History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c10.s2.60

c10.s2.60

The brief Māgadhī phrase in the Pakudha passage of the *Sāmañña-phala Sutta*³ is unexpected. The first four elements, earth, water, fire, and air, are given the regular Pāli *-o* endings, but the fifth, sixth, and seventh, joy, sorrow, and life respectively, have the Māgadhī *-e*, where *-am* would be expected. It may be suggested that the three latter elements have been interpolated by a different hand in a statement of doctrine which originally taught only four elemental substances, as did the Buddhists and Cārvākas. As will be shown in our second part,⁴ the three latter elements of Pakudha’s list have other points of difference from the four former, and joy and sorrow do not seem to have been accepted as elements by all Ājīvikas.⁵