History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c23.s1.1

c23.s1.1

We have shown that for the early Ājīvika all the processes of nature, including the actions of human beings, were rigidly fixed by *Niyati*. According to the inherent character of that impersonal principle the universe retained its shape and size, and new entities replaced those which passed away in rigidly determined order. The total of the contents of the universe was always absolutely the same. That this was the Ājīvika view even before the emergence of the later doctrine of *Avicalita-nityatvam* is evident from the long list of categories in the *Sāmañña-phala Sutta*.¹