History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c9.s1.16

c9.s1.16

The three heterodox sects which arose in this cultural climate, Buddhism, Jainism, and Ājīvikism, had much in common. All three alike rejected the sacrificial polytheism of the Āryans and the monistic theories of the Upaniṣadic mystics. The personified natural forces of the former, and the world-soul of the latter were replaced by cosmic principles, and the supernatural powers were relegated to an inferior or even negligible position. In fact the three new religions represent a recognition of the rule of natural law in the universe, and the work of their founders may in this respect be compared with that of their approximate contemporaries, the natural philosophers of Ionia. Of the three systems that of the Ājīvikas, based on the principle of Niyati as the only determining factor in the uinverse, perhaps represents a more thorough recognition of the orderliness of nature than do the doctrines of either of its more successful rivals.