History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c10.s2.53

c10.s2.53

The Māgadhī forms in Makkhali’s doctrinal statement must surely be of some significance. They have been noticed by Franke,¹ who suggests two possibilities: either that the Māgadhisms have been deliberately introduced in order to make the speaker seem ludicrous, or that they represent reminiscences of the language of the original teachers. The former hypothesis can scarcely be correct. While the Māgadhī dialect was reserved for lowly and humorous characters in the Sanskrit drama, the Māgadhī *-e* termination was regularly employed in the great body of early Jaina literature, and we have no reason to believe that it made a ludicrous impression on the contemporary listener. If the intention had been purely ludicrous the *-e* termination would surely have been employed in the speeches of all six heretics.