AJIVIKA

          (Sanskrit: following the ascetic way of life), ascetic sect that emerged in India about the same time as Buddhism and Jainism. It was founded by Goshala Maskariputra (also called Gosala Makkaliputta), a contemporary of Mahavira.

Ajivikas did not believe in karma and thought that the destiny was predetermined and could not be changed. Goshala's -followers believed that it was impossible to -influence the course of transmigration and destiny in any way.

The Ajivikas believed that the universe was governed by a cosmic force called niyati (Sanskrit: rule or destiny), which determined all events and, consequently, man's fate. Believing in the futility of making efforts to alter their fate, the Ajivikas practised austerity not for any purposeful goal but because their niyati had determined them to do so.  

After a period of acceptance during the Maurya dynasty (third century BC), the sect apparently dwindled, although followers lived on until the fourteenth century in what is present-day Karnataka. In latter-day developments of the sect, the founder Goshala came to be worshipped as a divinity, and the tenet of niyati developed into the doctrine that all change was illusory and everything was eternally immobile.