History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c11.s4.13

c11.s4.13

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.