GOŚᾹLA, more fully Gośāla Maskariputra (sixth century BCE according to tradition, but, following Western research, rather fifth, or even fourth century BCE); one of the principal heterodox religious figures of early India. A contemporary of the Buddha and the Jina, Gośāla was the leader of the Ᾱjīvika community and is said to have regarded himself as the twenty-fourth tīrthaṅkara of the current avasarpiṇī ("descending") age. His name is given in various forms depending on the source of the reference: Makkhali Gośāla in Pali; Maskarin Gosāla ("the ascetic with the bamboo rod") in Buddhist Sanskrit; Gosāla Maṅkhaliputta in the Jain Prakrits; and Maṟkali in Tamil.

Much of the information concerning Gośāla and the Ᾱjīvikas derives from early Buddhist and Jain scriptures and the commentarial literature that developed around...