History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c12.s7.7

c12.s7.7

The etymology of this word has been established by Hoernle. “It describes Gosāla,” he writes, “as having originally belonged to the Maṅkhali or Maskarin class of religious mendicants.”⁵ The word is explained by Pāṇini as a mendicant who bears a maskara, or bamboo rod.⁶ His commentator Patañjali disagrees with this interpretation. “A mendicant,” he says, “is not called *maskarin* because he has a *maskara* . . . but because he says ‘don’t perform actions, quietude is the best for you!’”¹ Patañjali’s etymology on the basis of the slogan “Don’t perform actions” (*Ma kṛta karmāṇi*) is of the same class as that of Buddhaghosa,² and does not need lengthy consideration from the linguistic point of view, although it may contain a genuine religious slogan which was used by ascetics of a heterodox type, perhaps by the Ājīvikas. Patañjali’s etymology is, however, supported by Vāmana, as a possible derivation, and substantially the same slogan is repeated. “An ascetic, being habitually inactive, is called *maskarin*, from his denial of *karma*. He says ‘don’t perform actions, quietude is best for you!’”³