History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c23.s2: The Eight Last Things

History and Doctrines of the Ājīvikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c23.s2

Language: English

The Eight Last Things

c23.s2.1

A few further categories are mentioned in the *Bhagavatī Sūtra*, but do not occur in the Buddhist texts. These include the four *pāṇagāim* and the four *apāṇagāim*, the eight *carimāim*, and the six *anaikkamaṇijjāim*. The two former are rules governing the conduct of the ascetic in his last penance, and have already been dealt with.¹ The eight *carimāim* have also been treated in another context,² and require little further attention.

c23.s2.2

¹ V. supra, pp. 127 ff.

c23.s2.3

² V. supra, p. 68.

c23.s2.4

The ultimates or finalities are stated by the *Bhagavatī* to be connected with the last life on earth of the migrant soul, and to herald its final release.³ As Hoernle realized, they are based on the actions of Gosāla in his delirium and on events which occurred at about the time of his death. The *Sūtra* declares that they were laid down by Gosāla to excuse his own objectionable conduct, to which Abhayadeva adds that he declared that there was no sin in these actions since they were inevitable at the death of a *jina*.⁴ The first four items of the list, the last drink, song, dance, and greeting, are evidently related to the behaviour of the dying *tīrthaṅkara*; the following three, the storm cloud, the sprinkling elephant, and the battle with large stones, are portentous events which herald his *nirvāṇa*; while the eighth and last is the *tīrthaṅkara* himself. No information about these eight finalities, as part of the Ājīvika creed, occurs in other sources. They have no philosophical value, but are probably a mere list of omens, borrowed from the popular traditions of the less instructed members of the Ājīvika sect.

c23.s2.5

³ Bh. Sū. xv, sū. 554, fol. 679.

c23.s2.6

⁴ Etāni ca kila nirvāṇa-kāle jinasy’ āvaśyam-bhavin’ iti n’ asty eteṣu doṣaḥ, fol. 684.

Linked texts (1)

Viyāhapannatti — Sudharman, Ardhamāgadhī Prakrit