We do not know much about the life and philosophy of Ajit
Keshkambal, except that he was a contemporary of Gautam Buddha and a founder of
one of the leading ascetic sects of the time. The word, ‘ascetic’ may be a misnomer
because he did not believe in the existence of God, Divinity, or any entity
beyond the perceivable world.
Unfortunately, not a single text from his sect has come down
to us. The little we know about him is through references to him in
contemporary Buddhist scriptures. In Sumyukta Nikaya we hear the king of Kosala,
Prasenjit, mention Ajit Keshkambal’s name along with Purna Kassapa, Makkali
Goshala, Nigantha Nathputta, Sanjaya Bellatiputta, and Prakruddha Katyayan as ‘the
six revered Tirthankaras of the time’. It is remarkable that in 6th-century BC north
India Ajit Keshkambal’s God-denying materialist philosophy was not just tolerated
but counted among the six most revered sects of the time.
There are no references to Ajit Keshkambal’s ever engaging Buddha
in a debate. But we do come across an instance when all six Tirthankaras and
Buddha stayed together at Rajgriha for the duration of the monsoon and had
discussions.
The name Keshkambal (hair-blanket) refers to Ajit Keshkambal’s
hair, which he allowed to grow very long and tied in a bun so massive that it resembled
an ox cart in shape.
References to his philosophy in the Tripitakas are cursory, dismissive,
and formulaic. Similar tropes are repeated and refuted from the Buddhist perspective
in a schematic manner.
Some of the quotes attributed to him go as follows, “Making
donations to Brahmins is futile…Havans and Yagyas (fire sacrifices) are futile.
Human deeds are neither evil nor good. No Karma follows from any action. There
is no afterlife. There is no existence beyond this world. What my senses cannot
perceive does not exist for me. There are no Gods. Nor any heavens. There is no
truth beyond what we have. Living is the goal of life. There are no holy men. There
is no ultimate truth. Brahmanas and Shramans cannot attain any higher truth than
an illiterate dolt…A living being is constituted of four elements; when he dies,
earth returns to earth, fire to fire, water to water and air to air; and the
senses scatter in space (Aakash). A dead man is carried to his funeral pyre on
a cot. Until his body is burnt, his face is recognizable. After being burnt his
bones turn the colour of a pigeon. Penances, prayers, and oblations are futile.
Making donations, being kind, and doing good deeds are futile. Those who talk
of Gods are fools. A scholar and a stupid man, both will turn to ash. Every
human will die, and each body will disintegrate. Nothing remains after death.”
We must be mindful that our informers are not free from bias.
Buddhist texts where we read about his views try to make Ajit Keshkambal sound
like a cynic who did not believe in anything. Some accounts even go to the
extent of claiming that he taught his disciples that it was futile to love and
revere one’s parents. Such allegations ought to be accepted with a pinch of salt.
There is no doubt that he was a stark materialist. He accepted
no reality beyond what humans can perceive through their senses and inference. He
believed the human body to be formed of four elements- earth, air, water, and
fire. He denied the possibility of a God-given or Divinely ordained morality.
But it would be going too far to say, as Buddhist Tripitakas would have us
believe, that he accepted no standards of right and wrong, or that he saw no
difference between good and evil. Had it been so, it is highly unlikely that
the king of Kosala, Prasenjit would have recounted his name among the six great
Pravartakas of the age. These same texts also mention some of the
self-disciplining practices observed by his disciples like remaining celibate,
meditating, inculcating virtues etc.
Perhaps the real reason for chagrin against him was his
complete dismissal of the Upanishadic and Buddhist ideas of the existence of
some ‘ultimate reality’. Ajit Keshkambal dismissed the idea that there was anything
to achieve or seek beyond this life, hence, he also dismissed the concept of ‘an
ultimate knower of mystery’ or ‘a realized soul’. In his materialist universe,
all human acts are on the same plane. Just as the concept of ‘a virtuous bee’ would make no sense, from the perspective of an alien entity, no human activity is
endowed with the trappings of divinity. Put differently, the universe does not
care whether a human is distracted, or deep in meditation, whether he is
fornicating or helping someone. Though the idea of leading an ethical life is
not dismissed, in Ajit Keshkambal’s outlook human values have no external or
higher source of authority.
Ideas like rebirth and inheritance of karma in the next birth
are dismissed by Ajit Keshakambali as products of fancy. “Our karma dies with us.
Nothing remains of a human after he is dead”. He would say.
Bibiliography
Darshan Digdarshan- Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan
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