History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c23.s1.106

c23.s1.106

*S a r a*. Interpreted by Buddhaghosa as "great lakes" (*mahā-sarā*) of which he gives the names: Kaṇṇamuṇḍa, Rathakāra, Anotatta, Sīhappapāta, Tiyaggaḷa, Mucalinda, and Kuṇāladaha. It will be noted that the term used for the Ājīvika heavens, *mānasa*, may also mean "a lake", and that the Ājīvika system of chronometry also knew a period called a sara, of which 300,000 constituted a mahākappa.¹ But possibly Buddhaghosa’s explanation is correct, and these are seven great lakes, in each of which the soul becomes a denizen before the end of its journey. The names given by Buddhaghosa are those of the seven lakes of Himavant according to Buddhist geography.² It is not impossible that the Ājīvikas had a similar classification.