History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c14.s1.13

c14.s1.13

Upaka was a Magadhan. According to the *Therīgāthā* Commentary ⁴ he was born at the village of Nāla, near the Bodhi Tree, and lived there with Cāpā after abandoning his asceticism for the life of a householder. If the legend of Upaka be accepted it must be taken to imply that Ājīvika mendicants roamed the roads of Magadha at least a generation before the commencement of Gosāla’s ministry.