Ma`rifat Adyan

Ajivika is one of the Gnostic and heretical forms of Indian religion, which, despite being roughly consistent with Jainism and Buddhism, created a separate effective doctrine against Brahmanism in the 6th century BC. "Hindi's missing religion" is an expression that describes Ajivika; because it disappeared from the 14th century AD and was probably absorbed into later trends such as Digambaras of Jainism and Vaishnavism. The central and distinctive thought of Ajivika is "determinism" - as a rare tendency in the Hindu intellectual space - which seems to be, having a minimal reading of it, in conflict with the comprehensive idea of "karma". Focusing on "determinism" in the expression of the theoretical and practical dimensions of Ajivika, this research tends to study and analyze the possibility of a relative harmony or a complete conflict between the idea of predestination (niyyati) and the doctrine of “karma”. My analysis in this essay shows that the absolute acceptance of predestination and rather the denial of human free will by Ajivika seems to be consistent with the other ideas of this school; such as: "believing in the six classes of existence", "atomism", "prophecy according to the idea of determinism of nature" and also "belief in the efficacy of asceticism (tapas) in achieving salvation (moksha)". However, I can say, from a critical point of view, that despite having a formal order, Ajivika's thoughts are based on inexperienciable presuppositions and on dubious ideas in some cases.