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History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c11.s5: The Meeting of Gosāla with Mahāvīra

History and Doctrines of the Ājīvikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c11.s5

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The Meeting of Gosāla with Mahāvīra

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In the *Bhagavatī Sūtra* the story of Gosāla’s association with Mahāvīra is put into the mouth of Mahāvīra himself, as a continuation of his exposure of his rival, and it is narrated with much circumstantial detail.² In the third year of his asceticism Mahāvīra had taken up temporary quarters in a corner of a weaving-shed (*tantuvāya-śālā*) at Nālandā, near Rāyagiha. Thither came Gosāla Maṅkhaliputta, and, finding no other accommodation, took shelter in the same shed. On completing a month’s fast, Mahāvīra went to Rāyagiha (Skt. Rājagṛha) to beg his food. There he and his patron Vijaya were greeted by a miraculous rain of flowers, and by other auspicious omens, amid the acclamations of the citizens. Hearing of these great events Gosāla waited outside Vijaya’s house until Mahāvīra emerged, circumambulated him three times, and begged to become his pupil in asceticism. Mahāvīra gave him no answer, but returned to the weaving shed, where he performed a further month’s fast, after which the same phenomena were repeated, with a different patron. The miracles occurred again, after a third fast. At the conclusion of a fourth month’s penance Mahāvīra visited a brāhmaṇa named Bahula, at Kollāga, a village near Nālandā.

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² *Bh. Sū.*, xv, sū. 541, fol. 660-3.

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On finding that Mahāvīra had left the weaving-shed Gosāla searched for him high and low in Rāyagiha. Unable to find him, he returned to the weaving-shed, where he stripped off his upper and lower garments, and gave them, with his waterpots, slippers, and picture-board, to a brāhmaṇa.¹ He then shaved his hair and beard and went away. As he passed Kollāga he heard the cheering of a crowd, and concluded that it was applauding Mahāvīra. So he made a further search, and found Mahāvīra at Paṇiyabhūmī, outside Kollāga. He once more begged Mahāvīra to accept him as a disciple. This time his request was granted, and for six years after the meeting at Paṇiyabhūmī the two shared the hardships and joys of the ascetic life.²

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¹ Sāḍiyāo ya pāḍiyāo ya kuṇḍiyāo ya pāhaṇāo ya cittaphalagaṃ ca māhaṇe āyāmettā. Op. cit., fol. 662.

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² Bh. Sū., xv, sū. 541, fol. 663.

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The story so far, if deprived of its supernatural incidents, is not incredible, and, with Hoernle, we may believe that it is essentially true. The Pāli texts refer to all six heretical teachers together in such a manner as to suggest that their relations were by no means always mutually antagonistic,³ and numerous points of similarity in Jaina and Ājīvika doctrine and practice suggest the early interaction of the two teachings. But the account of the circumstances of the meeting seems by no means reliable. The earnest entreaties of Gosāla and Mahāvīra’s steadfast refusal to accept him as a disciple are just such elements as would be introduced into the story by an author wishing to stress the inferiority of Ājīvikism to Jainism and of Gosāla to Mahāvīra. Therefore we believe that the text is not to be trusted when it states that the former was formally a disciple of the latter.

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³ E.g. at the great miracle contest at Sāvatthi. V. infra, pp. 84 ff.

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The reference to Paṇiyabhūmī in the text of the *Bhagavatī Sūtra* has given some trouble to the medieval commentator Abhayadeva, and to both Hoernle and Barua. Abhayadeva was in doubt whether the word in the text⁴ should be taken as in the ablative or the locative.⁵ Hoernle⁶ found difficulty in accepting the ablative, which would involve an unusual construction, but recognized that the locative interpretation implied an unresolved anomaly, since the *Kalpa Sūtra* states that Mahāvīra spent only one rainy season in Paṇiyabhūmī.¹ Barua,² ignoring the clear statement of the *Bhagavatī* that Paṇiyabhūmī was near Kollāga, which was a settlement near Nālandā,³ located it in Vajrabhūmi, on the strength of Vinayavijaya’s commentary to the relevant passage of the *Kalpa Sūtra*.⁴ The *Ācārāṅga Sūtra* states that Mahāvīra did in fact visit Vajjabhūmī, which the commentator Śīlāṅka describes as a district of Lāḍha, or Western Bengal.⁵

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⁴ Aham . . . Gosāleṇaṃ . . . saddhiṃ Paṇiyabhūmīe chavvāsāim viharitthā. Bh. Sū. xv, sū. 541, fol. 663.

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⁵ Paṇiyabhūmīe tti Paṇitabhūmer ārabhya, praṇitabhūmau vā—mano-jñabhūmau vihrtavān iti yogaḥ. Op. cit., fol. 664.

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⁶ Uv. Das., vol. ii, p. 111, n.

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¹ *Sū.* 122, ad loc. cit. 64.

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² .

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³ .

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⁴ To *sū.* 122, Bombay edn., fol. 187.

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⁵ *Ācārāṅga* i, 9.3.2, fol. 301-2 (Bombay edn.): in Jacobi’s edn. and *SBE*. xxvi, i, 8, 3, 2.

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It seems probable that the crucial passage in the *Bhagavatī* must be interpreted to mean that Gosāla and Mahāvīra spent six years together after their meeting at Paṇiyabhūmī, and not that the six years were spent at that place. The weight of Jaina tradition suggests that Mahāvīra was a wanderer and that, except during the rainy seasons, he frequently changed the scene of his activities. This tradition is confirmed by Jinadāsa Gaṇi’s *cūrṇi* to the *Āvaśyaka Sūtra*, which purports to give a complete itinerary of the journeys of Mahāvīra and Gosāla during the six years in question. Although this source, which is considered below, is no earlier than the seventh century A.D.,⁶ and must be treated very cautiously, it strengthens the traditions of the *Ācārāṅga* and *Kalpa Sūtras* that the six years were mainly spent in wandering.

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⁶ Schubring, *Die Lehre der Jainas*, p. 60.

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