Makkhali Gosala

Gosala, also known as Makkhali Gosala, was an ascetic teacher of ancient India, a contemporary of the Buddha and of Mahavira, the founder of Jainism. He is associated with the Ajivikas, a movement of wandering renunciants that held a deterministic view of existence. He is usually placed in the 6th or 5th century BCE, though the dates are uncertain and rest largely on tradition.

What we know of his life is fragmentary. Jain sources say he was a disciple of Mahavira for about six years, after which the two quarrelled and parted ways. Since Buddhist and Jain texts were rivals of his teaching, they are considered partisan, and the details of his birth and early years come mainly from legend. His name is linked to a cowshed, and tradition holds that he was born in humble circumstances.

He is best remembered for the saying that human effort is ineffective. In his view, liberation did not depend on will or conduct but would come spontaneously after an immense span of time, so that human beings were destined to suffering. He practised severe asceticism, often going naked, and opposed the caste system.

The Ajivika movement attracted prominent followers and was influential in its day, though it gradually faded from history.