Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c5.s1.7

c5.s1.7

*Isibhāsiyāin* (*Ṛṣibhāṣitāni*), a collection of discourses by seers belonging to the Vedic, Ājīvaka, Cārvāka, Buddhist and Jaina traditions, is a unique text building up bridges and creating dialogues between diverse sects and traditions. Compiled around the fourth-third centuries BCE,¹⁸ the text is immensely valuable for understanding the Indian traditions of sharing knowledge systems. Amongst the seers included, twelve belong to Nirgrantha sect or Jainism, five to Buddhist philosophy and as many as seventeen to Vedic tradition. Amongst the remaining seers, Maṅkhali Ghosāla is known as the founder of Ājīvaka sect and while the affiliations of nine others are unknown. The 20^th chapter named Utkala Adhyayana does not give the name of any sage, but it discusses the materialist philosophy through very interesting illustrations. The 21^st chapter cites the *gāthās* of Gāthāpatiputra Taruṇa propounding Ajñānavāda, the philosophy of ignorance.