History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c23.s1.51

c23.s1.51

The Ājīvika system of spiritual colours is a general classification of humanity according to creed or occupation, while that of the Jainas classifies man’s psychic development and virtue. There can be no doubt that, as Hoernle has suggested,³ the two doctrines are connected. But it cannot be shown that their similarity indicates the dependence of Ājīvikism on Jainism, or the reverse. It seems more probable that the two systems of colour classification are derived from a common body of ideas which were widespread among ascetic groups in the days of the Buddha. Of the two the precisely defined Ājīvika abhijātis are less sophisticated and therefore probably earlier than the Jaina leśyās, the differences of which are mainly of degree, and the dependence of which on moral characteristics is more strongly stressed.