History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c23.s1.125

c23.s1.125

Beside the system of Mahākalpas, the *Bhagavatī Sūtra* also indicates that the Ājīvikas maintained a doctrine of cosmic progress and decay, similar to that of the Jainas, since Gosāla is referred to as the twenty-fourth *tīrthaṅkara* of the Avarsarpiṇī age, or aeon of decline.³ As his status would thus correspond exactly with that of Mahāvīra in Jainism, the suspicion cannot be avoided that the passage is a Jaina interpolation, although, in view of the close connection between the two sects, it is not impossible that it represents authentic Ājīvika teaching.