History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c24.s1.39

c24.s1.39

The change from the "joy and sorrow" of Pakudha and Maṇimēkalai to "virtue and vice" indicates a movement towards orthodoxy, and brings the Ājīvika classification of the elements nearer to the six Jaina categories of soul, matter, space, time, dharma, and adharma. We have already pointed out that Aruṇandi, the author of Civañāṉa-cittiyār, seemed to look upon the Ājīvikas as an unorthodox branch of Jainism,¹ and the alteration in the names of the two last categories seems to be a further indication of the direction in which the sect was moving. The characteristics of the atoms, as described in this text, are substantially the same as those mentioned in Maṇimēkalai.