Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c6.s5.t5.7
Vāda in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c6.s5.t5.7
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c6.s5.t5.7
Buddha is reported to have propagated *nairātmya* (the theory of no soul), but even amongst his followers there were reputed philosophers like Sthavira Vatsa who believed in the existence of soul. He was a contemporary of Kālāśoka (395-67 BCE). The followers of Sthavira Vatsa had formed their own school and were known as the Vatsīputrīyas or Sammatīyas during the rule of Nanda, the grandson of Kālāśoka. There are records to prove that this school continued to exist during the third-fourth centuries and became influential during the reign of the King Harṣa (CE 606-47). Harṣa’s sister, Rājyaśrī was a Sāmmatīya.