Jinamanjari 1996 04 No 13

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

Page 19

evidence suggests that it was Gosala who was the master and Mahavira the disciple who broke away. 24
The Jain tradition seems to preserve some memory of Mahavira's conversion to Gosala's sect, and his later defection. Parsva, the thirthankara prior to Mahavira, in whose religion Mahavira was born, allowed his followers two articles of clothing. Gosala went completely naked, however, and Mahavira, after meeting him, adopted the rule of nakedness also. The implication is that Mahavira joined Gosala's group, adopting its rules. There are in addition many points that suggest the greater antiquity of Ajivikism over Mahavira's form of Jainism, including "goblin worship," "secret magical rites of a repulsive tantric type" (as Basham calls them), blood rites, and a shamanic-style initiation involving a symbolic rebirth for adult males and the grasping of a "heated lamp."25 As Barua said, Ajivikism "represents...an earlier stage of thought evolution and religious discipline...than the period covered by the early history of Jainism and Buddhism as expounded by Mahavira and Buddha."26
Nastika and Astika - Part Two
The Buddha and Mahavira both seem to represent reforms of an earlier ascetic tradition that emphasized magic, sexuality, and physical austerity, rather than karma, celibacy, and meditation. Gosala, on the other hand, was a conservative who espoused an ancient way which may go back to the Indus Valley.
Mahavira, if Jacobi and Barua are right, had encountered the ancient ways while in Gosala's group, but the Buddha had also once participated in this older tradition, prior to his insights beneath the bodhi tree. The Digha Nikaya (III.37-56) describes ascetics who plucked out their hair and beards and were "standers up or squatters on heels," that is, they practiced kayotsarga and mulabandhasana or utkatasuna.
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