A Short Account of the Wandering Teachers at the Time of the Buddha
By Bimala Charan Law M.A.
Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal
Vol. ns 14, 1918, pp.399-406
p. 399
At the time of the rise of Buddhism there were
various classes of wanderers who, in the language of
Dr. Rhys Davids, "were teachers or sophists who spent
eight or nine months of every year wandering about
precisely with the object of engaging in
conversational discussions on matters of ethics and
philosophy, nature lore and mysticism. Like the
sophists among the Greeks, they differed very much in
intellgence, in earnestness and in honesty."
In the Anguttara Nikaya we find mention of two
classes of Paribbajakas (Paribrajakas). The first
class is known as Annatitthiya Paribbajaka,(2) and
the second class as Brahmana Paribbajaka.(3) The
Bramana paribbajakas were in the habit of discussing
Samditthika dhamma, that is, matters relating to this
phenomenal world, the term corresponding in some way
or other to Lokayatra, the ways of life or mundane
affairs The Annatitthiya Paribbajakas were interested
generally in the question of self-realization in
thought and in conduct, that is to say, in "solemn
judgements about human life and the whole of things."
But in this paper all attempt has been made to give a
short account of the Sramanas (Samanas) and the
Paribbajakas excluding those who are known
throuhghont the Buddhist Literature as the six
titthiyas or heretics.
The term Paribbajaka may require a word of
explanation. It is stated in the Vasistha
Dharmasastra (Chap. 10) that a Paribbajaka) should
shave his head, clothe himself with one piece of
cloth or antelope skin or cover his body with grass
plucked by cows. He should sleep on bare ground.
Prof. Rhys Davids is the first to draw our
attention to the wanderers (Paribbajakas) or the
sophistic institutions quite peculiar to India.(4) It
is difficult to say when exactly this order of
wanderers came into existence. The history of the
Paribbajakas is perhaps as old as ·8 the closing
period of the Rig Veda. We are not in a position to
describe in detail or with accuracy the functions of
the wanderers if they at all existed in the Vedic
times.
Thus we may hold with Prof. Rhys Davids that the
1. Buddhist India, p. 141.
2. Anguttara Nikaya (P.T.S.), Vol. IV, p. 35.
3. Ibid. Vol. I, p. 157.
4. Buddhist India, pp. 141-148.
p. 400
wanderers were not known much before the rise of
Buddhism.(1) The sophistic institutions, strictly so
called, may be said to date from Uddalaka Aruni, the
distinguished philosopher, father of Svetaketu who
tried by his personal example to set up a
commonwealth of thought in India which allowed no
distinction of caste, creed, age and sex.(2)
Although a Brahmin of erudition and influence, he
sought after knowledge without considering for a
moment the social position of the personages to whom
he went to learn. With Prof. Rhys Davids we may
further maintain that philosophy in India up to a
certain date was but a lay movement. Yajnavalkya was
probably the connecting link between the past and the
subsequent ages. The sophistic activity progressed
rapidly during the reign of Janaka, the king of
Videha, one of the best known patrons of Indian
philosophy. The kingdom of Janaka resounded with
philosophical contests held between Yajnavalkya and
other renowned teachers of his time, among whom were
some women.(3) But that was in a period of Indian
history when the ideal of renunciation had not taken
permanent hold of tire mind of the people.
Yajnavalkya and his opponents were almost without
single exception householders It is nevertheless in
the expressions of Yajnavalkya that we can trace for
the first time any reference to two orders of
teachers, hermits and recluses (Tapasas and
Sramanas).
The period which elapsed immediately before the
advent of Buddhism may be called the Samana Brahmana
period' -- a current idiom vaguely representing the
various classes of Indian teachers who might be
arranged according to their attitude towards penance,
sacrifice, caste, asceticism and other concerns of
human life and society. There is no hard and fast
line to be drawn between one order and another,--the
transition from one to the other being possible in
the case of all individuals-whether between the
Jatilakas and the Paribbajakas(4) or between the
Sramanas and the Brahmanas, the difference was one of
degree and not of kind. Here we shall concentrate our
attention on the Paribbajakas strictly so called in
the oldest Buddhist records.
It is evident from the early Buddhist passages
that the term Sramana may he understood in a two-fold
sense. Taking it in its general sense, we may
understand by it all those religious bodies or
teachers of philosophy who turned monks,
1. Buddhist India, p. 141.
2. Chandogya Upanishad, Book 6.
Kausitaki Upanishad, Chap. 1.
Svetaketu Jataka No. 377 (Fausboll's edition).
Uddalaka Jataka No. 487
Mahabharata Adiparva (Upamanyu Upakhyanam).
3. Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad, Books 2-4.
4. Vasistha--Smriti in Smritinam Samuccaya, p. 201.
p. 401
who were known as mendicants (Bhikkhus) because of
their practice of begging, who shaved their heads
clean as a mark of distinction from the hermits
(Tapasas), the wearers of matted hairs, as well as
from the Brahmanas, the wearers of crest or lock. The
name in its specific sense is to be applied to those
bodies of men who were opposed in their general
attitude not only to the Bramanas buried in worldly
affairs or to the hermits who practised all sorts of
penances, but also to some of the wanderers who took
interest in mundane affairs. The Sramanas were all
hostile in their attitude towards Brahmanical
traditions. The term Sramana is applicable to the
order of six Titthiyas (Tirthikas), founders of
schools. The Sakyaputtiya Sramanas or the Buddhists
were of course in the same predicament. The Sramanas
were the advocates of strict celibacy. The
Varnasramadharma which signifies the tenets or
injunctions of Brahmanism was discredited. Politics
was with them but a thing inferior, i.e. a foolish
talk. The only thing which really interested them was
the realization of the higher ideals of life in
thought and in practice. We may suppose that the
wanderers, by whom we mean the Brahmana Paribbajaka
with their various orders such as those represented
by the Tedandikas and others, (1) furnished a
connecting link between the Sramanas who revelled in
philosophical speculations (Anvikshaki) and the
Brahmanas with whom, as with the Romans, philosophy
was a mere Lokayatra (way of life)(2) Have we any
data for distinguishing the wanderers, quawanderers
from the Sramanas? We may here call to our aid some
of the Buddhist passages, particularly the passage on
Silas lending its name to the first volume of the
Dighanikaya called the Silakkhandhavagga. Proceeding
in the light of this interesting tract or morality,
we can say that the precepts as expounded by the
Buddha himself admit of a two-fold explanation. Such
terms as Pharusavaca and Samphappalapa convey a
general as well as technical meaning. It is a curious
fact that the term Pharusavaca or wrangling
phrases(3) in its technical sense refers to the
practice of the Sramanas, and the
1. Tridandena Yatiscaivaim lakkhanani prithak prithak.
" Dakkha- Smriti, Chap. i, Verse 12.
2. See for the definitions of Anvikshaki and Lokaya-
tra. Kautilya's
3. Arthashastra, p.6 (shamshastri's English Trans-
lation.)
"You don't understand this doctrine and discipline?"
" I do.' How should you know about this doctrine and
discpline?" " You have fallen into wrong views." "It
is I who am in the right. "I am speaking to the
point, you are not." " You putting last what ought to
come first and first what ought to come last." What
you have excogitated so long, that's all quite upset"
"Your challenge has been taken up, you are proved to
be wrong." "Set to work to clear your views.
Disentangle yourself if you can." (The Dialogues of
the Buddha, pp. 14-15).
Cf. Majjhirna Nikaya, Vol. II, pp. 3, 243. etc.
p. 402
expression Samphappalapa (idle gossip in its
technical sense is used in connection with the
Paribbajakas in question. It is worthy of note that
these wanderers are spoken of in the Buddhist texts
in identical terms. We shall therefore remain content
with quoting one of these stock passages throwing
some light on the ways in which they spent their
time.
The list of topics given below discussed by them
is of grest historical importance as indicating the
manner in which the wanderers gradually paved the way
for a science of polity in India.
Now at that time Potthapada seated with the
company of the mendicants all talking with loud
voices, with shouts and tumult, all sorts of worldly
talk: to wit, tales of kings, of robbers, of
ministers of state, tales of war, of terror, of
battles, talks about food and drink, about clothes
and beds and garlands and perfumes, talks about
relationship, talks about equipages, villages, towns,
cities, and countries, tales about women and heroes,
gossip such as that at street corners and places
whence water is fetched; ghost stories desultory
chatters, legends about the creation of the land or
sea and speculations about existence and
non-existence." (The Dialogues of the Buddha, Vol. I,
page 245).
Examining carefully the import of all these
Buddhist passages we may perhaps go so far as to
maintain that these wanderers, qua-wanderers, were
the sophistic predecessors of Channakya to whom
tradition ascribes the authorship of the Arthasastra.
It is a well-known fact that in the Arthashastra,
some schools and individuals are quoted by names,
namely the Manavas, the Barhaspatyas. the Ausanasas,
the Ambhiyas, Parasara, Vatavyadhi, Visalakshya,
Pisuna, Pisunaputra, Bharadvaja, Kaninka, Bharadvaja,
Kinjalka, Katyayana, Bahudantakaputra, Kaunapadanta,
Dirghascarayana and Ghota- mukha. The list is far
from being exhaustive. Some of the names such as
Ghotamukha and Dirghascarayana are to be found in the
Kamashastra by Vatsayana. We learn from the Buddhist
texts that Ghotamukha, one among the predecessors of
Chanakya and Vatsayana, was among the contemporaries
of Buddha Gautama. He was a Brahmin who naively
denied virtuous life. ("N'atthi Dhammiko
Paribbajo").(1)
In the Buddhist texts we find that one
Dighakarayana who was a personal attendant of King
Pasenadi of Kosala was probably identical with
Dirghascarayana. one of the predeces- sors of
Chanakya, and who was as much a kingmaker as,
perhaps, Chanakya himself.
The early Buddhist texts together with some of the
Upanishads introduce us to some of the distinguished
Brahmin
1. Majjhima Nikaya, Vol. II, p. 157. "Ghotamukha-Sutta"
(P.T.S.).
p. 403
teachers whose views are held authoritative in the
older legal manuals now extant. It may not be easy to
identify the names as given in the Buddhist texts
with those in the Kautiliyam Arthashastram. But it is
not unlikely that some of the teachers mentioned in
the Arthasastra can be identified with some of the
Brahmin wanderers mentioned in the Buddhist texts.
We must not dogmatise on such a disputed question
as this. We might perhaps find some clue to the
identification of the names in the fact that most of
these were not the real names but nick-names
expressive of some physical characteristics of the
teachers. Consider, for example, these two names
mentioned in the Arthashastra: the Vatavyadhi, the
Rheumatic, and Vishalaksha, the goggle-eyed, and
compare them with the two names mentioned in the
Buddhist texts: Potthapada "the elephantiac" and
Uggahamana, "the sky-gazing." If it be objected that
similarity obtained does not amount to identity, our
reply will be that it does not make much difference
whether the names are identical or not. What we
contend for is that these wanderers were exactly the
sort of persons who cleared the path for Chanakya. We
append below a list of the wandering teachers with
illustrations to show their attitude toward various
problems of life, society and philosophy.
APPENIDIX.
The List of Wandering Teachers and Their Topics of Discussion.
Potthapada (The Buddha called on him at the Hall put up
Rheumatic)(1) in Queen Mallika's Park near Savatthi,
where he was staying with 300 followers.
The subject of discussion was the
nature of soul.
Bhaggavagotta(2) Buddha called on him at the Malla town
called Anupiya. The subject of discus-
sion was the behaviour of Sunakkhatta of
the Licchavi Clan.
Acelako Patika- Buddha met him at Mahavana at Vesali.
putto(3) The principal subject of discussion was
Aganna (Efficient couse).
Nigrodha(4) Buddha called on him at the Gijjhakuta
in Rajagaha. He had 3,000 disciples.
1. Pottapada-Sutta, Digha Nikaya (P.T.S.), Vol. I.
2. Dighanikaya (P.T.S.), Vol. III. p. I.
3. Ibid., Vol. III, pp. 12-35.
4. Dighanikaya, Vol. III, pp. 36-57.
p. 404
The value of Life of the Ascetics was the
subject of discussion.
Buddha refers to this discussion in the
Kassapasihanada Sutta (D.N., Vol. I, p.176)
Sandaka(1) Ananda called on him at the Pilakkha
cave at Kosambi. Ananda pointed out
that no other speculations except those of
Buddha could furnish a true standard of
the judgment of conduct.
Samanda(2) He went to Nalakagama where he discussed
with Sariputta the question of pleasure
and pain.
Ajito and Went to Savatthi where he discussed with
Pandisso(3) the Buddha the question of 500 states
of consciousness. (Pancasatani cittat -
thanani).
Sarabho(4) Met Buddha at Rajagaha. The subject dis-
cussed was the worth of Buddha's teachings.
Annabharo & Met Buddha who instructed them in four
Varadharo(5) points relating to his doctrine. (Cattari
Dhammapadani).
Uttiyo(6)
Kokanudo(7) Met Buddha at Savatthi They asked
Buddha whether the world was eternal
or not, finite or not, whether soul and
body are the same or different, etc.
Potaliyo(8) Met Buddha at Savatthi. The Buddha
asked as to which of the four person-
ages (puggalas) Potalivo liked. He an-
swered that he liked the puggala who did
not blame the blame-worthy nor praised
the praiseworthy.
Moliyasivako(9) Met Buddha at Savatthi. He asked what
were the phenomena which presented them-
selves to our consciousness.
Sajjho(10)
Sutava (11) They told Buddha that it was impossible
for the Arhats (saints) to commit five sins.
Was it true? Baddha replied replied " Yes."
1. Ibid., Vol. I, p. 513.
2. Anguttara Nikaya (P.T.S.), Vol. V pp. 120-121.
3. Ibid., Vol. V, p. 230.
4. Ibid., Vol. I, p. 185.
5. Ibid., Vol. II., pp. 29 and 176.
6. Ibid., Vol. V, p. 193.
7. Ibid., Vol. V, p. 196.
8. Anguttara Nikaya, Vol. II, p. 100.
9. Ibid., Vol. III, p. 356.
10. Ibid., Vol. IV, p. 371.
11. Ibid. , Vol. IV, p. 369.
p. 405
Kundaliya(1) Went to Buddha at Saketa. He told
Buddha that he used to roam in the
aramas where he saw that some Sra-
manas and Brahmanas spoke on the
benefit of Itivadapamokkha (traditional
learning) and some on the benefit of
sacrifice (uparabha). The Buddha
replied, "I am concerned only with the
benefit of knowledge and emancipation."
("Vijjavimutti Anisamsam.")
Timbarukkha(2) Consulted Buddha on Karma at Savatthi.
Nandivo(3) He asked Buddha to explain to to him the
Dhamma, by practising which one can no
to Nirvana.
Molevasivako(4) His view was that what a man enjoyed,
he enjoyed on account of his past deeds.
Vacchagotta(5) Consults Buddha on some metaphysical
points. Again he questions Mahamog-
galana on the same subject.
Sucimukhi(6) Questions Sariputta at Rajagaha on modes
of eating.
Susima(7) Interviews at Rajagaha the Bhikkhus who
had just attained Arhatship.
Uggahamano(8) Was in the Arama of Mallika at Ekasalaka.
He met Pancakanga Thapati on his way
to Jetavana and discussed with him
about the perfect man.
Pilotiko(9) Met Janussoni Brahmin on his way from
Jetavana. He asked him about the
knowledge of the Buddha. The Brahmin
replied that it was beyond his power
to measure the knowledge of Buddha.
Potaliputto(10) Met Samiddhi, a Bhikkhu. He told him
that he heard from the Buddha that
Kaga and Vacikammas were no true
actions. Volition or deliberate action is
he action in the true sense of the term.
Mahasakuladayi(11) He was staying at Veluvana at Rajagaha
in company with many distinguished
1. Samyutta Nikaya, Vol. V, p. 73.
2. Samyutta Nikaya (P.T.S.), Vol. V, p. II.
3. Ibid., Vol. V, p. 11.
4. Ibid., Vol. IV, p. 230
5. Ibid., Vol. III, p. 257, Sec. 03.
Ibid., Vol. IV, pp. 398 and 401.
6. Ibid., Vol. III, pp. 238-240.
7. Ibid., Vol. II, pp. 119-124.
8. Majjhima Nikaya (P.T.S.). Vol. II, p. 22.
9. Ibid., Vol. I, p. 175;
10. Ibid., Vol. III, p. 207.
11. Ibid., Vol. II, pp. 1-22.
p. 406
wanderers like Varadhara Annabhara
and others. He informed Buddha that
in the past, Anga and Magadha were
seething with sophistic activities.
Culasakuladayi(1) Buddha called on him at Veluvana in
Rajagaha. He calls himself a follower
of Nigantha Nathaputto. Buddha tried
to impress on him that the observance
of five moral precepts and the practice of
penance were not enough for the realization
of Summum Bonum.
Vekhanassa(2) The subject of discussion was "Parama
vannoatta i.e. soul in its height of
purity.
Tevijja Buddha met him at Mahavana at Vesali.
Vacchagotta(3) Vacchagotta enquired whether it was pos-
sible, for a householder to attain immortal-
ity. On another occasion, his enquiry
consisted of some ontological problems,
c.g. whether the world is eternal or not.
(Majjhima Nikaya) Vol. I, pp. 483-489).
On another occasion, Vacchagotta held a
discussion with the Buddha on some ques-
tions relating to ethics.
Dighanakha (Long Buddha met him at Gijjhakuta at Raja-
nailed) (4) gaha. He is said to have held this view
that nothing of me abides ("Sabbam
me na Khamati)."
Magandiya.(5) He spoke of Buddha in an opprobrious
term as Bhunohuno (Brunahan). Cf.
Isopanishad in which the Vajasaneyas
spoke of some of the unknown opponents
who were perhaps unmarried recluses as
Atmahano jana. The Vajasaneyas re-
garded their opponents' modes of life as
being suicidal.
Sabhivo(6) Informed Buddha that the sex distin-
guished Tirthakaras, Purana Kassapa
and others were senior to Buddha by age.
But the latter contended that seniority goes
not by age but by wisdom.
1. Majjhima Nikaya, Vol. II, pp. 26--39.
2. Ibid., (P.T.S.), Vol. II, pp. 42--44.
3. Ibid., Vol. I, p. 481.
4. Ibid., Vol. I, p. 497.
5. Ibid., Vol. I, p. 501.
Sutta-Nipata (P.T.S.). "Magandeyya-Sutta."
6. Sutta-Nipata(P.T.S.), p.l57