History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c15.s2.17

c15.s2.17

Turning to later references we find but faint suggestions of Ājīvika licentiousness. The Ājīvika teacher in Nilakēci, however, seems aware of the accusation, and tells his interlocutor not to be censorious because his community is addicted to cuvai, an ambiguous word which may mean sensual pleasure.² A Canarese poem, dated 1180, and inscribed near the doorway of the Gommateśvara temple at Śravaṇa Beḷgoḷa includes a verse on the "other guides who, while exhorting their ascetics against the evils of false penance, allow themselves to be closely associated with women".³ The use of the word āptar to indicate the false guides, suggests that the Jaina author had the Ājīvikas in mind, since the term seems to have been a popular designation of Maṛkali among the Dravidian Ājīvikas.⁴ The Rājataraṅgiṇī speaks of an ascetic, who may have been an Ājīvika, living in the hut of a prostitute.⁵ These hints suggest that the small Ājīvika community retained some of its bad reputation; but as its influence waned the accusations seem to have been pressed home less fiercely, and in many cases to have been forgotten. With the exception of the doubtful phrase in Nilakēci, the three chief Tamil sources make no mention of Ājīvika immorality.