History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c9.s1.1

c9.s1.1

The range of philosophical speculation in Ancient India went beyond the bounds laid down by Hinduism in its various branches, and even beyond those fixed by the great heterodox sects of Buddhism and Jainism. The presence of fully materialist groups, Cārvākas or Lokāyatas, which denied the existence of the soul, the gods, and the future life, is very well known. Besides these, however, were other sects which, while not denying human immortality or the existence of the gods, would not accept any of the more popular interpretations of these doctrines, but preferred explanations which were not consistent with Hinduism, Buddhism, or Jainism. That teachers of such heretical doctrines were the contemporaries of the Buddha is proved by the Sāmañña-phala Sutta, the starting point of our researches. It is clear that several such teachers gathered groups of followers together and founded saṅghas, perhaps in some cases loosely linked one with another; and from some of these developed Ājīvikism, the subject of our present study, which survived the death of its founder for nearly two thousand years, and was, at least locally, a significant factor in ancient Indian religious life.