The book presents the history and the doctrines of the Ajivikas who formed a third heretical sect besides the sect of Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism and that of Mahavira Vardhamana, the twenty-fourth Tirthankara of the Jainas. The three heterodox sects react against the ritualistic creed of the Vests.The cult of Ajivikas was founded by Makkhali Gosal, the contemporary of Mahavira Vardhamana, based on strict determinism with a belief in the all-embracing rule of Niyati (principle of order). According to Gosal, it was Niyati which ultimately governed our action, controlled phenomena and left no room for human volition.It will throw new light on an interesting and significant aspect of Indiaês past and will encourage further research.This book is divided into fifteen chapters discussing elaborately different aspects of the subject matter. The comprehensive Bibliography and Index are the added features for the researchers for comparative as well as further study of yet unexplored areas.

The first part covers the history of this religion of India, a small offshoot of Hinduism, from its founding in the 6th century B.C. through the last mention of it in the late 15th century; the second part discusses their doctrines.

Spanning thirty years of intensive research, this book proves what many scholars could not explain: that today’s Western world must be considered the product of both Greek and Indian thought—Western and Eastern philosophies. Thomas McEvilley explores how trade, imperialism, and migration currents allowed cultural philosophies to intermingle freely throughout India, Egypt, Greece, and the ancient Near East. This groundbreaking reference will stir relentless debate among philosophers, art historians, and students.

This work is a detailed study of the surviving references to the ancient Indian sect of Ajlvikas, It is divided into two parts, the first dealing with the history and the second with the doctrines of the sect. In the first part, after an introduction in which the historical background to the rise of Ajivikism is considered, the thesis deals with the six heretics of the Pali scriptures, and with the life story of Makkhali Gosala, the traditional founder of Ajvikism. Other contemporary heretical leaders who contributed something to Ajivika doctrine are also considered. These chapters are followed by two on the customs and practices of the early Ajivika community, and its relations with Buddhism and Jainism. After a chapter on the sect during the Nanda and Maurya periods, the fleeting references to the Ajivikas in later Sanskrit literature are examined. The final chapter of the first part treats of the Tamil evidence for the survival of Ajivikism in South India. The second part of the thesis commences with a study of quotations from Pali texts and from Jaina commentaries, which may emanate from Ajivika sources. The determinist doctrine which was the central feature of Ajivika philosophy is then considered, together with the development of this doctrine in the later period of Ajivikism. This is followed by a study of the cosmology of the Ajivikas and of their interpretation of the Indian doctrine of transmigration, Ajivika atomic theory , unnoticed by previous workers on the subject, is recona structed as far as possible from the available sources, together with other points of Ajivika doctrine. The thesis concludes with a consideration of the causes of the decline and disappearance of the Ajivikas, possible Ajivika influence on later Indian religious thought, and the significance of Ajivikism in Indian history.