History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c13.s3.28

c13.s3.28

In any case we may infer that Pakudha was less influential than were either of the two ascetics we have previously considered. In the Jaina texts Makkhali Gosāla appears as a real human being; Pūraṇa Kassapa emerges as a personality in the two accounts of his suicide; Nigaṇṭha Nātaputta was the founder of an enduring sect; and the materialist Ajita Kesakambalī seems to have been singled out by the Buddha for scathing condemnation.³ On the other hand the two remaining members of the group of six heretics, Pakudha Kaccāyana the atomist and Sañjaya Belaṭṭhiputta the agnostic, are never more than shadowy lay figures, nowhere individualized, not worthy of a special mention apart from their fellow ascetic leaders. We may therefore conclude that they made but a slight impression upon contemporary religious life.