History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c11.s6.47

c11.s6.47

In respect of the length of the period of the association of the two ascetics Jinadāsa’s account differs from that of the *Bhagavatī Sūtra*. The latter source states that the two were associated for a period of six years.⁴ According to the former their meeting took place at the end of the second rainy reason of Mahāvīra’s asceticism, which was spent at Nālandā, and the two parted in the season of Śarada, after the ninth rainy reason. The period of their association is thus seven years. We prefer, however, to accept the *Bhagavatī*’s six years, as being found in the earlier and more reliable source.