, f.n. 253.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
right conclusion to be
would
ask,
this, as
Dr. Hoernle has done, that
a
disciple
him,
'
it
is
19
the
drawn from
Gosala was originally
Mahavlra, a fact which, according
of
naturally enough
the
explains
towards him, of Mahavlra,
who
to
hostility
intense
presumption
resented the
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
himself was a mere learner
Are not a learner and a teacher
diction in terms
that
Gosala nor
neither
his case a contra-
can we not reasonably understand
And
?
in
?
disciple or a teacher, but
Mahavlra
two
was
intelligent
technically
members
of
a
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
before their separation, and that
two years
after
general history
his
of
separation
Mahavlra, so
Gosala succeeded him
from Mahavlra.
far as it
The
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
intei cession
common Jaina
vatI account
school of
Gautama into a
The Bhagareligio-philosophy.'
of
Kesl and
2
does not precisely state what sort of relation
Gosala had with the Ajiviyas before his separation from
Mahavlra, but
the
historical
it
will certainly be going too far
truth
to
away from
suppose that he had no con-
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,
Uttaradhyayana, Leo. XXIII.
p. Ill, f.n.
THE AJ1VIKAS
20
That
2.
and Buddhist fragments on the
in the Jaiua
Ajlvika views and religious observances there are preserved
and phrases of Gosala which are neither
Ardha-Magadhi nor Pali, but represent at once some older
certain terms
medium, more
vehicle of expression or literary
shown
as will be
more
literary
the Dialect,
later, to
i.e.,
forms of Magadhi Prakrits,
closely allied,
earlier
i.e.,
than the
the languages
of the Niganthas
and Sakyaputtiya samanas.
That the Bhagavati account of Gosala goes
3.
to
prove that he was conversant with the Ajlviya literature
consisting of eight
Mahanimittas and two Maggas, the
former of which probably formed, as Professor
Leumann
conjectures, part of the original Jaina canon, though
them can be found
trace of
4.
and
in the existing one
no
*
That both the Jaina and Buddhist interpretation
criticism of Gosala's views
and practices indicate that
they belonged to an earlier stage of religious evolution,
older
at
least
than the Jaina or the Buddhist system
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
insincerity, since there
is
a
strong evidence to prove that the Buddha, though neither
a teacher nor a disciple of Gosala, openly denounced him
as the greatest
the worst of
which
enemy
of
mankind 2 and considered
all heresies, like
his to be
unto a piece of hair-garment
cold in cold weather and hot in the heat. 3
is
1
2
Anguttara Nikaya, Part
I,
p.
Appendix
33
:
II, p.
249,
f.
n. 1.
Nahath bhikkhave antiam ekapuggalam
pi
samanupassami yo evara bahnjanahitaya patipanno bahnjanasukhaya bahuno janassa
anatthaya ahitaya dukkhaya devamanussanam y at hay 1 dam bhikkhave Makkhali
Moghapnriso.
3
Ibid,
p.
Cf. ibid, p. 287.
286
:
Seyyathapi bhikkhave yani kanici tantavutanam vatthanam
kesakambalo tesam patikittho akkhayati.
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.
And
21
that the hostile attitude of
lastly,
Mahavlra
towards Gosfila ought, as in such other historical instances
Buddha and Mahavlra, Aristotle and Plato,
Ramanujaand Saiikara, or of Kant and Hume, to be viewed
as those of
as a positive proof of priority, the logical priority at least,
whose views are sharply
of the latter
out of
former, leaving
instance, whether
the
by the
criticised
question,
in this particular
the thinker so criticised
was a younger
or an elder contemporary of the critic himself.
After a careful consideration of these points along with
am tempted
the main theses of Gosala's philosophy, I
with Prof.
Hermann
on the development
to
hold
" the greatest influence
Jacobi, that
of Mahavlra's doctrine,
must
be
ascribed to Gosala, the son of Makkhali," and that
"
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
I
am
tempted,
represents,
as
in
other
words,
a teacher at
believe that Gosala
to
least,
an
stage
earlier
of
thought-evolution and religious discipline, earlier at any
rate than
the
period
covered by
the
early
history
of
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
Jainism and
class
of
Brahmans
recluses
and sophists who
differed
from the
in character, intelligence, earnestness, purpose
An
and method.
analysis
of
Gosala's
tenets
goes
to
prove that he belonged as a thinker to the sophistic age
when
biological consideration
1
Jaiua Sutras, Pt.
and animistic
II, Introd.,
p. xxix.
belief
were
THE AJlVIKAS
22
predominant
in the
realm of religious thought and meta-
The
physical speculation.
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
philosophy failed
and comprehensive view
rational theory of
life,
human conduct and
determination of
the
Dogmatists,
of the universe,
the
and a sound and
to
affording a general standard for the
ethical
Sceptics
category of
provide a correct
an unfailing guide
acting as
In this respect the
and the Moralists are put by
values.
the Jainas and the Buddhists,
in
to
with
Akriyavadins
doctrine of non-action.
It also
certain
reservations,
— the upholders
may
of the
be inferred from the
Jaina or the Buddhist description of these three classes
of thinkers
that they all agreed in recognising in diverse
ways that quietism was
spiritual
Now,
after all
to
summum bonum
of
life.
in
the
absence
of
himself or from his followers,
task
the
any
it is
endeavour with success
records
from Gosala
an extremely difficult
to render a complete
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
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
is
well
nigh
impossible
to bring
Over and above this, a tremendous effort of imagination and genial intellectual sympathy are essential at
care.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
?.S
So far as the sources of information are concerned, I may here remain content with mentioning the
every step.
following
1.
:
Jaina Sources
I.
Suyagadariiga
(a)
1.4.7-9; II. 1.29;
II.
6)
1.2.1-14;
(I.
with Sllanka's
Tlka.
(b)
Bhagavatl Sutra (Saya XV, Uddesa
I)
with
A bhayadeva's Commentary,
(c)
Leumann's Das Aupapatika Sutra
and 120).
2.
Buddhist
(Digha
Sources
pp.
I,
(a)
(Sees.
Samannaphala
118
Sutta
with Budclhaghosa's
53-54)
commentary.
(b)
Samyutta Nikaya,
portion
of
the
III, p. 69, ascribes the first
Samannaphala
account of
Gosala's views, N'atthi hetu, n'atthi paccayo,
etc., to
(o)
Purana Kassapa.
Nikaya (Pt. I, p. 286) with the
Manorathapurani confounds Makkhali Gosala
Aiiguttara
apparently with Ajita Kesa-kambala.
Nikaya (Pt, III, pp. 383-84) with
the Manoratha-Purani represents Kassapa
were a disciple of Makkhali
if he
as
(d) Anguttara
Gosala.
(e)
Mahasaccaka Sutta
(Majjhima
I, p.
231), of.
also I, p. 36.
(/) 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,
Mahabodhi-Jataka (No.
Jataka-Mala, XXIII.
p. 5.
528),
cf.
Aryasura's
U
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
was, to
Gosala
1.
parikaravdda),
1
the propounder of a
with,
re-animation' (pautta-
the change through
of
doctrine
start
of natural
of a theory
or, better,
:
trans-
formation (parinamavada), which he came to formulate
from the generalisation of the periodical re-animations of
2
plant
This
life.
his
of
idea
central
the
is
system
according to the Bhagavati account.
r
2.
lhe
illustrated in the
through
as
',
Majjhima 4 and
in the
the
of
is
of the organic world
i.e.,
aptly summarised in
Mahabodhi Jataka.
5
to explain the diversity
The Parinamavada seeks
3.
evolution
deaths, 3
and
births
doctrine
in the
Samannaphala Sutta
and spiritual
natural
rounds
ceaseless
samsara-suddhi
the
of
theory as explained and
of this
Bhagavati and
process
a
implies
idea
basic
by these three principles
(a)
6
Fate (niyati = niyai)
(/;)
Species (sarigati
(<?)
Nature (bhava=sabhava) 9
= sarigai = pariyaya)
7
" Niyati-sangati-bhava-parinata.
,'
,
8
°
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
Leumann (Rockhill's Life of the Buddha, A pp. II,
:— anupuvvenam khavaittS paccha sijjhanti bujjhanti Java antam
Bhagavati text quoted by Prof.
p.
253,
f.
n.
3)
karenti.
*
Majjhima,
4
8
The Prakrit form
7 - !
I,
31.
of niyati occurs in the
Suyagadanga,
The forms sangai and pariyaya are to be found
in
I,
1.2.4.
the Buyagadaiiga,
I,
1.2.3
;
1.4.8.
9
I,
I, p.
According to Buddhaghosa's
comment, bhavo = sabhiivo, Sumangalavilasini,
p. 161.
10
Digha,
I,
p.
53.
(nfinSppakaram patta).
Buddhaghosa explains
parinata
as
meaning
diversified
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
25
The organic world is characterised by six constant
and opposed phenomena, viz., gain and loss, pleasure and
4.
pain, life
and death.
" Savvesirii
pananaim savvesim bhuyanaim
Savvesim jivanaim savvesim sattanaiih
imaim sanaikkamaniairii vagaranaim
vagarai
—
tarii
labham, alabham, suharh
dukharii, jiveyam, maranath.''
5.
1
The Parinamavada involves a conception
infinity of time with
the
of the
recurrent cycles of existence,
and the same theory conveys a great message of hope hy
inculcating that even a dew-drop is so destined as to
highest state
attain in course of natural evolution to the
of perfection in
6.
The
evolution
greatest in
7.
humanity.
longest
period
or
duration
fixed
for
the
from the meanest thing on earth to the
man covers S4 hundred thousand Mahakalpas.
of
life
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
classification of the living substances on different methods,
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
pre-determined law of nature.
1
!
App.
3
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
II, p. 253, f. n. 3; DIgha, I, p. 54.
Rockhill's Life of the Bnddha, App. II, pp. 253-54; Digha,
4
I,
p. 54.
THE AJIVIKAS
2fi
10.
man
teaches that as
It
ways and
is
pre -destined in certain
he stands highest
as
the
in
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
existence, his freedom, to he worth
the
law,
of
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
to
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.
free
1
Parinamamda confirms
of
action has
and
hell
the popular Indian belief that
reward and retribution, and that heaven
its
inevitable
the
are
merits and demerits of this
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
12.
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
;
body and mind
of
interaction
of
discipline (kava-bhavana)
tion of soul than
13.
The
*
is
no
less
it
follows that bodily
needed for purifica-
mental (citta-bhavana).
division
of
mankind,
or,
of living
better,
beings, into six main types (abhijatis) involves
a
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
tion of
1
DTgha.
54
I, p.
;
Anguttara,
III, pp.
Sutra, Sec. 120.
s
Digha,
3
Sumnncrala-Vilasiiii,
*
Majjhima,
I,
p. 54.
I,
p. 238.
T,
pp. 162-163.
383-84; Majjhima,
I,
p.
238; AupapStika
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
spiritual effort of
original purity,
man
white by purging
its
have stained
that
impurities
of all
it
to
supremely
or
colourless
it
mind
restoring
consists in
rendering
i.e.,
27
1
it.
By
can easily discern
a glance at these features one
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
a
synthetic
seeking to
spirit
weld together the higher metaphysics of the Upanisads
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
comparative
without a
impossible
are
study of the older theories and current beliefs which, as
I
expect to show in
natural environment
pages,
following
the
for
his
own
the history of Makkhali-period
system.
to
is
constituted
be
Accordingly,
conceived as a
process of continued development of thought
whereby the
rigorous religious discipline and the simpler ethical
trines of the
firmly
a
doc-
pre-Makkhali teachers of the Ajlvikas were
established
on a
deeper
evolution, side by side with
and
scientific
in the
close
theory of
environment
of several conflicting theories
and mutually contradictory
dogmas,
in
interconnected
all
the organic development
of Indian thought.
3.
Post-Makhali Period.
Marikhaliputta Gosala died, according to
evidence, at Halahala's
potter-shop
twenty-fourth year of his ascetic
life
Jaina
the
in
the
(leaving behind
him
in
Savatthi,
a glorious record of his career as a leader of the Ajlviyas
and a teacher
1
Digha,
Majjhima,
I,
I, p.
53
36.
;
of philosophy).
Anguttara,
III,
pp.
He
383-84
;
had a severe attack of
Sumangala-Vilasini,
I,
p.
162
THE AJIVIKAS
28
typhoid fever of which he died, and died, as
red from a
Mahavira's,
prediction of
he predeceased, as
it
is
in
may
be infer-
seven days
;
and
implied in another prediction of
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.,
the war between
l
Some important
details
are
preserved in the Bhagavati
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
of the suffering
magic duel which he had so foolishly fought with
Mahavira, his former teacher and then his superior rival.
of a
These details are important, as
I
show, as having a far-reaching effect on
The
Ajlvika religion.
among
others, the following facts
Visit of a
(a)
company
Wanderers)
(better,
the course of
account
2
mentions,
:
of six Disacaras or
to Savatthi
to
Vagabonds
— Sana, Kalanda, Kaniyara,
Aggivesayana and Ajjana Gomayuputta, with
Attheda,
whom
Bhagavati
expect
presently
Gosala discussed their respective theories in the
twenty-fourth year of his asceticism.
(b)
Acceptance of Gosala's theory of re-animation by
the Disacaras and their conversion to the Ajlviya faith.
(c)
Extracts
made by
the Disacaras, according to their
own ideas, from the ten canonical books, viz.,
Mohammittas contained in the Puvvas and
the
the
eight
two
Maggas.
(d)
Deduction of six principles, gain and
and pain,
life
loss,
pleasure
and death, from the teaching of the Maha-
nimit.tas.
1
'
Jaina-Sutras, Part
I,
Hoernle's Appendix
Introd., p.
I,
pp. 4-11.
xii.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
of
Visit
(c)
his chief disciple
Mahavira
to
29
Savatthi, accompanied by
Indabhui and by Anarhda, Savvanubhiii
and Sunakkhatta among
his other disciples.
Gosala's conversation with Anarhda
(/)
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
His interview with Mahavira near Kotthaga-ceiya
(g)
and concealment of his former relations
by means of
latter
his theory of re-animation.
Mahavlra's denunciation
(/*)
with the
like a thief in
Gosala
of
who acted
pretending himself to be a Jina.
Destruction by Gosala's magic power of tw o disr
(i)
— Savvanubhui
and Sunakkhatta who
for his improper
behaviour towards his
of Mahavira,
ciples
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
vivas to the Jaina faith.
Gosala's shameless words and actions in the
(I)
rium
many Aj
of fever, e.g., holding a
mango
in his hand, drinking,
potter-woman
singing, dancing, improperly soliciting the
Halahala,
deli-
and sprinkling himself with the cool muddy
water from a potter's vessel.
(«/)
Question of Ayampula, an Ajiviya layman, as to
the nature of the Holla insect, and Gosala's foolish reply
(made
after the attendant theras
which he was holding
is
to
of
had taken away the mango
in his hand)
:
" This
not a mango, but merely the skin of a
know what
the Walla insect
is
like
;
which you see
mango you want
;
it
is
like the
the bamboo, play the lute, brother, play the lute
root
!"
THE AJIVIKAS
80
few new doctrines of the
Gosala's personal acts and from events at
Development
(n)
from
Ajlviyns
a
of
or about the time of his death,
the doctrine
(I)
mairii)
last
the
;
last
the
solicitation,
Eight
of
drink,
viz.,
the
Finalities
song, the last dance, the
last
tornado,
last
the
who
the
(II)
is
doctrine
Four
of
by the hand
soiled
what
is
and the
the water in a potter's vessel),
(e.g.,
cool or
;
it
or a pot or a jar
which
wet with water, instead of drinking
;
hog-plum
or a
or
when
it
drinking of
its
fruit
is
jujube
a
or a titiduka
fruit
tender or uncooked, instead of
juice
;
squeezing or pressing with one's mouth kalaya
(3)
or
mudga
or inasa or simbali
their juice;
(A)
'
the
for
six
'
consisting
related
and sport
that
in the
this
elephant used
that
the
Sutta (Warren's
carry the royal ladies of Cain pa to
first
1.
p. 7,
n.
F.
four items refer to the last personal
acts of Gosala. and that of the remaining four items the
first
which happened
Appendix
at or
pure
eating
In the Nirayavaliya
to
See Hoernle's Appendix
Ganges.
Hoernle rightly points out
in
months, lying successivelv, for two
Seyaiiaga = Sk. Secanaka, the Sprinkler.
is
these
and
— pure — drink
food
beans when
uncooked, instead of drinking of
tender or
are
their bath
a rock
squeezing or pressing with one's mouth a mango
(2)
-
excreted by the cow, what has been
Holding a dish or a bottle
from
it
the
:
latter include
is
ed. 17)
apanagaim)'
heated by the sun, and what drops from
(1)
1
is
-;
and Four
Drinkables
cattari
;
and
missiles,
Mankhaliputta himself
substitutes (cattari panagaim
former include what
sprinkling
last
elephant,' the last tight with big stones as
the last Titthai'ikara
eara-
(attha
about the time of Gosala's death.
three
1.
refer to events
p. 7.
f.
n.
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.,
objects that resemble water, because, on account
their coolness, they serve to assuage internal heat.
Appendix
I. p.
8,
f.
n.
HISTORICAL
months
SUMMARY
31
at a time, on the bare earth,
on
wooden
planks and on darbha grass.
(o)
Gosala's
prophecy
that Mahavira, struck by his
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)
Gosala's repentance and confession of shame, and
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
declaration
dishonour.
that
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
death with the war between
Kiiniya and Cedaga.
(s)
His rebirth as a Deva
in the
Accuya world (Accue
Kappe), being the reward, as some of the Jainas believe,
of
his
repentance and
series of rebirths
sented
self -confession,
and redeaths, the
by King Mahapauma
of
first
Punda,
followed by a long
of
which
is
repre-
at the foot of the
Vinjha mountains.
(/)
Persecution
Mahapauma
of
Samanas by King
the Ajlviyas whose royal
the Niggantha
at tin? instigation of
patron he was, and destruction of the wicked king by the
magic potency
(m)
Blind
of the Jaina saint
named Sumamgala.
worship of Mankhaliputta Gosala
his Ajlviya followers
1
honoured as the
Heart of Jainiam,
p, 60,
f,
whom
last Tittharikara.
n
THE AJIVIKAS
32
Those who are inclined to accept the BhagavatI
account of Gosala's last days as true in the literal sense,
may
find
views
their
beautifully
Mrs.
expressed in
Stevenson's " Heart of Jainism " (p. 60), where she makes
" Now he
(i.e.,
Gosala)
the following observation
:
brought forward another doctrine,
of re-animation,
that
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
;
discredited
Gosala,
lower and lower, and
main
the
all
facts
account of Gosala's
object of enabling
and
townspeople,
fell
at last died as a fool dieth."
have been at pains
I
eyes of the
the
in
to
to place. before the reader
him
the BhagavatI
be gathered from
last days,
to
almost
and that with the single
judge for himself how
insufficient are the materials
brittle
with which a systematic
history of the post-Makkhali period of the Ajlviya religion
is
1
to be built.
am
confident,
And any
can
about the Ajlviyas
facts
myth and
intelligent
easily
lie
student of history,
perceive
He may
other points, but not one, which, I believe,
motive to make Gosala who
to appear as a mischievous
real
buried under the debris of
sectarian misrepresentation.
is
many
that
is
miss
the
all
Jaina
the greatest Ajlviya teacher
mad man
to
posterity,
to
he bequeathed the richest treasures of his wisdom
erudition, and, above all, an invigorating message
whom
and
of
hope through
his theory of re-animation.
the future historian of the Ajlviyas to decide
I leave
how
it
far
to
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
does not surely speak well either of the
Jaina
author or of the Jaina order whose glory and powers the
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
former
is
so anxious to bring out in
his
S3
account, that he
has recorded without any apology the
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
opportune suggestion from Mahavira himself.
in
spite
of his
deliberate attempt to
make
However,
the best use
of Gosala's words
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
instance,
that
the
latter's
the
He
life.
has mentioned,
question which
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,
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-
tions for their peculiar characteristics, habits, experiences
and destinies.
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
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,
:
5
THE AJIVIKAS
34
any other plausible explanation
accounts, whether Jaina or Buddhisclaim the superiority of Mahavlra
I cannot, indeed, suggest
some of the later
seek to
tic, which
or of the Buddha, as a teacher, by
for
whelming magical powers
than that in
destruction,
master, the spirit of his teaching was
the
the absence of
of
and over-
his superior
entirely lost sight of
by those
only popularity of their faith
who courted
of his followers
among
superstitious people
at large.
It
with
seems true that the
his
social
who resembled
but who were more
and more
were more rational
doctrines
although similar in
many
the Ajlviya, proved
to,
and checked
further
which
is
so
which was rapidly spreading
a spider
also
in
the ancient
history
the
be a fact that some of the
to the new faith of the Jainas
It may
Buddhism.
over
won
Ailviyas were
of
like
famous
than,
articulate
leader
fatal to the reputation of the Ajlviya
progress of the Ajlviya creed in
city of Savatthi
respects
withal in
exalted
and
points
Savatthi
manners, and whose
refined in
position
to
many
in
disciples
Ailviyas
the
Mahavlra
visit of
its
at the cost of the
net over
the
mother creed.
Mid-Land
But was
Mahavlra
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 ?
AVhat does the Jaina author
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
mean when he
Ajlvika
relates that
faith.
are two versions
As
of
to
Sunakkhatta
in particular there
an
important
Buddhist discourse,
in both
" (lomahamsa),
characterised as "horror-striking
and
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-).
1
1
Suttn, Majjhiina,
I,
pp. 68-83,
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
which
of
as a Licchavi prince Avho
introduced
is
lie
35
and
severed his connexion with the Buddhist order,
Buddha
both the versions the
up an enquiry
sets
which
the tenets of Ajlvika religion,
in
into
a circumstantial
is
evidence proving that Sunakkhatta had something to do
and was in some way connected with the Ajlvikas at some
period
later
of his
whether older or
later,
the
about
stories
him,
emphasize certain facts about his
views and outlook which manifestly show that
religious
he was
All
life.
just
the
man who
sort of
attached
outward asceticism than
spiritual value to
to
greater
the
moral
behaviour of a recluse, and whose standard of judgment
of
a teacher's
in mystical faculties
consisted
greatness
and magic rather than in self-culture and rationality.
He had
Order
Buddhist
joined the
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
repudiating
Buddha
the
join with
to
it
a Korakhattiya in
in public as a theorist
without
higher intellectual perception and superhuman faculties.
According
to
1
Garuda Gosvamin's Amavatura, he next
named Kalaramatthuka, and again returned to the Buddha only to
himself
attached
go back again
putta.
It
Jaina
a
to
recluse
to a self-conceited
was while
Buddha was
the
named
Jaina
Patika-
staying
Patikarania, near Vesali, that he gave his famous
in
'
the
horror-
by dwelling on the religious views of
Sunakkhatta which were consonant with the Ajlvika
striking' discourse
1
" N'atthi
viseso,
Samanassa Gotamassa uttarimanussaadhammo alamariyananadassana-
takkapariyahatam samano Gotamo dhammarii
relates that
Sunakkhatta reverted
to
Ksatriya about the time when this
Kalakafijaka Asura.
The story
of
The
Sunakkhatta
story
is
to be discussed in Part II.
influence
of
Kora the
had been reborn as the offspring of
Sufcfca does not mention Kora Khattiva.
the Singhalese
upon the Patika-Sutta of the Digha
The Lomaharfisa Jataka
latter
Mabasihanada
in
deseti. "
lay life through the
a
Amavatura seems
Nikaya,
Chap.
T.
Vol.
I
IT.
to
have been based
The older version
of the
THE AJIVIKAS
36
and
faith
The Mahasihanada
discipline.
Sutta,
which
the scene in a forest-grove, in the western suburb of
lays
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
Vesali, embodies a
many important
phases of Ajlvikism as
developed after
it
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
ment about the destruction
and the
hit
fever in
history.
Sunakkhatta
as
to
which he died was the Ajiviya.
Mahavlra's prophecy that Gosala having
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
new
eight
that
statement
first
seven practices
the coav, what
traceable in
apt
tion
is
the
Pure
has been soiled by
to arise
Drink,
starvation, the
that
the
is
excreted by
hand,
etc.,
eighth practice,
the
also arose
from
to practise this
Ajiviyas had
are
called
example,
his personal
hard penance of suicidal
to lie
lying successively for two months
Ajiviyas
what
hisacts in the delirium of fever, a presump-
and as we know,
earth, on
Considering that
acts.
— drinking
Ajiviyas
of the
practices
emerged from Gosala's personal
the
1
last faith in
Next
been
of
down
at a time
wooden planks and on darbha
observed this practice
for six months,
in
on the bare
grass.
If
blind imitation
the
of
their master, as I believe they did, Mahavlra's prophecy
can be reconciled
1
The
with his statement about Gosala's
story of Sunakkhatta in the
Dhammapada commentary and
goes on to relate that his dead body
(aniaka-snsana).
was dragged by a rope
the
Amavatura
to the charnel field
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
death only by the
supposition that he
37
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
die in seven
days,
(Accue Kappe).
The new
Ajlvij a doctrine of eight finalities preserves
war between Kuniya and Cedaga, and
these reminiscences, combined with Mahavira's second
prophecy that Gosala would predecease him by sixteen
memory
the
of a
years, can serve to furnish a clue to the date
death,
of
Gosala's
being synchronous with some natural and political
events such as tornado and war, which
left
its
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
strange coincidence of Gosala's death
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
the
drink,
last
last
the last solicitation, the last tornado,
elephant, the last tight with
the last titthaiikara
According
who
to the
is
song, the last dance,
the
last
big stones as
sprinkling
missiles,
Marikhaliputta himself.
and
2
BhagavatI account Savatthi was 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,
p. 17. foil.
1254: carime pane, carime wire, carime riatte, carime
amjalikamme, carime pokklialassa samvattae maliamelir. carime seyanae gamdhahatthi,
-
Bhagavati, XV.
I.
carime mahasilakariifcae... carime bitthamkare.
THE AJIVIKAS
oS
be an
sidered to
Professor
Ajivika.
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
1
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
their robes after cooling
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
and suburbs
potters
list
and bankers
districts
and they are classed as rich
Savatthi,
of
some outlying
as will
appear from the following
:—
(1)
Kundakoliyn, resident of Sahassambavana near
Kampillapura
is
of six kror
place, a
King
the dominion of
Pascnadi Kosala.
sattu, alias
Pusa and
in
said to
He
Jiya-
married lady
have possessed " a treasure
measures
of gold deposited in
capital of six
a safe
kror measures of gold,
put out on interest, a well-stocked estate of the
value
herds,
of
six
kror measures of gold and six
each herd consisting of ten
heads of cattle."
He had
1
thousand
a seal inscribed with
name Cnama-mudda) and is addressed as
lay-disciple of the Samana and beloved of
the
his
gods.
5
Subsequently he
is
said to
the
have become
a Jain a.
(2)
Saddalaputta,
a
rich
potter
town near Sahassambavana
1
-
3
1
of
Polasapura,
in the
dominion of
Ind. Ant., 1912, Vol. XLI, p. 288.
Mahavagga, VIII,
15.3.
Vinaya Texts,
S. B. E.,
Mahiivagga, VIII,
15.4.
Vinaya Texts,
op.
c-it.
Part
p.
II, p.
217.
21S.
Hoemle'a edition and translation of the pTasaga DasSo, VI. 163.
Ham bho KundakoKya samanovasaya devannppiya."
Ibid, VI. Hi<>
;
''
a
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
39
He
married Aggimitta and vied
He ran 500
with Kundakoliya in opulence.
potteries where a large number of employees
King
Jiyasattu.
1
received
food in lieu
prepared a large
and
pitchers
number
of
jars
wages, day by day,
of
of
six
pans,
bowls, pots,
different
sizes,
2
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
a Jaina later on.
(3)
Halahala, a potter- woman in whose premises in
Savatthi Marikhaliputta found shelter and lived
(4)
(5)
and died.
Ayampula, a
Migara,
40
4
Kror
citizen of Savatthi.
banker
a
of
measures
who
Savatthi,
of
gold
possessed
(cattalisakotiyo
His son Punnavaddhana married
Buddhist lady Visakha, daughter of
mahasetthi).
the
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,
applied to the
name
the
mother
of Migara,
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
Buddha
Majjhima Nikaya, a Brahman wanderer
that
Ariga and
1
!
-
3
4
Magadha were
tells
seething with
Ibid, VII. 182.
Uvasaga Dasao, VII. 183.
Dhammapada Commentary,
the
p. 384, foil.
THE AJ1VIKAS
40
speculative ferment stirred up by the six
whom Makkhali
Gosiila
was one
'
;
and
tittharikaras
of
in another passage
Sariputta informs Moggallana that he met an Ajlvika named
2
Panduputta, the son of a coach-repairer, near Rajagaha.
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.
The
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,
several
Yesali and Savatthi as the
successive centres of
the Ajiviya activity.
A number
disciples
Gosala's
of
survived him and
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.
-
Ibid,
1,
pp. 31-32.
3
Ibid
I,
p. 170, foil.;
*
Paramatthajotika,
boundaries of
2.
Therigatka
II,
the Middle
Vol.
I,
p.
;
Paramattha-jotika,
260
:
II,
Vol.
7,
pp. 2oS-L'(30.
Majjhima desabliimukho pakkami.
Country are discussed by
Prof.
characteristic thoroughness in his Carmichael Lectures, Lee. II,
Bhandarkar with
p. 42, foil,
The
his
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
Kaniyara,
putta.
seems
Aggivesayana, and Ajjana Gomayu-
Attheda,
Of them the
1
to
41
last,
Gomayuputta
Ajjana
i.e.,
have been the same person as the Ajlvika
whom
met outside Rajagaha, and
named Pandupiitta puranayanakaraputta in the
the Buddhist Thera Sariputta
who
is
Majjhima
of a
repairer
24th
in the
31)
(I. p.
— Pandu's son,
of old
year
carts.
of
his
Ajjuna,
i.e.,
son
the
The Disacaras met Gosala
mendicancy. The BhagavatI
account keeps us in the dark as to who they were before
with Gosala.
interview
their
them
represents
It
as
if
they had belonged to a separate school of
thought and
religious order, the past traditions (puvvas)
whereof they
and arranged
collected
canon
into a
consisting of eight
Mahanimittas and two Maggas, which ultimately became
the sacred literature of the Ajlviyas. 2
The account goes
so far as to indicate that this literature sprang out of
extracts
ideas
made by
the
the
own
Disacaras according to their
from the Puvvas, and that Gosala derived the
six
characteristic features of the organic world therefrom.
seems prima facie impossible that the six wanderers
It
have paid a
should
their
own and
visit
that
this
to
Gosala with a literature of
literature
should
accepted by Gosala and his disciples as
better
Gosala
of
would seem
interpretation
who
survived him
have
of their
order after
The
canonical.
to be that the disciples
assembled to collect and
systematise the teachings of their master and
tions
been
the
tradi-
death, and probably
Gosala's
they formed a council of six for the purpose, a procedure
followed later
in
principle
by the Jainas and Buddhists
after the death of their masters.
The BhagavatI
Sutra
author understood by the
1
Some
texts read the
names
as Sana,
does
not
Puvvas
explain
wherein
6
its
eight
Kanamdn, Kaniyara, Aechula, Aggivesayana
and Ajjuya Gomayuputta.
what
the
Appendix
II,
p.
249.
THE AJIVIKAS
42
Mahanimittas were contained, nor does
it
what
state
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
idea
:
'
noticed by Prof.
one.
Leumann, can be found
much
There seems to be
any
at
in
existing
the
2
truth in
Leumann 's surmise;
connexion of the Mahanimittas
rate, the traditional
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
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
called Puvvas, of
death.
This tradition
is
in conflict
with the Jaina inter-
pretation of the word Puvva, according to which
Puvvas
himself taught the
Ganadharas and the
latter
to
his
disciples
Mahavlra
the
called
composed afterwards the Angas.
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
That there
1
is
Bhadra Bahu and Sravana Belgola
b}'
Lewis Rice, Ind. Ant,, Vol.
Ill,
A§taftgamahauiinittara = atthnrhg-antha Mahanimittam of the Bhagavati Sutra.
2
3
4
Jacobi's Jaina-siitras, Part
Weber, Indische Studien,
1,
Appendix
II, p. 249,
Introd., p. xliv.
xvi, p. 353,
f.
n.
1.
p.
153.
HISTORICAL
side
up
the
4th century
till
SUMMARY
43
the council of Pataliputra, which
B.C.,
is
that the
was held
in
eleven Angas did
first
not derive their authority from the Puvvas, and
were in
a sense later innovations.
As
to the tradition that the
it
or
its
name
implies,
philosophical
" It
schools.
were incorpo-
*
by the contents of the Aiiga
Dristivada, as
dfistis
T areas
Twelfth Anga, the Dristicada, Prof. Jacobi
the
rated in
justifies
14
may
be
dealt
The
itself.
chiefly
with the
views of the Jainas and other
thence inferred
the purvas
that
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.
that the purvas represented the older Jaina
their traditional
form which were
doctrines
in
later abridged, systema-
and partly superseded by the Arigas.
The same process of abridgement, systematisation,
and partial supplementation seems to have taken place
1
tized
growth of the Ajivika canon. The eight Mahanimittas did not surely exhaust the puvvas when it is exthe
in
pressly stated that they were only contained in them,
made
consisted of extracts
ing to
their
own
ideas.
thereof by the Disacaras accord-
Some
idea of
the Mahanimittas can be formed
from
the contents of
the
Bhadrabahu
inscription referred to above and quoted below
"
Bhadrabahu-svamina
:
Ujjayinyam astanga-mahani-
mitta-tatvajiiena traikalya-darsina nimittena dvadasa
vatasara-kala
as follows
By Bhadrabahu-svamin, who
the
of
:
possesses the
Eight Mahanimittas, the seer of the
and future, was foretold by the study
*
Hoernle's
sarii-
vaisamyam upalabhya."
The extract may be rendered
"
and
Introduction
to
his
translation
other references mentioned by him in a footnote.
of
of
knowledge
past, present
signs
a dire
the Uvasaga Dasao, p.
x.
Seo
THE AJIVIKAS
44
calamity in Ujjayini, lasting for a period of twelve years.
It is clear from this that the Eight Mahanimittas con-
is
doubtful
the
if
and astronomical works.
of astrological
chiefly
sisted
on music, as the
These dealt perhaps with
Maggas were
treatises
Jaina commentator suggests.
Ajiviya
the rules of the
these
that
although
were
it is
later
community.
additions
It js
no wonder
the Ajlvika canon,
to
when
difficult to say
It
exactly these additions
The puvvas from which the -abstracts on
astrological and astronomical matters were derived contained perhaps, like the Puvvas of the Jainas, the philo-
were made.
The separation
Ajiviya order.
of
rules
sophical views and controversies besides the
the
Mahanimittas from
of the
the general body of Ajiviya tradition was coeval probably
with a change which came about in the life of the Ajlviyas
after
their
The change
master's death.
is
nothing
else,
than that the Ajlviyas
as will be pointed out hereafter,
strict religious discipline
departing from the line of
and
make
purpose of their Masters inclined more and more to
astrology and divination their profession.
The
many
ever,
literary
traditions
the Ajlviyas, like those of
of
other schools of thought, have been lost perhaps for
and no one knows where
fruitful
results
to seek for
they will yield
when
them
discovered.
what
At the
or
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
is
it
should have been irrevocably
Bhadrabahu
historian is tempted
of the
but that
it
has
to believe that
survived
in
Prom
lost.
of
inscription
painful to think that
Sravana Belgoja the
it is
not lost absolutely,
some form
existing literature of the Jainas,
the evidence
the
or other in the
Buddhists and 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
bear evidence to
the
fact
medium
developed a literary
scientific
though they
expressions which, meagre
certain turns of
are,
45
nomenclature
that
Ajlvikas
own, closely
their
of
the
or vehicle of expression
had
and
allied
to
other, distant
Ardhamagadhi on the
from Pali and still more distant from
Sanskrit.
is
the
on one
Dialect
It
and
side,
to
the case
as in
difficult,
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
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
the Brahmanical literature then extant.
local influences,
growth of
no
less
powers
but I must say that in the study of the
literary
languages
than in that of
and religious
the
in the
and
illustration
:
supposing
the
Ajlvika canon and Buddhist
by side in Kosala, where the
influences
of
were
between them
affinity
not so
and the
developed side
that the languages
differences
historian
mind that the tribal,
were far more potent and
and communal factors
To take an
operative than local.
Pitaka had
the
different political
bear in
to
caste
local
of
rise
orders,
philologist will do well
sixth century B.C.,
much
theoretically
the
same,
the
in matters of phonetics, syntax
with Sanskrit
can be best accounted for
by a grand theory of provincial peculiarities
THE AJlVIKAS
46
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.
as
is
or
by that of
caste
tribal,
partly local in so far as
a
on
Proceeding
race.
refinement of Pali and
place
;i
is
these
closer
its
inhabited by a tribe
affinity
can be explained by the fact that
the
lines,
it
with
Sanskrit
had originated with
a highly cultured
member
was adapted
languages of the nobility and
to the
of
greater
an aristocratic
clan,
and
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,
the potters and the coach-builders, naturally lacked gram-
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.
the
matical precision,
A
is
fuller
discussion
of
reserved for Part II.
with citing a
purity of
diction,
intricate linguistic
this
Here
few instances
must remain content
I
in
problem
order
to illustrate the
nature of the Ajivika language under notice.
1.
(a)
The doctrine
Ardhamagadh
" Gosalassa
natti
:
of
i
Gosala
is
reproduced in
:
Mankhaliputtassa dhammapan-
n'atthi utthane
i
va
kamme
i
va bale
—
i
virie i va purisaparakkame i va
niyaya
sabbabhava " (Uvasaga Dasao, VI, 166).
va
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
(b)
The same
reproduced
is
47
in Pali:
" N'atthi attakare n'atthi
parakare n'atthi
purisakare, n'atthi balam n'atthi viriyam
purisa-thamo
n'atthi
parakkamo.
sabbe
(Dl^ha.,
avasa abala
"
63).
I, p.
The same abridged and more adapted
reads
pana
sahhe
jiva
niyati-sari gati-bhava-parinata
aviriya
(c)
Sabbe satta
bhuta
sabbe
purisa-
n'atthi
to Pali
:
" N'atthi
balam
n'atthi
n'atthi
vlriyari
purisatthamo n'atthi purisaparakkamo,
abala aviriya niyati-
sabbe satta
sangati-bhava parinata (Majjhima,
I, p.
407).
2.
{a)
mahakappasayasahassaim,
Caurasiti
divve,
panca kammanisaya-
satta pauttfiparihare,
satthim
sahassaim
antarii karenti '"
"
In
Rome
addha-kamme
tlni
ca,
sannigabbha
satta
niganthigabbha,
manusa,
satta
supina,
satta
edition the
The variant
itu'itaih
is
1.).
text
reads
karimsu
va
:
pisaca.
ca
kammani kamme
dvatthi-patipada
satta
satta
pesaca,
asanfiigabbha,
satta
sijjhanti
i-<
satta
satta
cullaslti
bujjhanti mnccamti parinivvaiihti
karimti va karissamti va.
This reading
deva
2
supina-satani,
aihtaro karenti frequently ocenrs in the Bhagavati,
2
kha-
Cuddasa kho pan' imani yoni-pamukha-satasahassani satthifi ca satani cha ca satani,
ca
1
XY.
(Bhagavati,
panca ca kammani
sabl a dnkkhanarii
aniipuvvenarii
paccha sijjhanti hujjhanti Java
vaitta tau
(b)
cha ca
sahassani
ca
kammamse
satinniya
sannigabbhe,
satta
sarhjuhe,
satta
satta-
XV.
The phrase Java
1.
adopted by the commentator.
THE AJIYIKAS
48
maha-kappuno
dukkhass'
5
I, p.
(«) " Se-jje
3.
sandhavitva
ca
pandite
ca
yani bale
satasahassani
'
samsaritva
(Digha,
karissanti "
antarii
1).
gam'-agara
inie
sannivesesu
Java
Ajlviya bhavanti, tarn jaha
du-gharauta-
:
riya ti-gharantariya satta-gharantariya up-
ghara-samudaniya
palaventiya
vijjuyan-
tariya uttiya-samana " (Aupapatika Sutra,
Sec. 120).
(b)
" Acelaka
muttacara
hatthapalekhana
na
na
titthabhadantika
na
ehibhadantika
tanam
uddissakatam na
na
abhihatam
Te ekagarika
sadiyanti,
va honti ekalopika,
"
pika
The reader may notice that
the language
and rules
va
honti
Majjhima,
v
I, p.
honti
sattalo-
23S).
in the instances cited
above
of the Ajlvikas, certain views
that
of theirs being reproduced in highly crystallised
and
distorted
their
own
pectively.
not
is
va
dvagarika
sattagarika
dvalopika,
niman-
forms by
languages,
i.e.,
Jamas and Buddhists in
Ardhamagadhi and Pali res-
the
in
In so doing, they have retained just a few
turns of expressions and grammatical forms which appear
Ardhamagadhi
to stand nearer to
or Jaina Prakrit.
Eor
instance, in the Jaina extract 1(a), the nominative singulars,
whether masculine or neuter, have for their case-
ending
e,
while in
similar cases
is
The Jaina extract reads
purisaparakkame
i
in
1
"n'
:
"
va."
Digha, catalogued as
forms
declension
Pali
the
o for masculine stems
atthi
in
for neuter.
n atthi utthane i va
The Buddhist extract from the
'
1(b), contains
atta-kare
The reading Mahakappuno
case-ending
and am
is
similar
n'atthi
grammatical
para-kare n'atthi
accepted in the commentary.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
while
purisakare,"
these
expressions
49
are
altogether
omitted in the extract from the Majjhima, marked
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
:
kame
i
1(c): n'atthi
thamo
It
may
i
va vlriye
i
va purisa-parak-
va.
balam n'atthi vlriyam n'atthi purisa-
n'atthi purisa-parakkamo.
be inferred from this that the Ajivikas did not
draw any distinction in their declension between masculine
and neuter stems ending in a, in so far as the nominative
singular
is
Mahakappuno occurs
concerned.
in
2(b)
as
a genitive singular of mahakappa, whereas the genitive
plural
if
mahakappanam would have
fitted
more the context,
had been Pali. Moreover, the genitive
mahakappa is always mahakappassa in
the language
singular
of
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
Professor Rhys Davids
Buddhaghosa's commentary,
supina-satani."
following the authority
of
renders these expressions by " seven principal and seven
hundred minor
dreams."
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
1
for dream,
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
put side by
can well indicate the relative position of
the Ajivika language, Ardhamagadhi, Pali and Sanskrit.
side,
1
3
Dial, B. II, p. 72.
Snmangala-vilasini,
I, p.
164.
THE AJIVIKAS
50
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
Lalita Vistara as " tad bhavisyasi
be rendered " perhaps it may be
Huveyya
hupeyya which
or
verbal root v/bhii
Gautama," 4 and may
my
so,
p
and
not a recognised Pali word, the usual
is
It appears more-
the variants mentioned above that the sounds
were interchangeable
v
!" 5
an optative form of the
is
Pali form of the verb being bhaveyya.
over from
good friend
language.
in the Ajivika
same story
the Buddhist commentator displays humour by reproFurthermore, in a later version
the
of
ti
,
" sace Cavam labhami,
ducing Upaka's actual words
no ce, maramiti," i.e., " If I gain Cava, I will
jlvami
:
;
live
;
if
The Ceylonese
not, I will die/'
dhaghosa's Papanca Sudani
ce,
whereby Upaka
whom
the
of
he
refers
love
fell in
38S) supplies a variant
" Chavarii labhami, jlvami;
the
to
not
is
name being
8
Capo,.
Cava
Pali,
usual
the
It also
Chava
or
daughter with
fowler's
may
Pali
form
be noted that
marami instead
present tense
the
the use of
is
Here the name
maramiti." 7
Bud-
of
(p.
of the above reading, which
no
edition
of
the
The idiomatic use of the verb can be best illustrated by these
" Yena tena upayena ganha, sace na
two sentences
future form marissami
is
unidiomatic in Pali.
:
marissamiti
labhissami
n'atthi bale
1
2-3
Majjhima,
I,
sahayata.
p. 171
MahSvagga, Vol.
1,
;
"9
;
" 10
no gamissami
That the general tendency of
Paramattha-jotika,
Lefmann's Lalita-vistara,
5
Papafica-Sudani, Ceylonese edition,
6
Paramattha-jotika,
II,
p.
Vol.
C/. Paramattha-jotika,
II,
406.
I.
p.
%
8
Paramattha-jotika,
9
Anderson's Pali Reader,
II,
Vol.
I,
p. 258.
p. 1.
Phammapada-commentary,
388
I,
:
evam
pi
nama bhaveyya.
p. 258.
Vol. I,'p. 259.
cemaramlti."
10
II, Vol. I, p. 258.
p. 8.
*
'
" marissami
p. 17,
"
Sace chavam labhami, jlvami, no
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
the Pali idiom
is
51
to use the future tense in
such cases
is
Instead
extracts 2(a) and 2(b).
"
in the Jaina extract 2(a) we
aiitam karemti
evident also from
the
"Java
meet with " dukkhass' antarh karissanti
of
extract 2(b).
I
"
in the
Buddhist
The
need not multiply instances here.
where the masculine
cases already cited include instances
and neuter stems ending in a are not distinguished
declension in so far as the
cerned,
and where the
properly differentiated.
the surmise that the
from
nominative singular
in
con-
is
numbers and tenses are not
Are these not sufficient to justify
Ajivika language
may
be judged
crude grammatical forms as standing nearest to
its
the Dialect and closely allied to
With regard
to
Ardhamagadhi ?
two new Ajlviya doctrines which are
have been formulated on the basis of Gosala's
personal acts and incidents, I find substantial agreement
said to
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
These are interdependent as the last drink
included in the former seems to have afforded
Substitutes.
which
is
a basis for the
latter.
It
is
not easy to understand the
eight Finalities
real signification of the doctrine of
last
drink,
the
the last song, the last dance, the last solicita-
tion, the last tornado,
last fight
:
the last sprinkling elephant,
the
with big stones as missiles, and the last Titthan-
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
is
Maiikhaliputta himself.
ence of the death of Gosala, the
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,
THE AJIVIKAS
52
any explanation of
But the last item which
nor
is
may
towards Gosala
it
given in the BhagavatI Sutra.
relates
furnish a clue to
show that Gosala came
to
Titthankara of the Ajiviyas.
evidence of the Buddhist
Ajiviya attitude
the
to
meaning
its
;
goes
it
be regarded, as the
to
This
texts
is
last
corroborated by the
which
state
that
the
Ajlvikas recognised only three persons as their leaders
or
masters
peerless
was the
(anantajinas)
whom
of
Makkhali
In a Sutta of the Majjhima Nikaya the
last.
Brahman wanderer Sandaka
"
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
says,
J
leaders
three
their
the
in
supremely white
they placed themselves in just the white
lay disciples in the yellow.
Titthankara " also implies
more
titthaiikaras than one.
class,
class
while
and their
The Jaina expression
" last
that the Ajiviyas recognised
It
is
important to note that
Gosala came to be honoured as the
last
kara in the life-time of the Buddha.
Ajivika titthanThis enables us to
surmise that he predeceased the Buddha, although
is
the
their
as
the
of
synchronism of
is
Gosala being
1
Majjhima,
1. p.
doctrine of
Gosala's
political events as
it
Gosala
after
his
death
following as the most natural and probable
interpretation
and that
to
it
Seeing that
years.
Titthankara or peerless master, one can
last
suggest the
back
looked
Ajlvikas
how many
say by
to
difficult
death
524
:
:
the
with such natural and
tornado and war was quite providential,
to be regarded as
the
eight Finalities
last
a
divine
titthankara,
testimony of
whose death was
Ajivika puttamataya putta, attananceva ukkamseti pararii
vambhenti, tayo ceva niyyataro pannapeuti, seyyathidam
Samkiccam, Makkhalim Gosalam.
Nandam
Vaccharii,
Kisam
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
rendered doubly significant in
cidence with
many
human
53
by
history
its
coin-
other tragic and fateful occurrences.
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
attached a peculiar religious sanctity and spiritual value,
and that
these appertained to three successive stages of
(marana indiya) as the Jainas call it. In
stage, the dying Ajiviya saint was permitted to
religious suicide
the
first
drink something,
what
e.g.,
excreted by the cow, what
is
has been soiled by the hand, what
is
heated by the sun,
and what drops from a rock in the second stage, he was
permitted not to drink anything but to use some substi;
hold in his hand a dish or a bottle or a pot
tutes, e.g., to
or a jar
which
ing from
it
;
is
to
cool or
wet with water, instead of drink-
squeeze or press with his mouth a mango
or a
hog-plum
it is
tender or uncooked, instead of drinking of
or a jujube
fruit or
a tinduka fruit
mouth kalaya
or to squeeze or press with his
its
when
juice
;
or muclga or
masa or simbali beans when they are tender or uncooked,
instead of drinking of their juice
he
stage,
had
to
;
forego even
while in the third or last
that.
In practising the
penance of Pure Drink the Ajiviya had
to
lie
down
for
months, lying successively for two months at a time
six
on the bare earth,
on wooden planks and on darbha
This indicates
grass.
for the
penance was
the
that
longest
period
months, each stage of
six
allotted
having
it
been gone through in two months, and therein lay the
novelty of the Ajiviya method of attaining salvation
means
of religious suicide.
by starvation seems
threefold
way
to
This
have been similar to the
{tidha tidha)
'
new method
Mahavlra, as an improvement on the older
1
AySratnga Sutta,
I,
7.8.12
:
padiyaram vijnhejja tidha tidha
Ayam
thrice-
'
introduced by Nayaputta,
1
i.e.,
by
of death
se avare
dhamme Nayaputtena
method
sahie,
ayavajjam
THE AJIVIKAS
54
by the followers of Parsva, e.g.,
The underlying motives of
Mahavlra's parents.
barbarous practice, as described in the Ayararhga
apparently
adopted
1
by
this
Sutta,
2
are the following
Riddance from kamma.
1.
2.
Endurance
3.
Sanctity of animal
(titikkha).
4.
Freedom from attachment.
5.
Self-control.
6.
Attainment
The grand moral
of Nirvana.
i.e.,
"
He
na
vi
3
of the doctrine involved
" Jlviyam niibhikariikhejja
duhato
life.
sajjejjil jivite
should not long for
should yearn after neither,
maranam no
vi patthae ;
marane taha."
life,
life or
is
nor wish for death
;
he
4
death."
It appears from Buddha's representation of the Ajivika
Lomahamsa
his
religion in
Discourse
3
that the Ajivikas
followed the same elaborate method for the attainment of
The
the truth as for the attainment of the Accuta world.
Ajivika religion
its
is
described there as
" the higher life in
6
four forms" (caturaiigasamannagatam brahmacariyarii)
and
its
fundamental principles are summed up
in the
7
Mahasihanada Sutta by these two expressions purification by food (aharena suddhi) and purification by transmigration (saihsarena suddhi). The four-fold brahma:
cariya consisted of
—asceticism
Lukhacariya — austerity
Tapassita
1
2.
'
Ibid, II, 15.1G.
s
Ibid, II, 7.8;
3
Lit.
8
,
II. 15.16.
parama
titikkha,
ibid,
I.
7.8.25. Cf.
Dhammapada, verse 184
Nibbilnam paramam.
*
Jacobi's Jaina Sutras, part
I. p.
3
The Lomahamsa Discourse
in the
8
Majjhima,
I.
p.
77
7
Ibid,
I.
pp. 80-82.
8
Ibid,
I.
p.
77
;
;
;
Jataka,
Jataka,
I. p.
I. p.
390.
75.
Jataka (Jataka No. 94).
391.
:
titikkha
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
and
Of
— comfort-loathing,
3.
Jegucchita
4>.
Pavivittata
these, the first
55
point,
—
solitude.
Tapassita, exhausts the
i.e.,
met with
description of the rules of the Ajlvika order as
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.
!
in the
brahmacaryya,
teaching of the caturanga
the
to
the
Ajlvika had to be an ascetic, the chief of ascetics; ugly
passing
for
beyond all others comfort-loathing surand lonely with unsurpassed passion
habits
his
in
all
;
others
;
As an
solitude.
ascetic
(tapassitaya),
go naked, to be of loose habits,
covered with a coating
of
own hand,
as ugly in
dust accumulating for
rubbing
without thinking yet of
years
;
he had to allow his body
(lukhasmirh)
habits
etc.
he had
it
off
to
to
his
be
many
by
his
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
or
it
rubbed
off
by
the
;
;
mode
involved in this
" So tatto,
3
of holy life
so sito,
naggo na caggim
Naked, no
As regards
jujube
fruits,
Majjhima,
;
cf. p.
Anguttara, Part
3
Cf. variant Sutatto,
4
Cf. variant so sino, ibid,
5
Majjhima,
Cf.
I,p.
the fearsome woods,
the Ajlvika had to
food,
his
238
in
bent on seeking the truth." 6
is
2
6
esanapasntomuniti" 5
and on muggas,
I. p.
:
beside, all afire within,
fire
The hermit
is
eko bhirhsanake vane,
iisino,
" Bescorched, befrozen, lone
i.e.,
1
4
tilas
77.
79
;
I, p.
Jataka,
Jataka translation,
I,p.
p. 536.
536.
I, p.
390.
230; Dial. B.
II. p.
on
and tandulas, whole
I,p. 295.
Majjhima,
live
208.
THE AJTVIKAS
56
On
or powdered.
Jataka
hariisa
the account of the
point
this
Loma-
from that of the Mahaslhanada
differs
Sutta just described. The former describes the Ajlvika
as the ascetic " unclothed and covered with dust, solitary
and
fleeing
lonely,
men, whose food was small
refuse."
It
fish,
1
shown
has been
Cam pa,
from the face of
cowdun'g, and other
deer
a
like
Rayagiha, Uddandapura,
that
Vanarasi Alabhiya, Vesali and Savatthi were the
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,
successive
and that the progress
movement proceeded along
Campa as the most easterly
of this
two paths, one leading to
point, and the other to Savatthi
limit.
At
various
this
formidable
encounter two
common
the
extreme western
the
Ajlvikas had
enemies.
the
Kumaraputta, 2
from Gosala's division
It appears
Ajlvika movement
of time that the
to
enemies, the Jaina and the
Brahman and
Buddhist, besides the
their
as
centres
was confined even
under his leadership, within the land of the seven rivers
more accurately,
(satta sara), or
The scenes
of
the
early
Gangetic valley.
to the
years
of
Gosala's career as
mendicant are laid round Rayagiha and
The latter was probably the farthest point
which lay outside the
east
1
Jataka,
I, p.
390; Ajivikapabbajjam
pavivitto ahosi ekavihari,
territorial
pabbajitva
manusse disva migo viya
a
Paniyabhumi.
the South-
in
division
acclako
palavi,
11
aliosi
of the
rajojalliko,
mahavikatabhojano
aliosi
macchagomayadini paribhunji.
' Parsva's followers were called
Kumarasamanas. (Uttaradhyayana, lecture 23)
or Niggantba sania'nas, Kumaraputtaa (Suyagadamga II. 7. G).
3
Satta sara are, according to Buddhaghosa's commentary, seven great lakes,
viz.,
Kannamunda, Ratbakara, Anotatta, SihappapSta, Tiyaggala, Mucalinda, Knnaladaha
(Sumangalavilasini
Sutra
I. p.
we meet with
the
164).
This does not seem to be correct.
names
of seven rivers
Lohiyagaftga, AvatTganga,
p. 253).
viz.,
In
the Bhagavati
Ganga, Sadinaganga, JladugangS
and ParamavatTgangS (Rockhill's Life of the Bnrldha
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
Middle Country.
river-port
57
Puniyabhumi seems to have been a
Western Bengal.
Indeed, so far as the
in
'
1
easterly point
is
concerned,
can be shown that Western
the Ajlvikas and the older
it
Bengal became a scene of
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,
3
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).
for
The rude natives
the ascetics.
When
dogs by the
their
upon the samanas.
It
is
said that
of
the place generally maltreated
they saw the ascetics, they called up
cry of " Chucchu 4 and set them
It
was
difficult
to
travel
in
Ladha.
many
they were bitten
recluses lived in Vajjabhumi where
by the dogs and cruelly treated in a
hundred other ways.
Some
of
the
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
bamboo
We
of Bengal, as a
mendicant carrying a staff, his expression
pure asirii " implying that the Ajlvikas
habitually went about with a staff in hand, which was a
" latthihattho
matter of necessity with them.
references
1
Panini described
According to the commentary of the Kalpasutra,
"
Silanka's tika on the Ayaramgasutta
*
Ohanasuya, the discourse which
*
Ayaramga
5
These Jaina and Buddhist
why
can well explain
Ibid,
I. 8. 3.
I. 8. 3. 5.
8
4.
is
I.
to
it
is
a place in
Vajrabhumi.
8, 3, 2.
be listened
to.
Ayfiramga,
the
1. 8.
THE AJTVIKAS
58
Maskarina as a
class of
wanderers provided with bamboo
(maskara-maskarino-venuparivrajakayoh).
staves
point
as the westerly
concerned,
is
towards the close of Gosala's
driven even
seen that
literature
few episodes where the Ajivikas came
Buddhists in Savatthi.*
with the
conflict
we have
far
the Ajlviyas were being
The Buddhist
out of Savatthi.
alse preserves a
into
life
So
It
is
mentioned in the BhagavatI Sutra that the Ajlvika
centre was shifted not long after Gosala's death to Punda,
the
a country at
foot
of
the
which the capital was a
city
A
kino;
gates (Sayaduviira).
known
otherwise
as
Virijha
provided
mountains,
of
with a hundred
Mahapauma (Mahapadma),
Devasena and Vimalavahana,
is
said
have persecuted the Jainas at the instigation of
the Ajlviyas, whose royal patron he was. The wicked
to
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,
record of an age
spread
over
when
Aiiga,
the disciple
of
the Ajlvika and Jaina religions were
Vaiiga,
Magaha, Malaya, Malava,
Accha, Vaccha, Koccha, Padha, Ladha, Bajji, Moli, Kasi,
Avaha and Sambhuttara,
Kosala,
countries
of
some are
which
which were situated outside the territorial
the Middle country, e.g., Vaiiga, Malaya,
Accha, Koccha, Padha, Ladha, Avaha and
division of
Malava,
Sambhuttara. 4
The same chapter also points
when many Vedic and non- Aryan deities were
1
s
ViiSkhayatthu,
Hid,
4
Dhammapada Commentary,
Hoernle's Appendix,
p. 14.
Ibid, pp. 6-7.
I,
pp. 11-12.
IV. No.
to
an age
affiliated to
8.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
59
Punnabhadda, and Manibhadda,
Sohamma, Sanakkumara, Bambha, Mahiisukka, Anaya and
the Ajiviya pantheon,
Arana.
The
1
e.g.,
to those
believed that
iijlvikas
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
they submitted then to their caresses,
the
work
terious
of
fire
and
serpents,
arose
if
bodies
their
in
they did not, then a mys-
consume them. 2
to
Punnabhadda and Manibhadda are
represented
they were the local deities of Punda, where
as
if
the twin
gods were looked upon as generals of King Devasena
Mahapauma. 3
We
say that some of the non-Aryan
Vedic deities were
affiliated
and
into the Ajlvika pantheon,
because in the Buddhist Niddesas the worshippers of
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
gories of disciples (schools)
(1) Disciples
:
the
and devotees
(sects)
Niganthas,
the
Ajlvikas,
Jatilas, the Paribbajakas,
(2)
under two cate-
the following, apparently
the
and the Aviruddhakas.
Devotees: Worshippers of elephant, of horse,
cow, dog, crow, Vasudeva,
Baladeva, Punna-
Manibhaddadeva,
bhaddadeva,
Aggi,
Naga,
Suvanna, Yakkha, Asura, Gandhabba, Maharaja
Canda, Suriya, Inda, Brahma, Deva, and Disa.
Further, the Niddesa
list
points to a
religious sects started deifying,
more
1
Hoernle's Appendix,
Ibid, p. 11.
8
Cullaniddesa,
pp.
I,
p.
the
older
list
of
ten
1-1.
173-174
•avakanara Niganthadevata
when
or less, their heroes.
The Ariguttara Nikaya contains an
1
time
:
—Ajlvika-savakanaiii
etc., cf.
Ajivikadevatft,
Mahaniddesa, pp. 89-92.
Nigantha-
THE AJ1VIKAS
60
orders
religious
which
of
Niddesa under the
first
category are included
only aro noticed
five
in the
category, while under the
various groups
the
of
second
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
1
when
the Niddesa
list
was
closed, e.g., the
Mundasavakas
;
;
list was considered as redundant, e.g.,
Paribbajakas
and the Tedandikas or
in the case of the
that the
or
older
;,
Niddesa groups of devotees were promiscuously
the
that
comprised under one name,
In support
worshipper of deities in general.
hypothesis I
may
refer the reader
fragment on precepts
is
Devadhammika, the
e.g.,
to
the third
of
commentarial
the
in the Brahmajalasutta,
where there
reference to the worship of the sun, the worship
mother earth, and the invocation
Luck
of
But the reader can
2
.
that the deities and forms
of
Brahmajalasutta were not
of
Siri,
the
at once judge
of the
goddess
for himself
worship mentioned in the
all
foreign to the Vedic, and
further that the worshippers of these deities did not form
or corporations 3
distinct groups
deities
to
in
Panini's
Aupapatika
Upariga the
country, while
the latter
Baladeva, and Cakkavattl
1
Anguttara,
Magandika,
II. pp.
Astadhyayi 4 and the Jaina
Sutra.
The former
Maharaja, Vasudeva, Arjuna,
devotion to
of
Moreover, some of the
and forms of worship mentioned in the Niddesas
referred
are
.
pt. Ill,
Ajivika,
Tedandika,
speaks
clan
and
makes mention of Vasudeva,
whose existence the Jainas
in
Nigantha,
Aviniddhaka,
Mundasavaka,
Gotamaka,
Jatilaka,
Paribbajaka,
Devadhammika.
Dial.
B.
220-222.
2
DIghanikaya,
3
The following are mentioned
Pabbata,
I,
pp.
Dhammagiriya,
in the Milinda, p.
Brahmagiriya,
Nataka,
191,
as
ganas
:
Mails,
Naccaka, Langhaka,
Atona,
PisacS,
Manibhadda, Punnabhadda, Candima-Suriya, Siridevata, Kali or Kali-devata, SivS,
Vasudeva, Glianika, Asipasa, Bhaddiputta.
*
Paniui, IV.
3.
95-100.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
were called upon
The very
to believe.
61
Vasudeva,
fact that
Baladeva and Emperor were recognised by the
among prominent personalities (Salakapurusas)
Jainas
evidence that some sort of synthesis
among
took
the different religious
communities, living
country and
under the same
different records of
Buddhists concur in
had
is
same
the
in
an
Thus three
the E rah mans, the Jainas and the
perhaps
religious sects
place
pointing
make
to
a
rule.
when the rival
compromise among them
a time
to
by accepting the deities of one another, especially to an
epoch when the Emperor had to be worshipped. as a god.
The Mahabodhijataka
that
seek
seem
to
passed
one
that
advantage even bv
material
one's
parents
teaching
(Khattavijja)
politics
testimony to the fact
bears
also
into
a
dogma.
religious
.
one
bring out
fact
killing; one's
All
1
that such
viz.
should
these
changes
Indian religion were coeval with the foundation of an
empire and consequent on the growth of the idea of
in
personality in
and
religion
the Buddha's life-time,'-
Seeing
state.
beginnings of these developments
that
the
were as old as the
seems probable that the process
of deification in religion and state ran side by side with
making
the
of the
it
Magadha Empire.
There can be
no
gainsaying
that
retained an important position during
the
The Kautilya Arthasastra, which may be
a sense as a faithful record of
tion, prohibits
by penal
the
Ajivikas
Maurya
rule.
regarded in
Candragupta's administra-
legislation
entertainment of the
Sakyas (Buddhists) and the Ajivikas at the time of sraddha
*
Jataka, Vol.
attho kametabbo "
referred
which
2
is
to is
to
ti
228
p.
Khattavijjavadi
:
ganhapesi.
It
cakkavatti
" Matapitaropi
especially
is
to
be
maretva atfcano va
noted that
the doctrine
be found in the verse-quotation from the canonical Jataka Book,
as old as the 4th century B.C.,
Anguttara,
<lve
V,
I.
pp.
77
:
acchariyamanussa
thuparaha. Cf
;
Qigha
if
Tathagato
not older,
ca
cf. p. 2-40.
araham samma sambuddho
(yesam) kalakiriya bahuno
II. p. 142.
janassa
raja ca
anutappa
THE
62
and
1
sacrifice.
This
A.JIVIKAS
be
not surely to
is
contestable proof of religious persecution
other evidences
proving
the
that
an
as
eited
the
in
face
were avoided by Indian peoples on such occassions. 2
very
sight
mendicants
good
of
samnyasins,
the
of
especially
taste,
was repulsive
Ajlvikas,
the
like
particulary
the custodians of good manners
said
the sight
at
devoid
completely
persons,
cannot be Arahants."
more
in
regard
courtezan in the following verses
sa
persons
to
now.
Such
sense
feeling
the
to
Divyavadana through the
the
"Kathaih
"
:
the
of
The same
with
emphatically
ascetic
3
then as
Ajlvikas
the
of
naked
of
It is
Visakha that she remarked
Buddhist lady
the
of
The
womenfolk who were
the
to
of
general
in
ascetics
in-
shameless
of
is
decency,
expressed
naked
mouth
Jaina
of
a
4
:
buddhiman bhavati puruso
vyafijatiavitah
ayam grame earti nagnakah
dharmah puvastal lambate dasa
lokasya pasvato yo'
Yasvavam
idriso
tasva vai sravanan raja ksuraprenavakrintatu."
The
Brahman teacher of polity and
Visnugupta or Canakya towards the
real attitude of a
minister of state like
Ajlvikas and naked ascetics in general
5
is
clearly brought
The substance
of
out in a story of the Paiicatantra.
the story is that Manibhadra, an unfortunate banker of
was directed by the angel Padmanidhi in
strike him with a lakuta when he would appear
Pataliputra, 8
dream
1
to
Shamasastry's Arthasastra,
Ajlvikas at the time
the
of
251
:
Those who entertained the Buddhists and
sacrifice were punishable by a lino of
iraddha and
100 panas.
'-
The Paramatthajotika,
belief: "
*
III.
Vol
1.
p.
175 records the following Brahmanio
mangalakicoesu samanadassanani amangalam."
Dhannnapada Commentary,
p.
400
:
"evurupa
uaina uahonti."
*
Divyavadana,
p. 165.
Ibid, p. 370.
s
Paiicatantra, ed. Kielhoru, V.
Pataliputra
is
1.
placed in the Deccan (Daksinatye).
hirottappavirahita arahauta
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
03
next morning before him in the guise of a Ksapanaka,
and strangely enough, carrying out the angel's suggestion
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
the
conceived a plan of obtaining gold by striking the Ksapa-
With this end in view, he lost
a Ksapanaka monastery where after
nakas with a lakuta.
,
no time to go to
showing due honour
to
couplets expressive of
the
sects
— the
Ajlvika,
the
Jinendra, he recited three
religious
Jaina and
the
sentiments of three
the Buddhist.
second couplet which strikes the keynote
and Jaina
faiths
is
of
the
The
Ajlvika
:
" 5>a jihva ya jinam stauti, taccittam yat jine ratah
Taveva ea karau slaghyau yau
" That
is
puja karau.
"
the tongue which praises the Lord
that the heart which
and
tat
is
devoted to the Lord,
those hands are verily praiseworthy
which honour Him."
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
Jinahood
tion.
and
constituted
The name
of
miracles,
and
that
the highest ideal of
the
with
human
banker Manibhadra
is
them
perfecitself
THE
fi4
of great
A.7TVTKAS
importance as confirming the Bhagavatl account
the disciples of Gosala as votaries of the
representing
twin angels Punnabhadda and Manibhadda.
teaching in
the
story
that
is
Visnugupta's
the proper treatment by
a householder of the shameless naked ascetics professing
supernormal faculties was
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.
possess
to
the very staff which some
to strike
of
are typified in the story by the tragic fate of
Ksapa-
the
nakas and the barber.
Visakhadatta's Mudraraksasa which
is
one of the most
important historical dramas in Sanskrit, dated between
the 5th and the 6th century A.D.,
1
paints
the
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
of a
Ksapanaka who,
the
like
2
speak of his heart
by the
having been taken possession of
itself
enemy when he saw him. 3
the play
is
not
far
to seek
;
The
chief motive of
Visakhadatta
in
the shrewd political principles of the Indian
sought to show
dispassionate,
how even
a naked
meditating on the
principle (jivasiddhi ksapanaka)
1
could be
Mr. Telang. places the dateof the play between the
A.D. Mr. Vincent Smith between
the 5th
Machiavelli
mendicant,
reality
of
eulogising
houseless,
the
made
living
a
friend
7th and the 8th
century
and the 6th century A.D., and
Prof.
Hillebrandt in 400 A.D.
2
Cf.
Telang's
introduction
to
his
Wilson thinks that ksapanaka denotes
a
Ibid, p. 19.
hi
edition
of
the Mudraraksasa,
p.
the play a Jaina, not a Buddhist-
17.
Prof.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
of ferocious
Mammon
(Mudraraksasa)
Canakya (Canakya-pranidhi).
of
The Ksapanaka
is
to
65
serve as
a tool
1
introduced in the play as a mendi-
cant with shaved head (mundia munda), 2 speaking Prakrit
instead
Sanskrit,
of
principle
living
(jivasiddhi),
the Arahants,
of
adept in
lucre,
an exponent
4
irascihle
palmistry,
3
the reality
of
respecting
teaching
the
hot-tempered, greedy
or
fortune-teller,
consulted
fixing lucky days, an hypocrite always crying out,
no iniquity for the followers,
is
laymen
naka
as
cause
the
called,
"5
concerns,
of
for
"There
wishing success to
6
of righteousness. 7
question serving as
in
it is
business
their
in
victory of
the
of
a spy
and proclaiming
But the Ksapa-
or 'Canakya's tool'
cannot be reasonably taken as a true repre-
sentative of his
order except under the supposition that
his pretensions
were characteristic of the naked medi-
cants Avhom he was called upon to imitate in his outward
The picture drawn
demeanour.
of the
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.
Vatsyayana Kamasutra speaks
of the houses
and estab-
lishments of the female attendants, bhiksunis, ksapanikas
and tapasis as the
the
later treatises on poetics
1
Mudraraksasa, Telang's edition,
s
Ibid, p. 222.
5
Ibid, p. 252.
*
Ibid, p. 212
'-
Note that jiva
:
is
" N'atthi pavarr, n'atthi pavarh
"
Kajjasiddhi hodn savaganam.
7
"
Dhammasiddhi
Kamasutra, V.
Ibid, IV. 1.9
:
p. 258.
the
first
we
find
as
in
that the rule
JTvasiddhirapi Canakja-pranidlii.
of the Jaina navatattvua.
4.
liodu
42
:
savaganam. "
"
savaganam."
Sakhl-bhiksnkl-ksapanika-tapasi-bhavanesu sukhopaj*ah
Bhiksuki-sraniana-ksapana-miilakilrikabhir na samsrijyeta.
indebted to Pandit Bidhu Shekhar Bhattaoharyya for these references.
9
8
Sasanam alihantanaih.
e
8
cf.
much
fittest places for love-intrigues,
I
am
THE AJIVIKAS
66
is
laid
down
and female
ascetics
intrigues,
love
female attendants, dancing
to select
Madhava by
play
to
which
1
character
the
part of messengers in
the
illustrated
is
Kamandaki, busy with her
Buddharakkhita arranging
disciple Avalokita
may
stories
parallels
find
Sagara
Kathasarit
the
in
3
and
affairs.
How
of things this
in
in
a real
state
But the Artha-
not the place to discuss.
sastra also bears
the Das'a-
such indefensible
far these references represent
is
in the
Buddhist female ascetics are
represented as taking an active part
5
One
Devasmita
of Nitambavati
kumaracarita, 4 where the
sister
and friend
marriages. 2
secret
of
MalatI
the
in
Buddhist
the
of
for
girls
evidence to the fact that
the religious
orders in the 4th century B.C. were not free
moral corruptions,
although
the
cases
of
gression were confined to a few individuals.
prove
to
the rapid growth
with
that
from such
moral transIt also goes
of a centralised
form of government it was possible for Canakya to
organise a most elaborate system of espionage under
which the services
holders,
of all,
female, could be
traders,
or
cultivators
whether recluses or
utilised
for
the
wise or
idiot,
house-
male or
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,
the
subjects
pranidhi).
,*,
Sfthitya-darpana, TTT.157:
JStaka, L
p.
257.
Divy&vadana,
p. 427.
*
Ind. Ant., 1912, p. 90.
6
JStaka,
I, p.
employing
in
spies
(guclhapurusa-
appears from the rules laid down therein
It
that spies were recruited,
1
of
branches of secret service
different
•
of training persons
(gudhapurus6tpatti) and
espionage
in
to
493.
if
possible,
from among the
Dutyah sakhl-nati pravrajita."
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
67
mundas and jatilas, hermits
and wanderers, males and females, who were seekers of
livelihood (vrittikama) by such clandestine means.
The
recluses of different orders,
spies in the guise of female
ascetics
watch movements of persons
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
pot-herbs and
in the
city,
pretending
wheat, eating once at
to subsist
the interval
month or two. Thus we have sufficient reasons
the Ksapanaka of the Mudraraksasa as true to
to
on
of a
accept
life,
but
moral corruptions in which the Ajlvikas and
the Jainas were implicated along with various other orders
the state
of
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
macy
cloisters.
Visakhadatta's account of the
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
of the
weapon against King Mahapadma Nanda is of some
King Devasena Mahapauma of
historical importance.
as a
we have seen,
and it is not improbable
that the Jaina Sutra has confounded the emperor of
Punda
is
described in the BhagavatI, as
as a patron of the
Magadha with
Yinjha
the
Mahapauma's
gates
reminds
Ajlvikas,
a petty chief of a country at the
mountains.
The
very
name
capital Sayaduvara, a city with
one of a
magnificient
foot of
King
of
a
hundred
metropolis
like
Pataliputra.
Divyavadana mentions
Ajivika who was employed in
The
Pingalavatsa
the service of
as
an
king
THE AJIVIKAS
08
Vindusara as a court-astrologer,
preserves
an old tradition
while a
1
to the
was almost a professien with
that astrology
effect
even in the
Ajivikas
the
story
.Tataka
2
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
Buddha's
life-time.'
Prof. D. R.
He was
Bhandarkar, with the JNirgranthas or Jainas. 4
a strong believer in
physical
torture
Buddhist considered useless (micchatapa).
of claims involved
between the two standpoints
brought out in the following verses
1.
Na
which the
The
5
conflict
is
clearly
:
Buddhist thesis
nagnacarya na jata na panko nanasanarh sthandilasayika va
moham
na rajomalam notkutukaprahanam visodhayen
avisirnakankham.
Alaihkritam capi eareta dharamam dantendriyah santah
sarhyato brahmacarl
sarvesu bhutesu nidhaya dan Jam sa
bramanah
sa
sramanah
sa bhiksuh.
2.
Ajlvika antithesis
Kaste'smin vijane vane nivasataih vayavambu-mulasinam
rago naiva jito yadiha rising kalaprakarsena hi
Bhuktvannam saghritam prabhutapisitam dadhyuttamalamkritam
Sakyesvindriyanigraho yadi bhaved Vindhyah plavet sagare. 7
The Divyavadana
Pundavardhana had
at
Bombay
Malati Madhava,
1
-
3
also relates
to
Dasakumaracarita,
Divyavadana,
verse 13455
e
toll
;
in
I, p. 9.
("al.
edition, p.
p.
339. Cf.
J
21.
Mudraraksasa,
Dhammapada,
p. 19.
verse
141-142; Mahabharata,
III,
Sattanipata. verse 249.
Divyavadana,
p.
420. Cf. Bhafcfcriaari's oft-qnoted sloka
Visvamitra-Parasara-prabliritayo vatanibu-pnrnasanah;
paftkajam dristvapi
;
te' pi
strinanVsrimukha-
mohamgatah
Sakannam saghritam payodadhiyutam ye
bhufijate
manavastesam
indriyanigraho yadi bhavet pangtistaret sagarani.
'
of death
Kathasarit Sagara, Taranga XIII, No. 68.
Cf. Telang's introduction to the
5
pay a heavy
Sanskrit Series, Act
18,000 Ajivikas
that
The Ajivikas are wrongly described
as Nirgrantha upasakas.
HISTORICAL
day
cine
in the
SUMMARY
69
hands of King Asoka for the fault of one
who had dishonoured
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
1
image.
head of a Nirgrantha, with the result that his own brother
among
prince Vltasoka was found
conceivable
the victims.'2
It
is
in-
that king As'oka was ever implicated in such
an atrocious crime as the Divyavadana would have us
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.
dispensing the royal favour
over, the
and exercising supervision
to,
Brahmans, the Ajlvikas and the Jainas, as among
Furthermore, the king elsewhere 3
sects.*
other
all
two
he granted
cave-dwellings
declares
that
Ajlvikas
when he had been consecrated twelve
to
the
years.
That the Ajlvikas continued 1o enjoy certain amount
from the people of Magadha and retained a hold
of respect
1
Divyavadana,
p.
-427
Paudavardhane
;
ekadivase
astadasasah-
asrauyajivikauam praghatitani.
3
Devanam
piye Piyadasi hevath aha
athesu anugahikcsu viyapata
hemeva babhanesu ajlvikesu
pi
me
kate
hohamtiti.
cu
me
3
ime
viyapata
me
pi
liohamti
Dhamma Mahamatapi me
kate
;
me
in his
Cave Inscriptions
iyam nigohaknbha
:
ime viyapata
bahuvidhesu
pi
hohamtiti
me
;
nigamthesu
kate ime viyapata
mahamatS dhammamahamatS
amnesu pasamdesu.
(1) Lajina
dina ajivikehi:
te
kate ime viyapafca hohamtiti
nanapasathdesu
Pativisitham pativisitharii tesu tesu te te
etesa ceva viyapata savesu ca
i.e.,
:
se saihghatasi pi
(2)
Piyadasina davadasavasabhi (sitena)
LSjina Piyadasina
iyam kubha khalatikapavatasi dina ajivikehi.
duvadasavasabhisitena
THK AJIV1KAS
70
on the
Asoka
Mauryas even
after the reign of
proved by the three cave dedications in
Nagarjuni
Hills,
succeeded
his
in
throne
the
of
been found as yet recordparticularly
sect,
the
who perhaps
Das'aratha,
Asoka
inscription has
any other
to
gifts
made by King
grandfather
No
Magadha.
ing
of the
liberality
is
to
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
with
obsessed
continued in Northern India
rule,
scholars in
Pataiijali
to
circa
in
150 B.C.
end of the Maurya
is
placed by modern
For we have noticed that
comment on
his
the
who
time of Pataiijali
to the
The Ajivika influence
the Ajivika creed.
Panini's Sutra, VI.
154,
1.
was not content with calling the Maskarina a Maskarina
simply because he carried a bamboo
staff
went a step further in suggesting that the
signified that
also
karmani,"
actions,
from
i.e.,
he taught
"ma
perform
"don't
about him, but
name Maskari
kritakarmani,
actions,
Panini,
if
in
krita-
perform
don't
&c," which he could not have done
the original sutra of
ma
departure
he had no personal
acquaintance with the views of the Maskarinas.
The Milindapaiiho
(circa 1st century A.D.) takes
notice of the fatalistic creed of Makkhali Gosala,
wrongly
represented
(Menander B.C.
to
be found
a
contemporary
of
is
Mil in da
155), the Indo-Bactrian king of Sagala.
The Milinda account
is
as
some
who
in the
is
in essence the
same
Samaniiaphala Sutta,
portant difference that
it
as that
1
which
with this im-
interprets Gosala's doctrine of fate
as being completely adapted to the rigid caste-system of the
Brahmans.- Such an interpretation of his doctrine of fate
1
2
Milinda, pp. 4-5.
Ibid,
p.
5
:
N'attlii
kammanatft phahuh vipako,
khatti\'a va bhuvissauti,
etc.
Kusalakusalani
kammaui,
ye te idhaloke khattiya
te
n'atthi
sukatadukkatanam
paralokath gantva ip
puna
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
as this
would seem incompatible with
evolution,
of
to attain perfection
through transmigration.
interesting, nevertheless,
the Ajivika creed found
city
Sagala,
of
island
if
port.
to
two controversies
to
the
common
would be
not far from Alasanda dlpa (the
Here
1
It
the historian could prove that
Alexandria), enumerated
of
destined
is
adherents in the cosmopolitan
its
situated
an important
as
general theory
his
even a dew-drop
that
teaching-
71
in the
the Mahaniddesa
in
would
I
just
call attention
Milinda which have reference
views and practices of the Ajlvikas and
the Jainas
whether water
(1) the controversy as to
substance — " kirn
(2) the
—
"
a living
2
?"
jivati
udakam
is
controversy as to whether suicide
Na
attanarii
is
a crime
patetabbam ?" s
The BhagavatI Sutra also refers to an Ajlviya committing religious suicide at Vicleha some centuries after
When
death. 4
Gosala's
visited India in the 5th
sects
Northern
of
Fa Hien
Century A.D., he saw 96 different
Chinese pilgrim
the
India in
among whom he
From
Savatthi,
mentions only the followers of Devadatta by name.
not clear that the Ajlvikas retained a hold at
this
it
that
time on
history
is
Savatthi
the Ajlvikas shows
of
a stronghold outside the
Referring to
laying
tions
proper.
down
Indeed the subsequent
the
that
Ajlvikas found
Middle Country.
Varahamihira's
list
of
religious
orders
rules of ordination under different constella-
and planets, 3
enumeration
his
commentator Utpala says that
was based
Rhys Davids
Mahaniddesa, p. 155,
his
on the authority of the Jaina
is
of
opinion
that
it
was an
island in
the
Indus.
4
Milinda
•
Ibid, p. 195.
p.
25S.
Hoernle's .Appendix
8
9
Vrihajjataka,
XV.
I, p.
14.
1.
See extract from Utpala' s commentary, quoted
in
Ind. Ant., 1912. p. 287.
THE AJIVIKAS
72
teacher
Kalakacarya, and substantiates his position by
words of the
citation of actual
includes
list
latter.
Varahamihira's
1
:
wearer of scarlet robe.
(1) Sakya, the
man.
(2) Ajivika, the one-staff
(3) Bhiksu, or Samnyasin.
(4) Vriddhas'ravaka, the skull bearer.
(5)
Caraka, the wheel-bearer.
(6) Nirgrantha, the
(7)
naked one.
Vanyasana, or hermit. 2
There are two lists' of Kalakacarya. The
explained by the commentator comprises
5
first list
as
:
(1)
Tavasia=Tapasika, hermit.
(2)
Kavalia = Kapalika, skull bearer.
(3)
Rattavada = Ilaktapata, one of
(4)
(5)
scarlet robe.
Eadandi = Ekadandl, one- staff-man.
Jai=Yati.
Caraa = Caraka.
= Ksapanaka.
(7) Khavanai
The second list consists of
sagnika.
(1) Jalana=jvalana,
God- worshipper,
(2) Hara=Tsvarabhakta,
(6)
i.e.,
Bhat-
taraka.
(3)
Sugaya = Sugata,
(4)
Kesava=Kesavabhakta, worshipper
i.e.,
(5) Sui
= Srutimargarata,
kah
Mlmfuhsaka.
bhiksu r bbavati snifinyasi jneynh
carako cakradbarab
kiipali
Xirgrnntbo nagnab ksapana-
vanyaSanah tapasvT.
i See extract from Utpala's
•
i.e.,
one adhering to the rule
Ajivikas eaikadandi
Sakyo raktapatah
Vriddbasravakab
of Kesava,
Bhagavata.
of sruti,
1
Buddhist.
i.e.,
Commentary
Buhler's " Barabar and NSgSrjuni
ratba," J.B.A.S., Vol.
XX,
p.
362.
in Ind. Ant., 1912, p. 287.
hitl-cave
inscriptions of
Cf. J. R. A. S., 1911, p. 960.
Asoka and Dasa-
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
73
Brahma = Brahmabhakta, worshipper
(6)
i.e.,
Professor
D.
Brahma
Vanaprastha.
Nagga = Nagna, naked,
(7)
of
Ksapanaka.
i.e.,
Bhandarkar has rendered a great
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
service
1
Rhetoric used in characterising what a word does not
denote.
" Ajivikagrahanam
Narayanasritanam,"
one as an Ajivika is not to denote a worshipper of Narayana.
ca
to accept
i.e.,
1
Thus we
distinct
see that the Ajivika or
Ekadandin formed a
element among the religious sects known to
Varahamihira
who
is
A.D. 525), the celebrated astronomer
said to have been one of the nine gems adorning
the court of
of eastern
(circa
King Vikramaditya
Malwa and formerly
Deccan. The Harsacarita goes
whose reign
by
of Ujjain, the capital
that
of
Avanti
in
the
to
prove that King Harsa,
in the 7th century
A.D. was characterised
eclecticism in
popular religion, 2 brought together the
different religious sects
and adherents
of different schools
dominion, where he listened to their respective
views (svan svan siddhantani), 3 and the Kumbha-mela
in his
taking place at the interval of twelve years
is
a
modern
which serves the same purpose of bringing
together the different sects from the various parts of the
institution
1
Ind. Ant., 1912, p. 288.
»
Smith's Early History of India, 3rd edition,
3
Harsacarita, Nirnaya Sagara Press edition, VIII,
10
Early History of the Vaishnava Sect,
p. 345.
p.
265
p. 116.
THE AJIVIKAS
74
These sects and schools in the Harsacarita
country.
cluded
(1)
them
among
others
in-
:
Maskaris=parivrajakas as the commentary
calls
;
£vetapatas=a sect of the Jainas, distinguished
naked, i.e., Digambaras
(2)
as
;
(3)
(4)
Pandus=Bhiksus
Bhagavatas=the worshippers
;
of Visnu,
i.e.,
Vais-
vavas
= Brahmacaris
(5)
Varnis
(6)
Kesaluncanas
(?)
= Samkhyas
= Buddhists
Lokayatikas = Carvakas
(7) Kapils
(8) Jainas
(9)
;
;
;
;
(10) Kanadas=Vaisesikas;
(11 Aupanisadas = Vedantins
(12) Aisvarakaranikas
(13)
;
= Naiyayikas
Karandhas = Hetuvadins
;
;
(14) Dharmas'astris=^Smritijnas
;
(15) Sabdas = Vaiyakaranas, grammarians;
(16) Pancaratras=a division of the Vaisnavas.
There are three points about
greatest historical importance
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
century A.D., and that in this respect they were
not a solitary instance
Buddhist as a
(6) that the commentator uses the term
;
synonym
of the Jaina (Jainair bauddhaih)
(c) that the list includes,
among
;
and
others, the
schools
whose names
can be traced neither in the texts that are pre-Asokan
in date, nor in the Brahmanical works that can be dated
of
Hindu
philosophy, Kapila, Kanada,
as pre-Paninian.
etc.,
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
75
the
As regards the first point, it is important to note that
Amarakosa counts the Maskarl among the five classes
of
samnyasins,
1
while in Vlranandi's Acarasara (Saka
the Ajlvaka
1076)
is
from a Parivrat or
distinguished
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
them the divine
in
faculties
who
aspired
to develop
through renunciation of all
worldly concerns. 4
With regard
that
it
been
to the
second point,
not a solitary
is
confounded
may
it
be noticed
instance where the Jaina 5 has
with
the
Buddhist,
for
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
meaning
eye of an
to the
the passage of
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
the
of
the
founding the Ajivika with the Jaina
1
Amarakosa, VII.
9
Acarasara,
Ajivikas,'
3
XI.
5. 42.
127
Parivrad...ugraearavanapi
:
Sjivakah.
See
Pathak's
Ind. Ant., 1912, p. 89.
MSdhavacandra's Commentary on the
Triloka-sara,
verse 545
:
ekadandi-
tridandi-laksanah parivrajakah, [bid, p. 91.
4
Sarojavajra's
hafisa
uvesafi.
Dohakosa
Advayavajra
Eka(va)
:
in
tridandi
bhagavavesam bhavati
fiSnam
na
labhyate
his
dandi
tridandi
bhava
comments on the
varan na
sarvasannyasatvat.
above
vesen
says
viruia
:
hosa
ekadandi-
paramahamsa-vesam bhavati tavajjShastry's
Banddha Gan-o-Doha
See
pp. 82-84.
5
Divyavadana,
p. 42.
Commentary on the Acarasara,
XI.
" the Ajivika, a division of the Buddhists."
'
Kautilya, Arthasastra,
p. 3.
127
:
" ajTvikah
bauddhabhedam
",
i.e.
THE AJIVIKAS
76
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 partithe Jaina,
who
the Buddhist faith
cular sect of
the
e.g.,
of
sect
closely resembled
Devadatta that existed in
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
Savatthi,
as appears
Bengal
in Eastern
Karnasuvarna
The followers
Harsavardhana.
!
King
the time of
in
Devadatta were not
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
Buddhas.
three previous
As
to the third point relating to the schools of
philosophy, the orthodox
Hiudu who
taught
is
Hindu
to believe
that everything was done for him in a finished form by
the Risis of old, long before the appearance of two power-
known
ful heresies,
as
Jainism and Buddhism, will be
sorry to be told that the Kautilya Arthasastra
known
Sanskrit text of
is
which the date can be
placed cither in the 4th or in the 2nd
the oldest
definitely
century B.C., and
which mentions the Samkhya, the Yoga and the Lokayata
among
typical
the
(anviksaki).
cerned,
1
the
instances
of
speculative philosophy
So far as the Buddhist
Milinda-Panho
is
the
literature
oldest
text
is
con-
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
1
a
the
Samkhya,
Milinda-Paflho, p.
Beat's Records
the
3.
of
India, 8rd edition, p. 32.
the Western
World,
II. p.
201
;
Smith's Early History of
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
The subsequent
up from a few
77
history of the Ajlvikas has to be built
references
stray
and epigraphic records,
them
to
in
literature
indicating a process of rapid
all
decay of their religious order, which lingered with varied
fortune
in
different
Deccan proper.
parts
India,
of
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
the
Prof.
1
are said to have been entitled to
called
existence
in the
Sahasrara-kalpa, in contradistinction to 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,
Ajlvikas are represented as a Buddhist denomination subsisting on
Kamji, 5 while
in the fifth|belonging to the
century they are distinguished from the Buddhists
were meat-eaters.
led to conclude
is
13th
who
Prom these references Prof. Pathak
that " the Ajlvikas were well-known to
8
Chalukya and Yadava
periods as a sect of Buddhist Bhikshus who lived solely
or chiefly on Kamji. "
the
Jaina authors of
the
later
7
1
Ind. Ant., 1912, p. 88
a
Vlranandi's Acarasara, XI. 127: Parivrad brahmakalpamtamyatyugracaravanapi
f.
Ajlvikah sahasrarakalpamtam darsanojjhitah.
3' *
6
Trilokasara, verse 545
Commentary on
:
Caraya ya
paririibaja
bahmoti, ariicuda-padom'ti Sjlva.
bauddhabhedam appakamji
the Acarasara, XI. 127: Ajivakah
hhiksu. Cf. Padmaprabha's Traividya (Circa., 1400 A.D.)
Buddhist argument
in
favour of meat-eating
is
:
Ajfva ambila-kSlan umbaru.
said to
Patre patitam pavitram suktroktani idemdu bauddhar
Mftghanandi's Sravakacara.
'
Ind. Ant., 1912,
p. 90.
be
:
adagam timbarn.
See
THE AJIVIKAS
78
A
few inscriptions have been found
dency belonging to the
which record that a kind
Ajlvikas.
nowhere
The reasons
1
of poll-tax
for
of
this
to
merge
of
Hindu
are
measure thus adopted
of the Ajlvikas
;
probably
the Ajlvika
served to check the further progress of
movement
tax
South India was certainly not
by the Hindu rulers
without its effect on the career
it
Presi-
century,
was imposed on the
imposition
stated, but the reactionary
of
Madras
in
half of the 13th
first
compel the Ajlvikas by external pressure
in the Shivaite and other orders
or to
their identity
ascetics.
Thus the post-Makkhali history
of the
twenty centuries
be
ing over
to
is
Ajlvikas rang-
conceived as
a
long and intricate process of religious development in
the country which led ultimately to the extinction of
The foregoing investigation has shown that
the Ajlvika movement which commenced in the 7th or
the 8th century B. C, somewhere near the Gangetic
the sect.
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
Middle country.
many
points the territorial limits
Gaya and Pundavardhana were
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
remained
ganda.
1
an
in
territorial
extension long
important scene of the Ajlvika propa-
The centre
Hultzsh'a South Indian
Ant., 1912, p. 288.
its earlier
of gravity
Inscriptions, Vol.
shifted
I,
after
pp. 88, 89, 92
and
Harsa
108.
to
Cf. I«d.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
Deccan proper, where, especially
the
many
country, they encountered
79
the Canarese
in
reverses
fortune
of
till
they finally disappeared in the fourteenth century of the
Christian
The
era.
inhabitants
the
This
need not be recounted.
are
tracts
recorded
Ramayana and
naturally
the
maltreatment
of
several
suggests
part they
in
most
rude
order in other non-
Aranyakanda
the
stories
a
played
its
Similar experiences
hermits of the Vanaprastha
Aryan
of the
story
and other ascetics in Eadha hy
of the Ajlvikas
of
pathetic
the
Jataka.
fruitful
enquiry
of
annals of Aryan
Aryan culture, followed
everywhere by non- Aryan reaction, and modified by the
race-cult and national characteristics which it absorbed.
as
to
colonisation
in the
and propagation
of
Moreover, in carrying on the study of the pos^JMakkhali
history of the Ajlvikas, the historian cannot but set himto analyse
self
the causes
of
the decline of the Ajlvika
and it is certain that such an enquiry cannot be
undertaken apart from the development of various relifaith,
movements and schools
rob the Ajlvika movement of
gious
taneous processes of
seem
of philosophy
which went
to
The simulabsorption and assimilation which
its
especiality.
so largely accountable for the disappearance of the
Ajivikas involve two questions of far-reaching importance,
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
that the Ajlvika system dwindled into insigni-
ficance without enriching
and supplemented
Finally,
?
if
it
the systems which
supplanted
it ?
be admitted that truth never dies and
that the Ajivikas had a distinct message for Indian peoples,
the history of the Ajivikas cannot be concluded without a
general reflection on the
course of Indian
history,
nor
80
THE AJIVIKAS
can the historian discharge his true function as historian
without determining
the
place
of
the
Ajivikas in the
general scheme of Indian history as a whole.
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The Ajivikas - Rare Book Society of India

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