History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c15.s3.23

c15.s3.23

Dr. Barua’s contention, on comparison with the text, seems to be based on inadequate premises. Gosāla is not explicitly stated to have practised any of the *pāṇagāïm* and *apāṇagāïm*. Of the four drinks in the former list the first, third, and fourth are not mentioned as having been used in any way by Gosāla. The second “water soiled by the hand, such as that used in a pottery”, he did not drink, according to the letter of the text, but merely used to sprinkle his limbs.² The four substitutes for drink the only one suggested by Gosāla’s delirious conduct is the second, holding an unripe mango in the mouth. The *Sūtra* states only that Gosāla held a mango stone in his hand,³ and although the commentator suggests that he sucked it to allay his fever this is not expressly stated in the text, which makes no mention of Gosāla’s lying on the ground, on wood, or on *darbha* grass. In fact the resemblances between the details of the Ājīvika fatal penance and those of Gosāla’s last delirium are by no means close. Perhaps, as the *Bhagavatī Sūtra* suggests, some features of the former were modelled on the latter. But that Gosāla himself died by this means cannot be demonstrated.