Some Aspects of Jainism in Eastern India

Author(s): Pranabananda Jash
Publisher: Munshiram Manoharlal Publisher's Pvt Ltd New Delhi

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Some Aspects of Jainism in Eastern India
other raw pulses in the mouth without drinking the juice; and
(iv) Suddha-pāṇae, i.e. the penance of the 'pure drink'.""
In fact, the Ajivikas in course of their ascetic careers very strictly followed austerities in every sphere. These are in sum total the process by which they lead to the ultimate goal. But the most interesting point as known from the Tittira-jātaka,68 is the introduction of secret magical rites of a repulsive tantric type. A vivid description of the practice of mysterious secret rites of the Ajivikas is to be found in the Vayupurāṇa.
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"Roads, rivers, fords, caitya, trees, highways-piśācas (goblins) have entered all these places. Those unrighteous people the Ajivas, as ordained by the gods, are the confusers of varṇa and asrama, a people of workmen and craftsmen. Goblins are the divinities in their sacrifices, which they perform with wealth (stolen) from beings who resemble the immortals (i.e, Brāhmaṇas) and (gained by acting as) police spies, and with much other ill-gotten wealth, and with honey, meat, broth, ghee, sesamum, powder, wine, spirits, incense, greens, kṛśara (boiled sesamum and rice), oil, fragrant grass (? bhadra), treacle, and porridge. The Lord Brahma likewise appointed black garments, incense, and flowers to be the oblations of the goblins at the quarters of the moon.'
It may not be unlikely to presume that the Ajīvas, i.e. the Ajivikas of the Vayupurāṇa belongs to a later stage, and, of course, not of the Buddhist or the Jaina references. This may have been the plight picture of the Ajivika community in north India during the Gupta period when 'the sect itself continued to decline'.70
Before entering into the doctrinal intricacies of the system we may have a pause just to make a brief survey about the influence and spread of the Ajivikas in eastern India. Its origin on the upper Gangetic valley region centering round Śrāvasti is an established fact. Similarly, its later development and extension towards more easternly regions including the boundaries of lower Gangetic region is also an accepted view. By the time of Gośäla the Ajivikas occupied a unique position in the Gangetic valley regions. Its history thus begins with the early part of the sixth century BC, although B.M. Barua takes it back to the eighth or seventh century BC.71 The sect seems to have received royal patronage from the time of the Nandas whose power and splendour are attested by