History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c11.s9.18

c11.s9.18

During this period Gosāla seems to have acquired a reputation for his taciturnity, as well as for his asceticism. This is shown by a verse in the *Saṃyutta Nikāya*, wherein he is described as "having abandoned speech" (*vācam pahāya*),¹ and by Buddhagosa, who, in his version of the Ājīvika classification of the eight stages of the ascetic's career, states that the ascetic in the highest stage does not speak.² Gosāla's silence is confirmed by the Tamil text *Nīlakēci*, which states that the deified Maṅkali never speaks for fear of injuring living creatures.³ On the other hand, both the *Bhagavatī Sūtra* and the *Uvāsaga Dasāo* refer to Gosāla as speaking, even at the time of his death,⁴ so we must conclude that his silence was by no means absolute.