History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c18.s2.57

c18.s2.57

Certain references of Canarese provenance, collected by Dr. K. B. Pathak⁴ must here be mentioned. The first of these is in the *Ācārasāra* of Vīranandi, a Digambara work in Sanskrit, of the twelfth century. This states that the mendicant (*parivrāt*) who practises extreme penance will reach the heaven of Brahmakalpa, lower than that destined for the Ājīvika, who, ignorant of the true doctrine though he be, will attain the higher heaven of Sahasrāra-kalpa.⁵ The commentary adds that the Ājīvika is a kind of Buddhist *bhikṣu*, subsisting upon rice-gruel (*kāñji*).¹ Vaṭṭakera's *Mūlācāra*, not quoted by Pathak, contains a similar verse, followed by one which states that non-Jaina ascetics can rise no higher than Sahasrāra.²