History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c11.s6.15

c11.s6.15

Thence the two proceeded to Kaṭaṅgala, and stopped in the meeting house of a settlement of *daridda-theras*, householder ascetics, with wives and families. It was a night of festival, during which the *theras* gathered for religious singing in their meeting house. The puritanical Gosāla roundly reproached them for their lax habits, and was thrown out into the cold of the winter night. Latecomers to the festival, sympathizing with his plight, brought him back into the hall, only for the process to be repeated twice more. At last the ascetics gave up attempting to exclude their censorious guest, and decided to put up with him for the sake of Mahāvīra, and to drown his protests with their drums.²