Makkhali Gosala

Makkhali Gosala Biography

Makkhali Gosala was an ascetic teacher of ancient India, a contemporary of Siddhartha Gautama and Mahavira, founder of Buddhism and last Tirthankara of Jainism respectively. Ajivika is one of the "heterodox" schools of Indian philosophy founded in the 5th century BCE by Makkhali Gosala. A Sramana movement it was a major rival of early Buddhism and Jainism, and a bit earlier than Buddhism. Though his life and teachings are available, they are not 100% reliable sources to believe on. He was one of the six heretical teachers who lived contemporary with the Buddha.

It’s believed that Makkali was born on 484 BCE. Only a little record is available about the life and birth of Gosala. Most of his information comes from the works written on Buddhism and Jainism. Since it was a rival practice to both these two religions, those sources cannot be fully relied on, as data about Makkali and Ajivika movement might have manipulated and propagated. His life and teachings are available in the books - Jain Bhagavati Sutra, and Buddhaghosa's commentary on the Buddhist Sammannaphala Sutta.

According to the Bhagavati Sutra, Gosala was born in the cowshed of a Brahmin in Saravana village. Mankhali and Bhadda are his parents. ‘Gosala’ literally means cow shed. Some claim that his father was a devotional singer and a dealer in pictures and Gosala carried the job till he became a monk, while a few argue that Gosala was a slave. One thing is sure, as per records, he was born into a poor family, and lived in poverty though given different colours to his story. Gosala became Mahavira's disciple and has travelled with him for 6 years. Later a conflict occurred between their ideologies and that’s how he started Ajivika which emphasized a law of fate. It used the theory of samsmravisuddhi, i.e. that all beings are subject to a fixed series of existences (a cycle of reanimation), ranging from the lowest to the highest.

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Updated: December 26, 2015