History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c12.s5.11

c12.s5.11

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.