Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c12.s9.13

c12.s9.13

The Nirgrantha was also a Śramaṇa order closely connected with the Ājivika. The later Jainism which claims descent from this ancient order has foisted many traditions on it but in spite of them, the ancient Nirgrantha order does not seem to have been a religious movement of any considerable importance in the Nanda-Maurya period. We learn from the Buddhist texts that the founder of the Nirgrantha order was Mahāvīra otherwise known as Nātaputta (Jñātṛkaputra) who was called a Nirgrantha because he belonged to that order of Śramaṇas. The name of the order meant ‘those who have destroyed the worldly ties’ and also ‘those who have given up their clothes.’ In the first sense they were pravrajita or the houseless ascetics and in the second sense, the naked ascetics. They were thus the same as the acelakas who are often mentioned in the Buddhist texts. In fact a slightly doubtful fragment of the account of Megasthenes, speaks of a sect of philosophers who used to go naked throughout their life and to say that the body had been given by God as a covering of the soul. They abstained from animal food and all food cooked by fire, being content to live on fruits picked up when they had dropped to the ground (Fragm. LIV). These few points of their doctrines have a good deal of similarity with the doctrines ascribed to the Nigaṇṭhas in the Buddhist texts. They believed in the existence of soul and desisted from killing animals and destroying even plants which according to them were endowed with life. They were besides naked ascetics. We may therefore consider the naked ascetics referred to in the account of Megasthenes as identical with the Nirgranthas. Megasthenes, however, calls them Brahmin and not Śramaṇa. This might have been due to their standing near to the Brahmin philosophers in point of purity of conduct and religious beliefs and distinguishing themselves from the peripatetic monks who were also recruited from the lower classes.