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History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c14.s4: Ājīvika Nudity

History and Doctrines of the Ājīvikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c14.s4

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Ājīvika Nudity

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The ascetics called Ājīvika in the Pāli texts, whether the pre-Makkhali mendicants and hermits whom we may call proto-Ājīvikas, or members of the organized Ājīvika sect, appear usually to have lived in a state of nakedness. Makkhali Gosāla and Pūraṇa Kassapa are described as completely unclothed,² and it would seem that in the early days of Ājīvikism the lesser members of the community were also habitually naked.³

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² V. supra, pp. 37, 40, 83, 87.

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³ V. supra, pp. 97, 102.

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In later times the rule of nudity does not seem to have been so regularly followed. The *Bhagavatī Sūtra* states that on his death the corpse of Gosāla Maṅkhaliputta was arrayed in a splendid robe and bedecked with ornaments,⁴ which suggests that some form of pontifical finery was not unknown to the leaders of Ājīvikism. The *Dhammapada Commentary* seems sometimes to distinguish between the words *ājīvika* and *acelaka*,⁵ the latter of which was a term of wide connotation and was probably used to refer to any unclothed ascetic. The Ājīvikas depicted at Borobudur wear clothes,⁶ and Canarese texts confuse the Ājīvikas with yellow-robed Buddhists.⁷ There is ample evidence that wide differences of doctrine existed within the later Ājīvika community,⁸ and with some of its sub-sects, as with the Jainas, the cult of nakedness may have tended to die out at an early date.

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⁴ V. supra, p. 95.

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⁵ Dhm. Comm., i, 300.

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⁶ V. supra, p. 96.

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⁷ V. infra, pp. 203–4.

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⁸ V. infra, pp. 279–280.

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Pictorial and sculptural representations of Ājīvikas contribute little to our knowledge of the usual Ājīvika garb. Representations of naked ascetics occur occasionally in Buddhist art, but in most cases there is no evidence that these are Ājīvikas and not members of the Digambara Jaina order. A figure in one of the Ajaṇṭā frescos has been identified by Foucher as Pūraṇa Kassapa at the great miracle contest at Sāvatthi,⁹ and this is completely naked. Certain sculptures of the Gandhāra school, depicting the Buddha’s *parinirvāṇa*, also show a naked ascetic, who seems to be the Ājīvika in the act of informing the *bhikkhu* Mahākassapa of the great event (Plate III)¹; but a similar character in other works of the same school depicting the same subject is dressed in a garb resembling that of the orthodox Hindu ascetic.²

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⁹ Foucher, *L'Art gréco-bouddhique*, vol. ii, p. 264; also *JA.*, 1909, pp. 21–3. V. supra, pp. 84 ff.

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¹ Foucher, *L’Art Gréco-Bouddhique*, vol. i, pp. 568 ff. V. infra, p. 136. ² Foucher, *L’Art Gréco-Bouddhique*, vol. ii, pp. 259 ff. ³ Krom, *The Life of the Buddha*, plate 110; also *Barabuḍur*, vol. i, pp. 220–1. V. supra, p. 94. ⁴ Krom, *Barabuḍur*, vol. ii, p. 203. ⁵ Grünwedel, *Alt-Buddhistische Kultstätten*, figs. 344, 353. V. plate I. ⁶ Grünwedel, *Alt-Kutscha* ii, pp. 21–2. ⁷ Hoernle, *ERE.* i, p.

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Representations of Ājīvikas exist outside India. A sculpture at Borobudur shows the encounter of the newly enlightened Buddha with Upaka the Ājīvika; Upaka is here accompanied by two fellow Ājīvikas, and all three wear a peculiar skirt-like garment and have carefully arranged hair (Plate II).³ Krom is of the opinion that no reliance can be placed on the accuracy of these figures,⁴ but it must be remembered that at the time of the building of the Borobudur *stūpa* the Javanese were in contact with Cōḷamaṇḍalam, and that Ājīvikas were to be found in that region. Therefore it is not wholly impossible that the Javanese sculptor was working from personal knowledge, or from an authentic report, of the appearance of Dravidian Ājīvikas.

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Central Asian frescos show the Buddha disputing with the heretical leaders.⁵ Of the latter some are partly naked, but he whom Grünwedel identifies as Makkhali Gosāla, by virtue of his staff (Plate I, ii), is attired in the garb of the orthodox ascetic, and wears the typical *sannyāsī’s* topknot.⁶

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It is generally agreed that Mahāvīra founded his order upon a looser group of ascetics, wearing clothing and by no means strict in their chastity, who looked back to the shadowy Pārśva Nātha, the twenty-third *tīrthaṅkara* of Jaina hagiology. Jainism in its later form, it is suggested, was but a development of the older proto-Jainism of Pārśva.⁷ It seems, moreover, that the early Jaina monk, although called *acela*, was not normally completely nude, but wore a loincloth⁸; while Mahāvīra himself was habitually naked, he permitted his followers to wear a minimum of covering to avoid embarrassment and the accusation of indecency. On the other hand the nudity of the Ājīvika seems usually at this period to have been total. This point has been clearly made by Hoernle,¹ who shows that in the Ājīvika sixfold classification of men² the white class (*sukk’-ābhijāti*) consisted of Ājīvikas and Ājīvinīs, while the red (*lohit’-ābhijāti*), two stages below it, contained nigaṇṭhas wearing one cloth (*eka-sāṭaka*). The complete nudity of the Ājīvika is further made clear from the description of Pūraṇa in the *Divyāvadāna*, which precludes the wearing even of a loincloth.³ Thus the Ājīvika seems to have gone further in his nudity than the early Jaina. We may assume that his motive was the same as that which inspired Mahāvīra in instituting the custom in the Jaina order, the acquisition of complete indifference to all physical sensation.⁴

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²⁶⁵ Full references in Shah, *Jainism in N. India*, pp. 1–12. ⁸ *Ācārāṅga Sūtra* i, 7, 7, 1.

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¹ *ERE.* i, p. 262.

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² *Sum. Vil.* i, p. 162; *Aṅg.* iii, p. 383. V. infra pp. 243 ff.

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³ *Purastāl lambate daśā.* *Divyāvadāna*, p. 165.

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⁴ *Ācārāṅga Sūtra*, loc. cit.

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If our synchronisms are correct,⁵ and if we can accept the indications given by the stories of Upaka and Jambuka,⁶ it would seem that neither Mahāvīra nor Gosāla was the originator of the cult of nudity, which must have existed before either reformer commenced his ministry. If we accept the existence of the clothed proto-Jainas we can only assume with Hoernle that Mahāvīra introduced his reform in their dress under the influence of Gosāla and the proto-Ājīvikas, adopting the latter’s views on the necessity of nakedness for salvation, but making slight concessions to public opinion and human frailty. Gosāla, in this respect more extreme than his former colleague, seems to have insisted on the maintenance of total nudity.

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⁵ V. supra, p. 74.

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⁶ V. supra, pp. 94. 97.

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Thus, although later developments may have led to some relaxations in the rules, we may envisage the typical Ājīvika of the early period as usually completely naked, no doubt covered with dust and dirt, perhaps bent and crippled, and armed with a bamboo staff.

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