History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c12.s5: Gosāla’s Repentance and Death
History and Doctrines of the Ājīvikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c12.s5
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Gosāla’s Repentance and Death
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When Gosāla realized that his end was near he gave orders to his disciples for the preparation of a sumptuous funeral. They were to bathe his body in scented water, anoint it with sandal paste, array it in a rich robe, and bedeck it in all his ornaments. They were then to mount it on a bier drawn by a thousand men, and to proceed through the streets of Sāvatthi, proclaiming that the *jina* Gosāla Maṅkhaliputta, the last *tīrthaṅkara* of the twenty-four *tīrthaṅkaras* of this *Avasarpiṇī* had passed away. After this his body was to be cremated.³
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³ Bh. Sū. xv, sū. 554, fol. 681.
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Towards the end of the seventh night Gosāla came to his senses. He fully realized how evil had been his past conduct, and was afflicted with the most lively remorse. He told his disciples that he was no *jina*, but a fraud, a murderer of *śramaṇas*, a betrayer of his teacher, dying from the effects of his own magic power. He recognized Mahāvīra as the true *jina*, cancelled his former instructions, and told his disciples to desecrate his body on his death. They were to tie a rope to his left foot, to spit thrice into his face, and to drag his body round the streets of Sāvatthi, proclaiming that he was not a *jina* but a cheat and a murderer, and that Mahāvīra was the only true *jina*. After this they were to dispose of his body without respect.⁴
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⁴ Bh. Sū. xv, sū. 555, fols. 681-2.
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On his death the Ājivika monks kept only the letter of his instructions. Upon the floor of the pottery they traced a plan of the city of Sāvatthi, and over this they dragged the body by its left foot, proclaiming all the while that Gosāla was not the true *jina*. Then they unfastened the rope from the ankle of the dead man, opened the door of the pottery, and, adorning the body according to Gosāla’s first instructions, performed the funeral with great pomp.¹
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¹ Ibid., *sū.* 556, fol. 682.
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Hoernle interprets the *Bhagavatī* story as follows: “The taunts of his rivals and the consequent distrust of the townspeople made Gosāla’s position at Sāvatthi untenable. It preyed on his mind so much that it became utterly unhinged and throwing aside all ascetic restraint he gave himself up to drinking . . . Six months of this riotous living brought on his end.”² The period of six months, which Hoernle gives for the last phase of Gosāla’s life, seems to be based on the duration of the final penance which he is said to have ordained shortly before his death.³ Yet the *Sūtra* states categorically that his death occurred on the seventh night from the magic duel. Barua⁴ has noted the discrepancy, and does not accept the Jaina story, but believes that Gosāla died voluntarily at the end of a penance of six months’ duration.
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² *ERE.* i, p. 259.
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³ V. infra, pp. 127 ff.
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⁴ *JDL.* ii, p. 36.
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Whatever inaccuracy there may be in the details of the account there seems no reason to disbelieve the broad outline of the story, which is narrated with a vividness and a wealth of circumstantial detail rare in canonical Jaina literature. After an illness which involved fever and delirium, and which was perhaps induced by his penances, Gosāla died, and was given a sumptuous funeral by his followers. The story of his deathbed repentance is so gratifying from the Jaina point of view that it is hard to accept. Accounts of similar last-minute conversions and edifying last words are common in the popular religious literature of all places and periods, and can rarely be authenticated. It requires little critical acumen to realize that this part of the story is quite unreliable.
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Dr. A. S. Gopani appears to accept the accuracy of the whole of the *Bhagavatī Sūtra* story of Gosāla, including even the account of his deathbed conversion, without criticism.⁵ In this course we cannot follow him. The whole chapter is pervaded by sectarian prejudice, and, as we have seen, many of its episodes seem to have been devised in order to provide an ignominious origin for certain elements of Ājīvika belief and custom. On the other hand it seems probable that the author used as material for his biography of Gosāla authentic Ājīvika traditions, which he adapted to suit his own purposes. It is not impossible, after critical examination, tentatively to separate this hypothetical Ājīvika tradition from the Jaina interpolations and corruptions. This we have attempted to do in our treatment of the several episodes of Gosāla's life-story. There remains, however, the question : even after the most careful sifting, how much of this residue of authentic tradition is itself historically reliable ? We cannot answer this question, for both Buddhist and Hindu sources are completely silent on the most important incidents of the *Bhagavatī Sūtra* story, and therefore we have no independent confirmation of it. For want of contradictory evidence we can but provisionally accept these unconfirmed traditions wherever they are not inherently improbable, all the while bearing in mind the fact that they are based on the slender authority of a single text, compiled by the opponents of the protagonist of the story ; we must also remember that the final recension of the text in question took place over a millennium after the events it purports to describe, and was carried out by men who had scant regard for historical accuracy.
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⁵ *Bhāratīya Vidyā.* ii, pp. 201–210, and iii, pp. 47–59, passim.
Linked texts (1)
- Viyāhapannatti — Sudharman, Ardhamāgadhī Prakrit