Gosala Mankhaliputta

Summary

Makkhali Gosala, the founder of the Ājīvika sect, was a contemporary of Mahāvīra who became known for his radical deterministic doctrine. Born in a cowshed (gośāla) to the mendicant Mankhali, he was called Gosala because of this lowly birthhttps://sreenivasaraos.com/tag/makkhali-gosala/#:~:text=4,who%20carries%20a%20bamboo%20staff. Early sources say he carried a bamboo staff and initially followed the Jaina order before breaking away to form his own pathhttps://sreenivasaraos.com/tag/makkhali-gosala/#:~:text=4,who%20carries%20a%20bamboo%20staff. The Ājīvika philosophy held that destiny (niyati) controls even the most insignificant actions and that human effort cannot alter the predetermined course of soulshttps://historynotesbook.wordpress.com/2021/04/04/ajivika-sect/#:~:text=According%20to%20Romila%20Thapar%2C%20the,and%20nothing%20could%20change%20this. The determinist position, also called Niyativada, asserts that all events, including moral choices and the cycle of rebirth, are governed by impersonal cosmic fate; attempts to change one’s life are therefore futilehttps://thinkindiaquarterly.org/index.php/think-india/article/view/10678#:~:text=The%20doctrine%20of%20Determinism%20believes,the%20course%20of%20their%20lives. The article “Gosala Mankhaliputta” summarises Gosala’s biography and his relationship with Mahāvīra. It recounts how Gosala, drawn by Mahāvīra’s reputation, repeatedly begged to be accepted as his disciple; after testing him, Mahāvīra allowed him to join. For six years they travelled together across the Ganges valley, practising austere disciplines, begging from house to house and meditating in forests and villages. The narrative recalls episodes such as their miracle at a sesame shrub: after the plant withered under extreme heat, Mahāvīra revived it by sprinkling water, but Gosala claimed credit, believing he had performed a supernatural feat. This misinterpretation fuelled his belief in personal magical power. While staying at Pāṅiyabhūmi they met the ascetic Vesiyāyaṇa; Gosala again misused supposed occult powers by killing two Brahmin mendicants and then bringing them back to life, thereby accumulating bad karma and alarming Mahāvīra. Later the two ascetics quarrelled; Gosala cursed his teacher and prophesied that Mahāvīra would attain kevala‑jñāna (omniscience) in three months. He left to found the Ājīvika sect. The article also includes chronological computations: Mahāvīra lived seventy‑two years, spending thirty years as a householder, twelve years of rigorous asceticism and thirty years preaching as a Jina. By narrating Gosala’s birth, travels, miraculous episodes, quarrels and predictions, the article reconstructs the origins of the Ājīvika movement and illustrates how the sect emerged from Mahāvīra’s circle. Later sources note that both Buddhists and Jains considered Gosala a dangerous rival and criticised his fatalistic doctrinehttps://historynotesbook.wordpress.com/2021/04/04/ajivika-sect/#:~:text=The%20severe%20criticism%20of%20the,and%20conflict%20with%20the%20Ajivikas.