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 contem-
porary of the Buddha, and informa-
tion 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 materi-
alist perspective as late as the eighth
century of the common era.
Ajivika
Ancient philosophical school tradi-
tionally believed to have been founded
by Gosala Maskariputra, a contempo-
rary of the Buddha. The Ajivikas were
fatalists who believed that all things
are inexorably predetermined by des-
tiny (niyati). Since, according to this
philosophy, all things are preor-
dained, 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 rein-
carnation (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
asceticlifestyle, 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 infor-
mation see Arthur Llewellyn Basham,
History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas, a
Vanished Indian Religion, 1981.
Ajna Chakra
In many schools of yogaand in the esoteric
ritual tradition known as tantra, the ajna
chakra is one of the six psychic centers
(chakras) thought to be in the subtle body.
The subtle body is an alternate physiologi-
cal system, believed to exist on a different
plane of existence than gross matter but
with certain correspondences to the mate-
rial body. The subtle body is comprised of
a set of six chakras, which are visualized as
multipetaled lotus flowers running rough-
ly along the course of the spine, connected
by three vertical channels. Each chakra has
important symbolic associations—with
differing human capacities, different sub-
tle elements (tanmatras), and different
seed syllables (bijaksharas) formed from
the letters of the Sanskritalphabet, thus
encompassing all sacred sound. Above and
below the chakras are the bodily abodes of
Shiva(awareness) and Shakti(power), the
two divine principles through which the
entire universe has come into being. The
underlying assumption behind this con-
cept of the subtle body is thus the homolo-
gy of macrocosm and microcosm, an
essential Hindu idea since the time of the
mystical texts known as the Upanishads.
The six chakras are traditionally enu-
merated from the bottom up, and the
ajna chakra is the sixth and highest of
these. It is visualized as a two-petaled
lotus located in the forehead just above
the top of the nose. Its petals contain the
bijaksharas Ham and Ksam, formed
from the last two letters of the Sanskrit
alphabet. The ajna chakra is associated
with the capacity for thought, consid-
ered a distinctively human capacity and
thus the most important human faculty.
For further information see Arthur
Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe), Shakti and
Shakta, 1978; and Philip S. Rawson, The
Art of Tantra, 1973.Akasha
(“space”) One of the five elementsin
traditional Indian cosmology, the oth-
ers being earth, fire, water, and wind. In
some philosophical schools, each of theAjita Keshakambalin