History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c25.s3.22

c25.s3.22

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.