History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c21.s2.31

c21.s2.31

A further recollection of Ājīvika sources may be contained in the Mahābhārata, wherein the fatalist Maṅki declares haṭhe n’aiva pauruṣam, “there is no valour in force.”⁷ Similar complaints of the uselessness of courage and human effort (pauruṣa or puruṣakāra) may be found in the epic, for instance, in the words of Bhīma to the python in whose coils he struggles; “Who can conquer Fate by human effort (puruṣakāreṇa). I consider fate to be supreme, but human effort (pauruṣam) useless.”⁸