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History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c11.s4: Birth of Makkhali Gosāla

History and Doctrines of the Ājīvikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c11.s4

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Birth of Makkhali Gosāla

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Two stories of the origin of the Ājīvika leader are to be found, the one in the *Bhagavatī Sūtra*, and the other in Buddhaghosa’s commentary to the *Sāmañña-phala Sutta*. Neither is worthy of unqualified credence, but both are of importance, if only for the evidence they give of the dislike and scorn which was felt by both Buddhist and Jaina for the Ājīvikas and their founder.

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In the Jaina text¹ Mahāvīra is represented as declaring to his disciple Indabhūī Goyama the birth and parentage of Gosāla Maṅkhaliputta. His father, according to Mahāvīra, was a *maṅkha* named Maṅkhali, and his mother’s name was Bhaddā.² The word *maṅkha* is interpreted by the commentator Abhayadeva as a type of ascetic “whose hand is kept busy by a picture board”.³ Hoernle declares that “the . . . word . . . has not been found anywhere but in the passage of the *Bhagavatī Sūtra* which adduces it as the source of the name Maṅkhali, and it is presumably an invention *ad hoc*”.⁴ Whatever the meaning of the word, this is certainly not the case. In the standard description of prosperous cities, used throughout the Ardha-māgadhī scriptures, the word *maṅkha* is to be found.⁵ Hemacandra, in his commentary on the *Abhidhāna-cintāmaṇi*, equates it with *māgadha*, a bard.⁶ It is not impossible that the *maṅkha* filled both the functions of an exhibitor of religious pictures, and a singer of religious songs. That such mendicants existed in Ancient India is proved by Viśākhadatta’s *Mudrārākṣasa*, one of the minor characters of which is a spurious religious mendicant described as a “spy with a Yama-cloth” (*yama-paṭena caraḥ*), that is one carrying a picture of the god Yama painted upon a cloth. He habitually enters the houses of his patrons, where he displays his Yama-cloth, and sings songs, presumably of a religious type.⁷

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¹ Bh. Sū. xv, sū. 540, fol. 659 f.

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² Ratna-Prabha Vijaya (*Śramaṇa Bhagavān Mahāvīra*, vol. ii, pt. i, pp. 373 ff.) gives a long paraphrase of a Jaina account of the life of Maṅkhali, the father of Gosāla. The story is evidently fictitious, and the author does not quote his source.

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³ *Citraphalaka-vyagrakaro bhikṣāka-viśeṣaḥ*. Op. cit., fol. 660.

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⁴ *ERE.* i, p. 260.

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⁵ V. *Antagaḍa Dasāo*, tr. Barnett, p. 2, n. 3, and many references in Ratnacandrajī *Ardha-māgadhī Dictionary*, s.v. *maṅkha*.

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⁶ *Abhidhāna-cintāmaṇi*, comm. to v. 795, p. 365 (Böhtlinck and Rieu edn.).

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⁷ *Jāva evaṃ gehaṃ pavisīā jama-paḍaṃ damsaānto gāāṃ gāāmi*. *Mudrārākṣasa* i, 17, ed. Karmarkar, p. 14. V. also p. 20 of the same text.

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Moreover the word seems to have been used in Kashmīr as a proper name, and two Maṅkhas appear in the *Rājatarangiṇī*,¹ the second being a poet well known to students of later Sanskrit literature. Thus there is no justification for Hoernle’s contention that the word is meaningless. This point has been recognized by Charpentier, who, on the strength of a *sūtra* of Pāṇini, admits the possibility that Gosāla’s father was a mendicant bearing a picture board displaying a representation of the god Śiva.²

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¹ *Rājatarangiṇī* viii, 969, 995, 3354.

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² *JRAS.* 1913, pp. 671–2.

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The details of the *Bhagavatī Sūtra*’s account of Gosāla’s birth, while not intrinsically impossible, seem to have been constructed in order to provide an etymology for his personal name. While Bhaddā was pregnant, she and her husband Maṅkhali the *maṅkha* came to the village (*sannivesa*) of Saravaṇa, where dwelt a wealthy householder Gobahula. Maṅkhali left his wife and his luggage (*bhaṇḍa*) in Gobahula’s cowshed (*gosālā*), and tried to find accommodation in the village. Since he could find no shelter elsewhere the couple continued to live in a corner of the cowshed, and it was there that Bhaddā gave birth to her child. His parents decided to call him Gosāla, after the place of his birth.

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No great value can be attached to the details of this story. The account of Gosāla’s parentage and birth fits too closely to his name and patronymic to allow unqualified credence. His mother, Bhaddā, has a name used in the Jaina texts to designate the mother of many mythological figures,³ which in this context seems devoid of all historical significance. In some respects the story recalls that of the birth of Jesus, as recorded in Saint Luke’s gospel, and should therefore be of some interest to the student of comparative religion and mythology. Historically it is almost valueless.

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³ V. Ratnacandrajī, *Ardha-māgadhī Dictionary*, s.v. *Bhaddā*.

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Mahāvīra is reported to have told this story with the avowed intention of bringing Gosāla’s reputation into disrepute. This being the case it is improbable that the legend represents an authentic Ājīvika tradition about the birth of their leader. Both Buddhist and Jaina hagiologists provided exalted origins for the founders of their respective sects, and it is likely that the Ājīvikas did the same for Gosāla. The one feature in the story which may be authentic is the name of the village of Gosāla’s birth, Saravaṇa. In this connection it is to be noted that he is not the only figure in Indian legend to have been born in a śaravaṇa, or thicket of reeds. Gosāla shares that honour with the god Kārttikeya, who is sometimes referred to by the epithets śaravaṇa-bhava,¹ and śaravan’-ôdbhava.² Is it possible that the Ājīvikas taught that their teacher was born or found, not in a village called Saravaṇa, which as a place-name is not to be found elsewhere, but in a thicket of reeds? The Moses-in-the-bullrushes theme is to be found elsewhere in Indian legend, notably in the story of the hero Karṇa.³

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¹ Meghadūta, 45.

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² Mbh. iii, 14635 (Calcutta edn., 1835. The verse does not occur in the Poona edn.).

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³ Mbh. Adi. 111, 13–14.

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About Gosāla’s early life, before his meeting with Mahāvīra, the Bhagavatī Sūtra tells us only that he maintained himself by the profession of a maṅkha, with a picture-board in his hand.⁴ A further tale is provided by Buddhaghosa, in his commentary to the Sāmañña-phala Sutta.⁵ He agrees with the Bhagavatī in stating that Gosāla acquired his name on account of his birth in a cowshed, and further states that Gosāla was a slave who, while walking over a patch of muddy ground carrying a pot of oil, was hailed by his master with the words “don’t stumble, old fellow!” (tāta mā khal’ îti). Despite the warning he carelessly tripped and spilt the oil. Fearing his master’s anger he made off, but his master pursued and overtook him, catching him by the edge of his robe (dāsakaṇṇa). Leaving his garment behind him Gosāla escaped in a state of nudity. Hence he became a naked mendicant, and acquired the name of Makkhali from the last words, “Mā khali,” spoken to him by his master.

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⁴ Cittaphalaga-hatthagaē maṅkhattanēnaṃ appāṇaṃ bhāvemāṇe viharati. Bh. Sū. xv, sū. 540, fol. 660.

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⁵ Sum. Vil. i, pp. 143–4.

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This story is a patent fiction constructed, probably by Buddhaghosa himself, to provide an etymology for the names of the Ājīvika leader, to account for his nudity, and to pour scorn on his order by attributing to him a servile origin. It is even less credible than the Jaina account, especially if read in connection with a similar story told by Buddhaghosa about Pūraṇa Kassapa, to whom a servile origin is also attributed, and for whose name a similar fantastic etymology is devised.¹

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¹ *Sum. Vil.* i, p. 142. V. infra, pp. 82–83.

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Hoernle, without explicitly accepting either story, suggests that a kernel of truth may be extracted from them. He writes: "the two accounts . . . are quite independent of each other . . . All the more valuable are the two accounts, both in respect of the points in which they agree and in which they differ. They agree on two points: first, that Gosāla was born of low parentage in a cowshed . . . and secondly, that (his profession) . . . was not sincere, but adopted merely for the sake of getting an idle living."² In our opinion the correspondences are less striking than the differences, and prove nothing. The provision of fanciful etymologies for proper names was a common practice in Ancient India, and many other examples are to be found. The name Gosāla would inevitably suggest birth in a cowshed to the ancient etymologist. Both Buddhist and Jaina opposed the Ājīvikas, and it is not surprising that both tried to establish Gosāla’s base lineage and insincerity. The fact is that neither story belongs to the Ājīvika tradition, and even if that tradition could be re-established we should still be far from the true story of the birth and early life of Makkhali Gosāla. The Jaina story is of the nature of an exposure, and the Buddhist is obviously created *ad hoc*. Both clearly show the intense *odium theologicum* which almost invariably attached itself to the Ājīvikas and to their founder. We can only admit that the Jaina account is not inherently impossible. It may be that Gosāla was born at a village called Saravaṇa of mendicant parents; even the story of his birth in a cowshed may be based on fact. But the evidence with which to establish this with any degree of certainty is lacking.

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² *ERE.* i, p. 260.

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It is just possible that a very garbled and corrupt reference to Makkhali Gosāla is to be found in the *Mahābhārata*.³ Among the episodes of the *Śānti Parvan* is the story of one Maṅki, who, after repeated failures in all his ventures, purchased a couple of young bulls with the last of his resources. One day the bulls broke loose, and were both killed by a camel. Maṅki thereupon uttered a long chant on the power of destiny, and the advisability of desirelessness and inactivity. The *adhyāya* concludes with the statement that, in consequence of the loss of his two bulls, Maṅki cast off all desires and attained immortality.

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³ *Mbh.*, *Śānti*, 176, v. 5 ff. (Kumbhakonam edn.).

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The hymn of Maṅki contains Sāṅkhya *guṇa* teaching, and perhaps shows Buddhist influence also, but of the varied influences which it betrays that of Ājīvikism seems most prominent.¹ The name of the hero of the story may well be an anomalous corruption of the Prākrit Maṅkhali or of the Pāli Makkhali. These facts suggest that we have here a garbled reference to the leader of the Ājīvikas. The strange story of the two bulls is possibly a very confused version of a legend about their teacher which was current among the Ājīvikas themselves.

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¹ V. infra, p. 218.

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