History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c17.s1.6

c17.s1.6

The *Mahābhārata*, with its many strata, cannot well be attributed to any century. No doubt it was in process of receiving final shape during the period between the Maurya and the Gupta dynasties, and its contents may be taken as indicative of the climate of thought and of social conditions in Western India during that period. It contains no reference to the Ājīvikas—indeed it appears to contain no specific references to the greater heterodox orders of Buddhism and Jainism; but, besides the strange story of Maṅki,¹ it has a number of passages very similar in content to the doctrine of Makkhali Gosāla as outlined in the *Sāmañña-phala Sutta*. This perhaps indicates that Gosāla’s teachings were by no means uninfluential. We have already suggested that he did but systematize an attitude to life which must have existed long before the emergence of the sect, and which may even have been found among Āryan warriors before their entry into India.² The Ājīvika sect must have acted as a stimulus to such an attitude, which is explicitly expressed in several *Mahābhārata* references.³