Ajita Keshakambalin

In classical Indian philosophy, the
reputed founder of a materialist
philosophical school and whose name
reflects his usual garb—a hair blanket
(kesha-kambal). Ajita was a contemporary of the Buddha, and information about him comes from the
Buddhist scriptures. Ajita’s materialist
philosophy was that human beings are
composed of four elements, that these
elements disperse after death, and
that the individual then ceases to
exist. Given this philosophy, Ajita
believed that one should enjoy life
while one could, taking pleasure in the
good and accepting the bad, and that
all religious observances were a waste
of time and a futile hope. Ajita was the
first in a long tradition of materialists,
and one finds evidence of this materialist perspective as late as the eighth
century of the common era.