History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c16.s3.77

c16.s3.77

The fact that these caves are the earliest surviving religious edifices in India suggests that the Ājīvikas were the first community to use material more solid than wood for religious purposes. That Aśoka should have gone to so much expense and trouble to provide the community with hermitages is indicative of his support of the sect, and of its influence in Magadha at the time. That Daśaratha, Aśoka's grandson, should have recorded that he dedicated the Nāgārjunī caves immediately after his consecration strongly indicates that he bestowed his special favour on the sect. The fact that his name is omitted from the king-lists both of the Buddhists and of the Jainas suggests that he was looked on with disfavour by both sects, perhaps on account of his patronage of the Ājīvikas.¹