History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c16.s1.16

c16.s1.16

Evidence almost as strong can be found to suggest that the Mahāpaüma of the *Bhagavatī Sūtra* has no historical significance. No reference can be found to show that Mahāpadma’s father was named Sammuti, for which name Hoernle quotes the variant Sumati; the *Purāṇas* declare him to have been a baseborn son of his predecessor Mahānandin.² The only Nanda name which bears the faintest similarity to that of Mahāpaüma’s father is that of the eldest of Mahāpadma’s eight sons, called in the *Bhāgavata Purāṇa* Sumālya³; it is remotely possible that Sammuti is a corruption of this.