When Buddhism and Jainism took root in India, they were just two of more than 62 religious groups that originated in India during the sixth century BC. Of these 62 religions only Buddhism and Jainism survived to the modern ages and the rest perished with time leaving hardly any trace behind. But one of those schools managed to survive for the next two thousand years, only to vanish forever during the late medieval times.
This was the third-largest religious group having its origins in the shramana tradition and was followed by a large population for the next several centuries. This was the Ajivika sect.
They did not believe in the existence of God and in their system the linear concept of time with its divisions of past, present and future had no meaning. They believed in the atomic theory of existence wherein everything was made up of atoms.
Ajivikas practiced very severe asceticism and were also firm believers in Ahimsa or non-violence. They practiced total nudity which they believed helped them attain complete indifference to all physical sensations. The typical Ajivika ascetic was completely naked, covered with dust and dirt, and armed with a bamboo staff.
According to Jataka stories, the Ajivika ascetics lead a solitary and lonely life and used to run away from any contact with the outside world.
They took refuge in dense forests to ensure that their practice is not disturbed. On the cold winter nights, they would come outside to endure extreme cold and would again get inside the forest during the daytime.
Similarly, during the summer months, he would come in the open to endure the burning sun only to go inside forests at night. They endured the extremes, day and night sleeping on the bed of thorns and performing swinging penance or enduring the burning fire.
The founder of this religion Makhhali Gosala was one of the most radical and colourful religious figures and he was preaching at the same time when Buddha and Mahavira were roaming around the Gangetic plains of India.
In the history of India, the sixth century BC was perhaps the most defining period in terms of religious reforms and philosophical growth. As the impact of the Shramana movement, asceticism had become something of a high fashion in India at that time attracting many from the higher class of the society.
The defining characteristic of the age was rationalism and not faith. All three important religious figures of the time Buddha, Mahavira and Gosala – were rationalists, who rejected the existence of God and the authority of Vedas.
Gosala Makhhaliputta was the son of a street entertainer and was born in a cowshed hence the name Gosala meaning Cowshed in Sanskrit.
His father was a Mankhali, who earned his livelihood by showing pictures he used to carry on his hand. Once during his wanderings, he reached a small settlement called Sarvana, close to the city of Sravasti.
He was not able to find any refuse in the settlement, so he took refuge in a cowshed for the rainy season. His wife Bhadda gave birth to a son in that cowshed and this child later became famous as Gosala Makhalliputta.
He followed the profession of his father and during one such wandering as a street entertainer, he met Mahavira, the last Jain Tirthankar.
Details about the life of Gosala and his teachings have been lost and the only available details are from the details mentioned in rival religions, especially from Jain and Buddhist texts.
He is mentioned as a rude and venomous person with a very sarcastic tongue. He was gross in his habits and this generally repelled the elite-born religious figures like Buddha and Mahavira. But his ideas were unconventional and very difficult to refute by even the best of the minds of the time.
The Ajivikas also went against the prevailing beliefs regarding asceticism and incorporated singing and dancing into their religious practices. They did not give any kind of merit to chastity and for them, any ascetic in a relationship with a woman will not commit any kind of sin.
According to the Buddhist version of his life Gosala decided to become a naked ascetic when he lost his clothes during a fight with villagers while he was trying to run away when they caught him for some minor offense. He often offended people by ridiculing their customs and beliefs and ended up getting beaten by the villagers.
After meeting Mahavira, he travelled with him for the next six years but they parted ways when they had a philosophical dispute. After a few years of this incident, he claimed to have attained supreme enlightenment and formed the Ajivika sect.
Some texts mention that perhaps the sect was already existing and he only took over the leadership of the Ajivikas. He based the headquarters of Ajivikas in the home of a potter woman named Halahala who resided in the city of Sravasti, in the modern state of Uttar Pradesh. He enjoyed a great following of laypeople and gained a reputation as an astrologer.
Gosala had a miserable death. He developed a high fever and during his last times, he used to get drunk and in that state disgraced himself with every kind of disgraceful behaviour. He used to sing and dance in an intoxicated state while holding a mango in his hand. Just before his death, he instructed his followers to give him an honourable burial.
But he soon changed his mind and asked his followers to dishonor him in all possible ways. His followers fulfilled both of his wishes. They closed the door of the house where his dead body was placed and abused him. After this, they gave honorable last rites to his body.
Gosala was a believer in the philosophy of predetermination. He believed that destiny controlled even the most insignificant action of each human being. He held that human effort cannot change the course of life. For Ajivikas there is no free will and man has no moral responsibility for anything he or she does, either good or evil.
Ajivikas saw their best time during the reign of Mauryan Emperor Bindusar, who was also the Father of Emperor Ashoka. Both Bindusar and his wife followed the Ajivika sect, and it was further patronized by Emperor Ashoka and his grandson Emperor Dasaratha.
Emperor Asoka gifted them the Barabar caves near Rajgriha for the use of Ajivika monks. Barabar caves are the oldest surviving rock-cut caves in India. They remained the third-largest Sramana sect after Buddhism and Jainism. They were patronised by the artisan and merchant class.
After the collapse of the Mauryan empire, they soon disappeared from northern India. But by that time they had spread all across Southern India. In South India, they had a significant population but later, they were severely persecuted and oppressed.
During the thirteenth century, they had to face extreme taxes during the reign of Rajraja III. The Pallavas and Chola kings imposed taxes on Ajivikas which was twenty or thirty times higher compared to what others had to pay.
Despite this persecution, they were able to maintain their existence in modern-day Karnataka. But by the end of the fourteenth century, they got absorbed into the larger stream of Vaishnavism, as a direct consequence of the Bhakti movement.
Ajivika as a religion is extinct now, but several of its philosophies lived on as Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism appropriated them. The ideas of Gosala still live on in other religions, although no Ajivika scripture was able to survive to the present age.
