History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c14.s1.18

c14.s1.18

The religious atmosphere of the time is perhaps comparable to that which prevailed in the Roman Empire, when many people had lost their implicit faith in traditional verities, and were ready to support any new cult which offered a more plausible and attractive system of belief. In Rome the changing spiritual requirements were met in large measure by mystery cults imported from the East. In India, in the sixth and fifth centuries B.C., the wandering ascetics filled the need.