History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c23.s1.116

c23.s1.116

M a h ā k a p p a. Great aeons, of which the number is 8,400,000. Through these, and all the preceding categories, fool and wise alike must travel before they " make an end of sorrow ". The same total of *mahākappas* is given in the *Bhagavatī Sūtra*, where it is stated that they and the other categories must all be duly passed before release from transmigration, when the souls accomplish their journey (*sijjhanti*), are enlightened (*bujjhanti*) set free (*muccanti*), and finally emancipated (*parinivvānti*), making an end of all sorrows.¹ These terms may give us some idea of the Ājīvika conception of final bliss, but it must be noted that with some later Ājīvikas even the state of *nirvāṇa* does not seem to have been looked upon as final.²