History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c13.s2.31

c13.s2.31

Probably certain elements of the story of Gosāla’s death have found their way, in a corrupt form, into the Buddhist story of Pūraṇa’s suicide. If this be the case the credibility of the former story is strengthened without by any means invalidating the latter. We may provisionally accept the historicity of the suicide of Pūraṇa at Sāvatthi, at the same time recognizing that the details of both versions of the story are unreliable.