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sūtra on the basis of which we are able to ascertain a relationship of Mahāvīra with Ājivakas besides his relation with post Pārśva monks.
It is accepted in Jaina Āgamas and their commentaries that only in the second year of Mahāvīra's renunciation Mankhali Gośala came in close contact with him, and stayed together for a few years. But on the issues of fatalism and the concept of Purusartha they had differences and thus they drifted apart from each other. Hermann Jacobi has even surmised that nakedness etc. and the stringency in the code of conduct in the Nirgrantha tradition of Mahāvīra is due to the influence of Ājivaka tradition.
This is true that there was a tradition of Ājivakas, which had Ācāryas such as Arjuna etc. However, due to lack of historical evidences, it is difficult to say that the rigour of conduct in Mahāvīra's tradition came from Ajivakatradition or it was the other way round i.e. it went from Mahāvīra's tradition to the Ājivaka tradition. Because there is no factual evidence as to whether Gośala got attached to Ājivaka tradition after separating from Mahāvīra or he had already joined Ājivaka tradition before, and came to Mahāvīralater. Still, it is certain that the Ājivaka tradition retained itsidentify till the 1st and 2nd century A.D. This was a rival Šramaņa tradition against the Nirgranthas and the Buddhists, whose monks used to live naked like those of the Digambara sect of Jainas. Jainas and Ājivakas, despite being rivals, used to be more respectful towards each other than with other sects of śramana tradition. This is substantiated by the account of the six-fold classification of heretics in the Buddhist Pitaka literature where Nirgranthas are placed above other kinds of Śramaņas but below the Ājivakas. Thus, Ājivakas joining the Nirgranthas and then separating
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Jainism and its History
