The Doctrine of the Jainas, Described after the Old Sources c6.75.1

c6.75.1

In the sources hitherto considered there is not a single word being said concerning the rôle that is acted by Gosāla Maṃkhaliputta in Mahāvīra’s life. He was the head of the Ājīvikas⁴ and in this position, acc. to Pali reports, he was the successor to Kissa Saṃkicca and Nanda Vaccha. Thus it follows that the sect must have existed for some time yet. Viy. 15 gives a report regarding Mahāvīra’s relations to Gosāla⁵. According to them Gosāla came to be Mahāvīra’s pupil in the latter’s second year as a monk and remained to be so for six years. Then their relations came to a rupture, however, and Gosāla went his own ways. It was not until 16 years later that both met again though for a violent contest only. Gosāla died nearly immediately after, i.e. 16 years before his antagonist. This report of Viy. has long since been judged as biassed and hateful. Critics went to the length of making Mahāvīra a disciple or adherent of Gosāla to whom they say he was indebted for the biological system proclaimed by himself to be his own. For these and further questions the reader is referred to BASHAM who has exhaustively treated the matter offered by literature and inscriptions, including materials from the South⁶. Gosala is said to have introduced a division of humans into six different colours which has its parallel in the Jain *leśyā* theory¹.