History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c9.s1.26

c9.s1.26

¹ CHI, i, 146. If we accept the theory of J. W. Hauer (Der Vratya, Stuttgart, 1927) that the vrātyas were a class of heterodox nomadic holy-men, whose religious practices included sympathetic magic, exorcism, ritual dancing, and cursing their opponents, it may be suggested that they had some influence upon the Ājīvikas. The latter were also given to religious dancing and singing, and their leader had the reputation of a wonder worker whose ready imprecations were most effective in their operation. Hauer himself has compared the unstrung bow of the vrātya with the daṇḍa or staff of the orthodox ascetic of later times (op. cit., p. 132). The Ājīvikas also appear to have carried staves (v. infra, p. 99).