Ājīvikas
The Ājīvikas were an ascetic sect that arose in India during the sixth century BCE, contemporaneous with Jainism and Buddhism. This group was characterized by a deterministic worldview, rejecting the authority of the Vedas and asserting that human fate and the cycle of rebirth were completely predetermined by a concept known as niyati, or destiny. According to their beliefs, free will, sin, and dharma were nonexistent, leading to a worldview where individuals could not change their circumstances or improve their spiritual state.
Members of the Ājīvika sect practiced extreme asceticism, often performing harsh physical disciplines and engaging in specific rituals, including the consumption of cow urine. They also practiced nudity and lived as itinerant beggars, relying on alms for sustenance. While the Ājīvikas gained patronage from some rulers of the Mauryan Dynasty, including Aśoka, their prominence declined over the centuries, and the sect eventually faded by the 1300s. Despite their decline, elements of Ājīvika rituals influenced later tantric and yogic practices, demonstrating their lasting impact on Indian spiritual traditions.
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Ājīvikas
Related civilization: India.
Date: sixth century b.c.e.-fourteenth century c.e.
Locale: India
Ājīvikas
The Ājīvikas (ah-JEE-vee-kah-s) were an ascetic and deterministic sect that emerged in India at the same time as Jainism and Buddhism, in the sixth century b.c.e. They were heretical, denying the validity of the Vedas and believing instead that both human fate and the transmigration of souls (rebirths) were completely predetermined by niyati (Sanskrit “destiny” or “rule”). There was no cause of depravity or of purity, and therefore, there was no free human will, sin and dharma were nonexistent, and it was impossible to change or improve one’s lot.
The Ājīvikas went about completely nude, carrying staffs and begging for their food; they were itinerant bards. Asceticism (including the practice of lying on a bed of thorns, squatting for long periods of time, holding hot stones with bare hands, severing muscles, or amputating parts of the body) and the drinking of cow urine were obligatory; sexual encounters were condoned and often employed for occult purposes. These practices were not purposeful but were considered to be their determined lot.
During the fourth and third centuries b.c.e., the Ājīvikas were accepted and even patronized by rulers of the Mauryan Dynasty such as Aśoka (r. c. 265-238 b.c.e.), but they declined thereafter, although they survived until the 1300’s in the region of modern Mysore, where the sect’s founder, Gośāla Maskarīputra, was worshiped as a divinity. Although the sect died, Ājīvika rituals became the basis for some tantric and yogic practices.
Bibliography
Basham, A. L. History and Doctrines of the Ājīvikas. London: Luzac, 1951.
Walker, Benjamin. Hindu World: An Encyclopedic Survey of Hinduism. London: George, Allen and Unwin, 1968.