India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c13.6

c13.6

PĀṆINI AND MASKARĪ—It has been shown above that Pāṇini's reference to Maskarī Parivrājaka in the light of Patañjali's explanation of that name connecting it with the *Karmāpavāda* doctrine, points to the teacher Maṅkhali Gosāla, whose doctrine of Determinism, *Daishṭika Mati*, also finds mention in Pāṇini. Dr. Hoernle holds that Gosāla lived about 500 B.C. (*Ājivikas*, *Hasting's Ency. of Religion and Ethics*, I.259 seq.). According to the *Bhagvatī Sūtra*, Gosāla founded his order at Sāvatthī sixteen years before his death. Charpentier agreeing generally with Hoernle thinks that the date of Maṅkhali's decease should be moved a little later (J.R.A.S., 1913, p. 674). This suggests the upper limit of Pāṇini's time at about 500 B.C.