[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Religion and philosophy](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion) › [History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.basham-1951) › c4.4 # History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c4.4 History and Doctrines of the Ājīvikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c4.4 - **Language:** English ### [c4.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.basham-1951.c4.4) For a long period, extending from early classical times to the middle of the Medieval period, our knowledge of Ājīvika history is a blank, for no records of those years have survived. Then the curtain rises again, and we find abundant documents in inscriptions of the Tamil and Kanarese areas and in a few works of southern literature. These show that in the intervening centuries the Ājīvikas had undergone changes such as are usual in the development of Indian religious bodies: the little congregation had hardened into a caste-community of considerable size, and the figure of its founder had assumed features of divinity. The story that is here narrated is indeed a highly interesting and instructive chapter in the vast record of Indian thought. - [Previous: c4.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.basham-1951.c4.3) - [Next: c4.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.basham-1951.c4.5) - [Up: c4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.basham-1951.c4) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.basham-1951.c4.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.basham-1951.c4.4) · Pramāṇa