History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c13.s3.24

c13.s3.24

Dr. Barua ⁸ has equated Pakudha (called Kakudha in Buddhist Sanskrit texts) with Kabandhin Kātyāyana, one of the questioners of the sage Pippalāda in the Praśna Upaniṣad. He believes that the names Kakudha and Kabandhin, which both indicate that their owner was a humpback, are equivalent. There are no further points of contact, however. The *Upaniṣad* merely states that Kabandhin asked Pippalāda whence all beings came,¹ and received the reply that they were produced by Prajāpati from matter (*rayi*) and breath (*prāṇa*).² If the equivalence be accepted, it probably implies that Pakudha or Kakudha was the senior of the Buddha and of the other heretics, and that he was closer to the main current of Indian philosophy than were Makkhali and Pūraṇa.