[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Religion and philosophy](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion) › [History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.basham-1951) › c19.43 # History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c19.43 History and Doctrines of the Ājīvikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c19.43 - **Language:** English ### [c19.43](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.basham-1951.c19.43) Finally the "base ascetic" with whom Harṣa took refuge from the troops of Uccala has some Ājīvika characteristics. He lives with a prostitute, Bhīśca,⁵ and thus lays himself open to the same sort of accusations as were levelled at Makkhali Gosāla and his followers.⁶ His hut is near a charnel-ground (\*pitṛvana\*), where a necromancer (\*siddha\*) named Somānanda worshipped certain divinities called Someśvaras.⁷ We have already seen that the Ājīvikas appear to have performed tantric ceremonies,⁸ and are said by one source to have worshipped \*piśācas\*.¹ The sorcerer seems to have been in some way connected with the ascetic, whose hut has "a courtyard marked by him (i.e. by Somānanda or perhaps by them, the Someśvara gods), its site hidden by high trees".² This suggests the design on which the Ājīvika caves of Barābar were based, the round hut in the rectangular courtyard.³ Finally the name of the ascetic, Guṇa, is the same as that of a famous \*acelaka\* or Ājīvika teacher of the \*Jātaka\*,⁴ who propounds a fatalist atomism entirely consistent with the doctrines of the Ājīvikas. - [Previous: c19.42](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.basham-1951.c19.42) - [Next: c19.44](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.basham-1951.c19.44) - [Up: c19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.basham-1951.c19) ## Linked texts (1) - [Rājataraṅgiṇī](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.historical.kashmir.rajatarangini) — Kalhaṇa, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.basham-1951.c19.43](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.basham-1951.c19.43) · Pramāṇa