Ajivika Sect In Ancient India
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EXAMIVERSE
Practices and Organization
- Renunciant Communities: Organized ascetics lived in discrete monastic groups, adhering to strict itinerant lifestyles.
- Royal Patronage: Emperor Ashoka assigned four caves at Barabar Hill (e.g., Sudama Cave) to Ajivika monks in 261 BCE, with later support from his grandson Dasaratha Maurya.
- Architectural Remains: Barabar Caves inscriptions provide the primary archaeological evidence of Ajivika presence in ancient India.