ABSTRACT
As noted before (vide supra, p. 22 ff.), the Âjîvikas followed a rather unusual code of behaviour and begging habits, which are described in the Mahâ-saccakasutta:
‘For example, Nanda Vaccha, Kisa Saókicca and Maskarin Goœâla-they, Oh Gautama, are naked ascetics, of loose conduct, licking their hands [after eating, i.e. they do not use bowls etc.], they are not those who come when one tells them to come, they are not those to who listen when one tells them to stay, they do not accept food offered [to them] or [specially] prepared for them or invitation [to a meal]. … In this way they they live [a life] enjoined by the practice of eating food in regular intervals even those of half-a-month.’593
