History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c11.s1.t1.3

c11.s1.t1.3

Thus in the *Aṅguttara*³ the *bhikkhu* Ānanda is purported to have declared that the heretical leader Pūraṇa Kassapa believed in the Ājīvika theory of the six classes of men (*chaḷābhijātiyo*); according to his classification the highest class, the most white (*paramasukka*), contained only three members, namely Nanda Vaccha, Kisa Saṅkicca, and Makkhali Gosāla. Buddhaghosa apparently plagiarized this passage for his commentary to the reference to the six classes in the *Sāmañña-phala Sutta*,⁴ and added: "They are the purest of all."⁵