History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c10.s1.t3.4

c10.s1.t3.4

Of these six statements of doctrine three have little relevance to the study of the Ājīvikas. That which is here ascribed to Ajita Kesakambalī is a clear expression of materialism, and its author, whether Ajita or another, must have been a forerunner of the later Cārvākas. The teaching ascribed to Nigaṇṭha Nātaputta is very obscure, but, as Jacobi has pointed out,² while it is not an accurate description of the Jaina creed it contains nothing alien to it. We may accept the identification of Nigaṇṭha with Vardhamāna Mahāvīra, the twenty-fourth tīrthaṅkara of Jainism. The passage ascribed to Sañjaya Belaṭṭhiputta is probably satirical, a tilt at agnostic teachers who were unwilling to give a definite answer to any metaphysical question put to them. Dr. Barua holds another view, and believes that the statement of Sañjaya represents a doctrine which was held in good faith by a school of Pyrrhonists.³ Whatever the authenticity of this passage, its agnosticism was never a part of the Ājīvika creed, and it may be omitted from further consideration.