History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c14.s2: Etymology of the Term Ājīvika

History and Doctrines of the Ājīvikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c14.s2

Language: English

Etymology of the Term Ājīvika

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Among the earliest views on the derivation of the word Ājīvika are those of Burnouf and Lassen. The former ¹ believed that the term had no derogatory significance, but meant "one who lives on the charity of others", deriving it from *a-jīva*, "the absence of livelihood," with the addition of the suffix *-ka* and the consequent lengthening by *vṛddhi* of the initial vowel. As an alternative explanation Burnouf supported Lassen, who, on the basis of a similar etymology, believed that the word meant an ascetic who ate no living or animal food.² Neither of these interpretations is acceptable. The presence of the alternative form *Jīvaka*, attested by the lexicographers ³ and by the astrologer Vaidyanātha Dīkṣita,⁴ proves that the first syllable of the word cannot be a privative.

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¹ *Le Lotus de la Bonne Loi* (2nd edn.), ii, p. 777.

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² *Indische Altertumskunde* ii, p. 107, n. 2, quoted Burnouf, op. cit., loc. cit.

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³ V. infra, pp. 182–83.

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⁴ V. infra, pp. 184–85.

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The most widely accepted theory is that the term Ājīvika or Ājīwaka is derived from the word *ājīva*. This, in Hoernle's words, means "the mode of life, or profession, of any particular class of people, whether they live as householders . . . or as religious mendicants ”. Hoernle adds that “ the word *ājīvika*, being a derivative of *ājīva*, means one who observes the mode of living appropriate to his class . . . . There is some ground for believing that Gosāla held peculiar views as to the *ājīva* of a mendicant who is truly liberated from the fetters of *karma*. It was probably for this reason that he and his adherents came to be known as *Ājīvika*, or the men who held the peculiar doctrine of *ājīva* . . . . The name ‘ Ājīvika ’, it appears, was originally meant to stigmatize Gosāla and his followers as ‘ professionals ’; though, no doubt, in later times, when it became the distinctive name of a mendicant order, it no longer carried that offensive meaning ”.¹

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¹ *ERE.* i, p. 259.

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Hoernle’s hypothesis requires some qualification. From the examples given above ² it is obvious that the term *ājīvika*, like *nirgrantha*, originally had a wider connotation than the organized followers of Makkhali Gosāla, and might be applied to almost any non-brāhmaṇical naked ascetic. Furthermore it is possible to suggest an alternative etymology.

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² V. supra, pp. 96–98.

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Admittedly religion offers a number of examples of derogatory nicknames ultimately becoming the regular titles of heterodox sects—the words “ quaker ” and “ methodist ” come immediately to mind. In this connection the story of *Paṇḍara Jātaka* may be of some significance.³ A man suffers shipwreck and is cast ashore near the port of Karambiya in a state of nudity (*nagga-bhoggo*). Like Makkhali Gosāla and Pūraṇa Kassapa in Buddhaghosa’s stories,⁴ he is mistaken for an ascetic, and is given alms. Thereupon he declares with relief: “ I’ve found a way to make a living ! ” (*Laddho me jīvik’-opāyo*). This story surely indicates that the connection between the words *ājīva* and *ājīvika* was recognized in ancient India, at least by the Ājīvikas’ opponents.

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³ *Jāt.* v, pp. 75 ff.

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⁴ V. supra, pp. 37, 82–83.

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An alternative explanation of the term is provided in the *Dīgha Nikāya*.⁵ It is said that the Buddha met at Vesāli a certain ascetic named Kandara-masuka, who maintained seven lifelong vows. The first of these is: “ As long as I live I will be naked, and will not put on a garment ” (*Yāvaj-jīvam acelako assaṃ, na vatthaṃ paridaheyaṃ*). The second vow is one of perpetual chastity; by the third, surprisingly enough, the ascetic undertakes to beg only spirits and meat, and not to eat gruel or broth; while the last four are vows of a Jaina type, delimiting the area in the four directions beyond which he undertakes not to travel. The ascetic Kandara-masuka is regularly referred to as acela, but nowhere as ājīvika, and we have no evidence that any of his vows, with the exception of the first, were taken by the organized Ājīvika community. Nevertheless the formula yāvajjīvam, which precedes each of the seven vows, may be significant. It suggests the possibility that the word ājīvika may be derived from some such phrase as ā jīvāt, “as long as life.” This view was put forward by Kern,¹ but seems not to have been noticed by later workers in the field, perhaps because the author gave little weight to his theory, and does not appear to have provided references to back it.

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⁵ *Dīgha* iii, p. 9.

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¹ Der Buddhismus und seine Geschichte in Indien ii, p. 7, n. 2.

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Admittedly the preposition ā has more often the force of “until” than “as long as”, but “it may denote the limit ‘to’, ‘until’, ‘as far as’, ‘from’, either including the object named or excluding it”,² and therefore this interpretation is by no means illegitimate.

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² Monier Williams, Sanskrit-English Dictionary, s.v. ā.

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The adjective yāvajjīvika meaning “lifelong” is to be found in the Āśvalāyana Śrauta Sūtra,³ composed at a very early period, perhaps before Gosāla’s ministry. It is significant that it is there used in reference to the duration of vows to be taken in penance for errors in sacrificial ritual. The same term, in its Prākrit form jāvajjīvāē, with the same connotation, is to be found in the Bhagavatī Sūtra.⁴ It is by no means impossible that the word ājīvika had a similar connotation with the religious community using it, and indicated the lifelong character of the vows taken by the followers of Makkhali Gosāla and by the free-lance Ājīvikas, in contrast to the temporary vows of the Buddhist saṅgha. In this case the derogatory etymology from ājīva must have been devised by the opponents of the sect, in the same manner as that in which Buddhaghosa devised derogatory etymologies for Makkhali and Pūraṇa.

Linked texts (5)

Jātaka — Pāli
Pāthikasutta — Pāli
Āśvalāyanaśrautasūtra — Āśvalāyana, Sanskrit
Dīghanikāya — Pāli
Viyāhapannatti — Sudharman, Ardhamāgadhī Prakrit