History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c14.s2.6

c14.s2.6

The most widely accepted theory is that the term Ājīvika or Ājīwaka is derived from the word *ājīva*. This, in Hoernle's words, means "the mode of life, or profession, of any particular class of people, whether they live as householders . . . or as religious mendicants ”. Hoernle adds that “ the word *ājīvika*, being a derivative of *ājīva*, means one who observes the mode of living appropriate to his class . . . . There is some ground for believing that Gosāla held peculiar views as to the *ājīva* of a mendicant who is truly liberated from the fetters of *karma*. It was probably for this reason that he and his adherents came to be known as *Ājīvika*, or the men who held the peculiar doctrine of *ājīva* . . . . The name ‘ Ājīvika ’, it appears, was originally meant to stigmatize Gosāla and his followers as ‘ professionals ’; though, no doubt, in later times, when it became the distinctive name of a mendicant order, it no longer carried that offensive meaning ”.¹