History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c18.s1.66

c18.s1.66

The Simhavarman grant proves that, by the middle of the fifth century A.D., the Ājīvikas were well established in the district, for the tax was not then newly imposed upon them, but its proceeds were merely transferred by the King to the recipient of the grant. The legends of the Jainas, with whom the Ājīvikas seem to have been originally associated, ascribe the first important penetration of Jainism into South India to the Maurya epoch, when the pontiff Bhadrabāhu led a band of ascetics, including the ex-Emperor Candragupta himself, to Śravaṇa Beḷgoḷa.⁵ Aśoka sent Buddhist missionaries to the Tamil country, and his political influence extended as far as North Mysore.⁶ The Maurya period seems to have been one in which all unorthodox sects flourished and expanded. Probably Ājīvika ascetics found their way to the Tamil country during this period, when they were patronized by Mauryan kings, and perhaps exercised considerable influence.