History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c10.s2.52

c10.s2.52

Before leaving the *Sāmañña-phala Sutta* a further point must be considered. The passage there ascribed to Makkhali Gosāla employs the Māgadhī *-e* termination almost consistently for the masculine nominative singular. In Ajita’s catechism the termination occurs only twice, in the phrase *bāle ca paṇḍite*, and may there be a corrupt reading, resulting from the proximity of the same phrase in Makkhali’s statement. In the teaching of Pakudha we find the termination only in the phrase *sukhe dukkhe jīva-sattame*. The statements of the other three ascetics contain no Māgadhisms.