[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) › c22.s2.3 # History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c22.s2.3 History and Doctrines of the Ājīvikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c22.s2.3 - **Language:** English ### [c22.s2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.basham-1951.c22.s2.3) We have seen that the atomic doctrines ascribed in the \*Sāmañña-phala Sutta\* to Pakudha Kaccāyana, which certainly had their effect on Southern Ājīvikism,¹ maintained that the elementary categories were as firm as mountains, neither moving nor developing nor in any way affecting one another.² The author of this passage conceives a static, not a dynamic universe. Similarly, Mahāvīra tried to convince Saddālaputta that his action in punishing a careless or immoral workman would be a real action, and not a mere illusion.³ Hoernle translates the phrase \*niyayā savvabhāvā\* not, as might be expected, as "all things are determined", but as "all things are unalterably fixed",⁴ which makes better sense of Mahāvīra's argument. Here are the germs of the static view of the universe ascribed to the Ājīvikas in \*Nīlakēci\*. - [Previous: c22.s2.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.basham-1951.c22.s2.2) - [Next: c22.s2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.basham-1951.c22.s2.4) - [Up: c22.s2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.basham-1951.c22.s2) ## Cites (2) - [Nīlakēci](https://indike.org/pramana/in.sangam.five_minor_epics.nilakeci) — Tamil - [Sāmaññaphalasutta](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.digha.2) — Pāli --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.basham-1951.c22.s2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.basham-1951.c22.s2.3) · Pramāṇa