History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c9.s1.30

c9.s1.30

But the Ājīvika doctrine of Niyati may also have had a non-Āryan ancestry. Admittedly rigid determinism is not natural to the thought of most Indian religions; according to the usual form of the karma theory a man’s present state is determined by his past conduct, whether in this life or a previous one, but he has a sufficient measure of free will to permit him to modify his future by choosing the right course of action. Yet the climate and geography of India are such as to encourage a fatalist attitude to life. The phenomena of nature are impressive in their grandeur and regularity. Natural catastrophes such as flood, drought, and famine occur from time to time on such a scale that no human effort, even at the present day, can prevent them, or do more than mitigate their effects. In the time of Makkhali Gosāla the dependence of man upon nature must have been felt by the Indian even more strongly than at present. The slogan of the Ājīvika sect, "Human effort is ineffectual,"¹ may have been a very widespread and popular phrase, in time of distress often on the lips of the ordinary people of the Ganges valley. It is the typical cry of the peasant everywhere, when his crops are ruined by storm or drought, or when his livestock dies of pestilence. Significant in this connection is the *Mahābhārata* story of Maṅki, who, it is said, became a fatalist after the accidental loss of two steers.²