Ajivika
The Ajivika school of philosophy was one of the heterodox traditions of ancient India, contemporary with Buddhism and Jainism. Founded by Makkhali Gosala in the 6th or 5th century BCE, it presented a deterministic worldview. Ajivikas believed that all phenomena, including human destiny, were predetermined by a cosmic principle called *niyati* (fate or destiny). This meant that individual effort or free will had no role in shaping one's life or achieving liberation. Everything was seen as unfolding according to a fixed cosmic plan.
This doctrine of absolute determinism was a key distinction from other contemporary Indian schools, many of
Despite its eventual decline, Ajivika was a significant philosophical movement in its time, with a notable