ABSTRACT
We do have explicit indications that early Jaina tradition considered Goœâla a Jaina seer, or åši. His name was originally included among early Jaina teachers and that memory was preserved in Chapter 11 of the Sayings of the Seers (Isibhâsiyâiô), a non-canonical text which, even though often neglected, is at least in part of extreme antiquity, and contains one of the oldest portions of Jaina literature. Goœâla features side by side with other prominent leaders of early Jaina community in this text, besides Pârœva, a twenty-third Tîrthaôkara. In fact, he has a whole section devoted to him alone, whereas the teaching of Pârœva, a Jaina Tîrthaôkara, consists of a small portion included in another account.
