Jaina Philosophy Historical Outline

SR No.: 006569
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Narendra Nath Bhattacharya
Publisher: Munshiram Manoharlal Publisher's Pvt Ltd New Delhi
Publication Year: 1976
Total Pages: 242
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 15 MB

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Jain Philosophy in Historical Outline
to the atoms predominantly composing them. Such conceptions are basically different from the Jain formulations which are closer rather to those of the Nyāya Vaišeşikas.
Jainism and Ājīvikism
It is evident from the Jain tradition that Mahāvira in the beginning of his career as an ascetic came in close touch with Gosāla, the leader of the Ājīvikas. Although the association of Gosāla and Mahāvira was not permanent and although a relation of bitter hostility developed between the two teachers in the subsequent course of their religious career, it is clear from what we get in the Buddhist and Jain texts, in absence of any religious literature of the Ajīvikas, that early Jainism owed something to the doctrines upheld and preached by Gosāla. The frequent confusion of the terms nirgrantha and ājīvika in the Buddhist texts also points in the same direction. The general outcome .of Ajivikism is the doctrine of Niyati or fate which has, however, nothing to do with Jainism. But so far as the particulars are concerned, Jainism and Ajīvikism have many points in common.
For example, the Ājīvika conception of Abhijāti, or six classes of mankind, has evidently some bearing on the Jain classification of beings and the Jain conception of Leśyā. The grouping is made on a supposed attribution of colour to different classes of beings. The highest or milk-white group contains the followers of Gosāla and his two predecessors. Below this is the category of white which contains other groups of the Ajīvikas. Below this is green to which belong the Acelakas. Below this is red consisting of the Niganthas wearing a single garment. Then comes blue in which category belong the bhikkhus who live as thieves and also believers in Karma. The lowest class is marked black which contains thieves, hunters and others who live by violence.
Regarding the relationship between Jainism and Ājīvikism, it is better to begin with the observation of Prof. Jacobi. “The greatest influence on the development of Mahāvīra's doctrines, I believe, must be ascribed to Gosāla, the son of Makkhali. A history of his life, contained in the Bhagavati XV has been briefly translated by Hoernle in the Appendix to his translation of the Uvāsagadasão. It is there recorded that Gosāla lived six years together with Mahāvīra as his disciple, practising asceticism, but afterwards separated from
1 Anguttara, III, p. 383; Sum. Vil., p. 162.