Lord Mahavira

Author(s): Bool Chand
Publisher: Jain Cultural Research Society

Page 50

. ( 42!. travelling from Kumaragram to Siddharthagrama, they met the ascetic Vesayana, who was seated with upraised arms and upturned face in the glare of the Sun while his body was swarming with lice. Gosala jestingly. and indiscreetly asked whether this man was a sage or a bed of lice. Provoked at this, Vesayana attempted to strike. Gosala with his supernormal powers, but was shielded by Mahavira. Gosala, however, was so impressed with the fact of the possession of supernormal powers that he felt inclined to give up Mahavira's company and to devote all his energies to the practice of the severest penances with a view to acquire fiery powers for himself. It ook him six months to acquire these powers, and after that he' proclaimed himself a. Jina and founded the order of the Ajivikas. .
On the Gosala episode, the opinions of the scholars are very different and highly conflicting. Gosala figures in the early tradition of Buddhism as an independent leader of thought, "the head of an order, of a following, the teacher of a school, well known and of repute as a sophist.....a man of experience who has long been a recluse”; there is no suggestion made of his personal relation with Mahavira. From the point of view of thought and belief, the Jain and the Ajivaka: sects are undoubtedly allied, having many points in common between them. In the immediate background of both were the teachings of Parsva, Parsva being honoured by both as the last but one Tirthankara, while Mahavira and Gosala were sharply divided in their claim to the position of the last Tirthankara. The eight Mahanimittas of the Ajivaka canon were n facť extracts made from the Ten Purvas, : which are recognised as the literary authority. of the 'sect of Parsva. The commonness of their tradition and the fact that Gosala : proclaimed himself a Jina and was recognised as a teacher at least two years before Mahavira. were considered by Jocobi and Barua as adequate reasons for: advancing the somewhat farciful opinion that contrary: to the Jain account Mahavira was a: disciple of Gosala: