History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c25.s4.3

c25.s4.3

The Ājīvikas show an even closer relationship to animism in their doctrine of the atomic nature of the soul, a theory but little removed from the soul-stuff theories of the savage, who viewed even the life of man as a solid substance. It is to the credit of the Ājīvikas that on this primitive basis they developed what was probably the earliest atomic theory of India; the concept of invisible and unchanging atoms is surely a manifestation of a rationally controlled imagination of a high order, and for this we must give credit to Pakudha Kaccāyana, the doctrines of whom, if not the name, were preserved by the Ājīvika sect.