History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c16.s1.27

c16.s1.27

This view is slightly strengthened by a phrase in the *Mahāvaṃsa Commentary*, which states that the great Cāṇakya, after cursing the last Nanda, escaped from his clutches in the guise of a nude Ājīvika ascetic.³ If any inference is to be derived from this late and unreliable tradition it is that Ājīvikas were numerous in Nanda times and not subject to persecution from the royal officers.