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History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c25.s3: The Influence of the Ājīvikas

History and Doctrines of the Ājīvikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c25.s3

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English

The Influence of the Ājīvikas

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It has already been suggested that two schools of thought or sub-sects existed within the Dravidian Ājīvika community. The first retained, with modifications, the seven element theory of the *Sāmañña-phala Sutta*.³ As far as we can gather it did not remember Pūraṇa Kassapa. In its later stages it seems to have adopted orthodox terminology,¹ and when we last hear of it it is apparently in the process of assimilation with Jainism.² This school is that referred to in Maṇimēkalai and in Civañāṉa-cittiyār.

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¹ V. supra, pp. 238-39, 266, 277.

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² V. supra, p. 277.

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The second sub-sect had moved far from early Ājīvikism. It taught the existence of only five elements,³ and the theory of avicalita-nityatavam,⁴ which, in its collorary of the illusoriness of all phenomena, represents a step in the direction of monism. This school remembered the early teacher Pūraṇa,⁵ and believed that its founder, Maṛkali, was a divine being, manifesting visions of himself to his devotees and incarnating himself for the restoration of the Ājīvika faith.⁶ This is the Ājīvikism of Nīlakēci.

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³ V. supra, p. 265.

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⁴ V. supra, pp. 235 ff.

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⁵ V. supra, pp. 80-81.

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⁶ V. supra, p. 276.

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These two schools may be compared to Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna Buddhism. The tendency towards monism, theism, and bhakti, which is evident in the later schools, both of Ājīvikism and Buddhism, was part of the profound religious and cultural movements at work in the India of the time, which culminated in the popular devotional Hinduism of the Middle Ages.

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With the Ājīvikas that tendency may have manifested itself quite early, for it is already suggested in the Vāyu Purāṇa.⁷ As this branch of the sect decayed we may suggest that its members drew more and more closely to Vaiṣṇavism, with its similar doctrines of theism and avatāras. From Utpala’s commentary to Varāhamihira⁸ it seems that this process had commenced as early as the tenth century A.D.

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⁷ V. supra, pp. 162 ff.

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⁸ V. supra, pp. 168 ff.

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It is likely that former Ājīvikas would not at first find a spiritual home with the more reputable Vaiṣṇavite sects, but rather with a sect on the fringes of orthodoxy, such as the Pāñcarātras, and there are features of Pāñcarātra teaching which are very reminiscent of that of the Ājīvikas. The doctrine of avatāras or divine incarnations is one such feature; others, though less obvious, are equally significant. For instance the Pāñcarātra, like the Jaina and the Ājīvika, uses the term jīva for the soul,⁹ in preference to ātma. As with the Ājīvikas, the soul, according to Pāñcarātra theory, is in some sense atomic,¹ and liberated souls are of two classes, *nityas* and *muktas*, the former of which can incarnate themselves at will, just as Viṣṇu himself.² We recall the *maṇḍalas* and *sambodhakas* of *Civañāṇa-cittiyār*.³

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⁹ Schrader, Introduction to Pāñcarātra, p. 56.

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¹ Ibid., p. 57.

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² Ibid., pp. 56-8.

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³ V. supra, p. 260.

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Like Ājīvikism the Pāñcaratra system has a doctrine of *niyati*, although in the latter it is not so important as in the theory of Makkhali Gosāla. "In the foetus like condition of the *manus* in the energy (*śakti*) of God there springs up from time-energy (*kāla-śakti*) the subtle destiny (*niyati*) which represents the universal ordering element (*sarva-niyāmakaḥ*)."⁴ Niyati is "not only what the Vaiśeṣikas call Diś, to wit the regulator of positions in space . . . but . . . it also regulates, as karmic necessity, the intellectual capacity, inclinations, and practical ability of every being."⁵ *Kāla*, "the mysterious power existing in time which urges everything on . . . is looked upon as originating from *niyati*."⁶

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⁴ Das Gupta, *History of Indian Philosophy*, vol. iii, p. 45.

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⁵ Schrader, *Introduction to Pāñcarātra*, p. 64.

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⁶ Ibid., loc. cit. South Indian Śaivism also gives *kāla* and *niyati* minor positions in its metaphysical scheme, as the soul is controlled by *karma*. Schomerus, *Śivaistische Frömmigkeit des tamilischen Raumes*, p. 318.

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These similarities are by no means conclusive, but they suggest mutual influence. The doctrine of *Niyati*, as propounded by Makkhali Gosāla, is to be found recorded in texts much earlier than the Pāñcarātra *Saṃhitās*, the earliest quotation from which is as late as the tenth century A.D.,⁷ although they are thought to have been written some centuries earlier.⁸ It is therefore possible that the Pāñcarātras borrowed the doctrine of *Niyati* from the Ājīvikas, giving it a theistic basis by converting it into a secondary principle emerging from their god.

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⁷ Ibid., p. 18.

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⁸ Ibid., p. 19.

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Similarities may also be found between Ājīvikism and other Vaiṣṇavite schools, especially those of Southern India, where the Ājīvika sect survived longest. Thus the Ālvār Vaiṣṇavite hymn-writers believed "that the grace of God was spontaneous and did not depend on any effort on the part of the devotee."⁹ We recall the words of Makkhali: "There is no question of bringing unripe *karma* to fruition . . . by virtuous conduct, by vows, by penance, or by chastity."¹⁰ Contact with the Ājīvikas may have developed this theistic *akriyāvāda*, or doctrine of salvation by grace.

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⁹ Das Gupta, *History of Indian Philosophy*, vol. iii, p. 85.

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¹⁰ V. supra, p. 14.

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It is also possible that Ājīvikism influenced the doctrines of Madhva and the Dvaita school of Vaiṣṇavism. Madhva has been said to owe much to early Dravidian Christianity,¹ and the parallels between Christianity and some of Madhva’s doctrines are certainly close. But we do not believe that the Syrian Christians of Malabar have ever maintained a rigid Calvinism which classed all souls in three groups, those destined for salvation, perpetual transmigration, and damnation respectively.² For this doctrine we can find no more likely prototype than the rigid determinism of Makkhali, especially when combined with the later Ājīvika doctrine of the *maṇḍala* and *sambodhaka* forms of salvation.³ Madhva seems to have taken Ājīvika determinism and recast it in the theistic mould. In fact it might be suggested that the whole school of salvation “on the analogy of the cat” (*pūṇai-campantam*), which arose in the Dravidian country with the growth of *bhakti*, owed much in inspiration to the originally atheistic Ājīvika doctrine of *Niyati*.

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¹ Grierson, *ERE*. viii, p. 234.

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² Ibid., loc. cit.

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³ V. supra, p. 260.

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The influence of the Ājīvikas on the doctrines of the Pāñcarātras, Ālvārs, and followers of Madhva cannot be proved, but it may be inferred as a valid probability. A further line of influence may also be suggested.

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As we have shown, the *Mahābhārata* proves that fatalist views, implying a far more complete determinism than the orthodox doctrine of *karma*, were widespread in Northern India at a very early period.⁴ Further evidence, from the Epic onwards, shows that the small Ājīvika community of later days was not alone in its fatalism. Thus Manu instructs the Āryan not to rely on Destiny but to act for himself.⁵ Bhartṛhari’s *Nītiśataka* contains ten verses in honour of Fate.⁶ Like Manu, the *Hitōpadeśa* bears witness to and deplores the existence of fatalist views.⁷ Even in later times we can still hear echoes of Makkhali Gosāla’s despairing cry, *N’ atthi purisa-kāra*. The Ājīvikas survived until the late medieval period in the Tamil country, and certain later Tamil proverbs seem to show traces of their teaching. We quote a few examples from Jensen's collection :—

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⁴ V. supra, p. 218.

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⁵ vii, 205.

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⁶ *Nītiśataka*, vv. 81–90.

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⁷ *Hitōpadeśa*, i, 29. V. supra, p. 222, n. 2.

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“ That which does not exist will not come into existence, and that which exists will not be annihilated.”¹ This is the Ājīvika doctrine of *avicalita-nityatvam*.

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¹ *Illatu varātu, uḷḷatu pokātu*. Jensen, *Classified Collection of Tamil Proverbs*, p. 5, no. 48.

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“ Even if a man do penance on the point of a needle he will not get more than was destined for him.”²

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² *Ūci muṇaiyil tavam ceytālum uḷḷatu tāṉ kiṭaikkum*. Ibid., p. 5, no. 49.

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“ One may bathe so as to wash off oil, but who can rub so as to free himself from fate.”³

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³ *Eṉṉey pōka muḷukiṉālum eḷuttu-p pōka-t tēy-p pāruṇṭā*. Jensen, op. cit., p. 5, no. 51.

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“ Though a man exert himself over and over again he shall only get what comes on the appointed day.”⁴ This reminds us once more of Gosāla’s original teaching : “ There is no strength, no courage, no human endurance.”

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⁴ *Aṭuttu muyaṉṟulum ākum nāḷ tāṉ ākum*. Ibid., p. 5, no. 65.

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As the propagator of the doctrine of the futility of human effort and of the all-embracing power of Destiny, Ājīvikism cannot have failed to “ enrich the systems which supplanted and supplemented it ”. It would indeed be an error of over-caution to assert that this system, in the two thousand years of its existence, had no influence on the development of wide-spread and popular theories in agreement with its fundamental doctrine of determinism.

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