History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c15.s3.27

c15.s3.27

Certain elements in the penance are significant. The *gopuṭṭhaë* (which both Hoernle and Barua interpret, perhaps unnecessarily, as "that which is excreted by the cow"¹), occurs first in the list of the legitimate drinks of the dying ascetic; his last bed is the sacred *darbha* grass. These two features strongly indicate that the Ājīvika was by no means unaffected by orthodox ideas. We have already found one faint indication that some Ājīvikas may have been closer to the main current than their Buddhist and Jaina contemporaries,² and the inclusion of the cow and the *darbha* in the account of the Ājīvika fatal penance confirms our views. The strange divinities Punnabhadda and Māṇibhadda raise questions which are more appropriate to the second part of this work.³ The fire which consumes the body of the emancipated ascetic, and the mysterious reference to "serpenthood", suggest a magical or tantric element in Ājīvikism, of which we have found traces elsewhere.⁴