History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c13.s3.8

c13.s3.8

As we hope to establish in our second part, the Southern Ājīvikas held a theory of elements very similar to that of Pakudha. The three chief Tamil sources, Maṇimēkalai,⁶ Nīlakēci,⁷ and Civañāṉa-cittiyār,⁸ all declare that, according to Ājīvika doctrine, there are five immutable atomic elements (aṇu or poruḷ): earth, air, water, fire, and life (uyir or cīvam). Maṇimēkalai, however, the oldest of these sources, adds "but joy and sorrow, these too are atoms".⁹ Nīlakēci leaves the total of the elements at five, but Civañāṉa-cittiyār states, "Our Lord has declared to us the seven which we must consider, including these two which are joined with them, namely good and evil."¹⁰ This is surely the seven-element theory of Pakudha Kaccāyana, with the more moral categories puṇya and pāpa substituted for the hedonistic sukha and duḥkha.