History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c21.s2.4

c21.s2.4

The Pāli scriptures contain a number of verse passages praising the heretic teachers or propounding unorthodox doctrines, which may also have been taken, perhaps with some alteration, from Ājīvika sources. Thus the *Saṃyutta Nikāya* ³ contains verses in praise of the heretics, said to have been sung by various *devaputtas* in the presence of the Buddha.