Ajivika

Ancient philosophical school traditionally believed to have been founded
by Gosala Maskariputra, a contemporary of the Buddha. The Ajivikas were
fatalists who believed that all things
are inexorably predetermined by destiny (niyati). Since, according to this
philosophy, all things are preordained, religious practice has no effect
on one’s future lives, and in doing such
things people are only doing what they
are already predetermined to do. The
Ajivikas compared the process of reincarnation (samsara) to a ball of string,
which would unroll until it was done
and then go no further. The Ajivikas
shunned clothing and lived a strict
ascetic lifestyle, believing that this was
the lifestyle preordained for them. The
school had a significant presence in
southern India well into the common
era but finally disappeared around the
fourteenth century. For further information see Arthur Llewellyn Basham,
History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas, a
Vanished Indian Religion, 1981.