Buddhism, Jainism and New Religious Thought – NDA History Notes

The 6th century BCE was one of the most remarkable periods in human history. Across the world, in Greece, in China, in Persia, and in India, thinkers were asking deep questions about the nature of life, suffering, and the right way to live. In India, this period produced two of the world’s great religions: Buddhism and Jainism. It also produced several other important philosophical movements that challenged the religious order of the time.

By the 6th century BCE, the Vedic religious order had been in place for nearly a thousand years. The Brahmin priests had accumulated enormous power. Rituals had become complex, expensive, and increasingly controlled by a small group of specialists. The varna system had hardened into a rigid social hierarchy where birth determined status. Many people, traders, farmers, and ordinary workers, had no meaningful access to religious life. It was in this environment that new teachers began to appear, offering simpler paths to spiritual liberation that were open to everyone.

Two of these teachers changed the world. Vardhamana Mahavira became the 24th and last Tirthankara of Jainism. Siddhartha Gautama became the Buddha, the Enlightened One. Both were born into Kshatriya families. Both rejected the authority of the Vedas. Both taught that liberation from suffering was possible through personal effort and ethical living rather than through ritual or priestly intervention. Yet their teachings were distinct in important ways, and the religions they founded developed along very different paths.

NDA has tested this chapter more heavily than almost any other in ancient Indian history. The four sites of the Buddha’s life, the Buddhist Councils and their locations, the Jain Triratna, the difference between Digambara and Shvetambara, Anekantavada and Syadvada, the Bodhisattva concept, the Gandhara school of art, and the Milindapanha have all appeared in past papers. This chapter will teach every one of those facts clearly and prepare students for every trap.

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1. Historical Context — Why New Religions Emerged

Something important happened in India in the 6th century BCE. New religious teachers began to appear across the Gangetic plains. They attracted large followings. Kings listened to them. Ordinary people left their homes to follow them. To understand why this happened, students need to understand what Indian society looked like at the time.

The Later Vedic period had created a society with a rigid hierarchy. The Brahmin class controlled religious life. Only they could perform the rituals that connected humans to the gods. These rituals had become increasingly elaborate and expensive. A king who wanted to perform an Ashvamedha sacrifice needed to spend enormous resources and depend entirely on Brahmin specialists. Ordinary people had little role in this religious system.

At the same time, the economy was changing. Trade was expanding. A prosperous class of merchants and traders. The Vaishyas had accumulated significant wealth. But the Vedic social order placed them below the Brahmin and Kshatriya classes. They had wealth but limited social and religious status. They were naturally attracted to religious movements that challenged the existing hierarchy and offered spiritual paths based on personal merit rather than birth.

Cities were also growing. The Gangetic plains had become home to large urban settlements. Urban life brought people of different backgrounds together and created space for new ideas to spread quickly. The political fragmentation of the period, with the competing Mahajanapadas, meant that no single authority could suppress new religious movements. Ambitious kings often patronised new teachers to challenge Brahmin authority and bolster their own legitimacy.

All of these conditions, namely religious rigidity, social inequality, economic change, urban growth, and political competition, came together in the 6th century BCE to create the conditions for a remarkable explosion of new religious and philosophical thought.

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2. The Sixteen Mahajanapadas — Political Background

By the 6th century BCE, the tribal world of the Later Vedic period had given way to a new political landscape. Sixteen large territorial kingdoms, called Mahajanapadas, had emerged across northern and central India. Mahajanapada means great kingdom or great realm. These were the dominant political units of the age in which Buddhism and Jainism were born.

Mahajanapada	Capital
Anga	Champa
Magadha	Rajagriha (later Pataliputra)
Kashi	Varanasi
Kosala	Shravasti
Vajji	Vaishali
Malla	Kushinara and Pava
Chedi	Shuktimati
Vatsa	Kaushambi
Kuru	Indraprastha
Panchala	Ahichhatra and Kampilya
Matsya	Viratanagara
Shurasena	Mathura
Assaka	Potana
Avanti	Ujjain and Mahishmati
Gandhara	Taxila
Kamboja	Rajapura

For this chapter, the four most important Mahajanapadas are Magadha, Kosala, Vajji, and Malla. Mahavira was born in Vaishali, the capital of the Vajji confederacy. The Buddha was born near Kapilavastu, in the territory of the Kosala kingdom. Both teachers spent much of their lives teaching in the cities of Rajagriha and Vaishali. The Buddha attained Parinirvana at Kushinagara, which was in Malla territory.

[Image Suggestion: Map of the Sixteen Mahajanapadas showing their territories across northern and central India, with the four key kingdoms highlighted]

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3. Mahavira and the Jain Tradition

Jainism is one of the oldest living religious traditions in the world. It did not begin with Mahavira. It had a long tradition before him. According to Jain belief, there have been twenty-four great spiritual teachers called Tirthankaras. A Tirthankara is one who has crossed the river of existence and shows others the way across. Mahavira was the twenty-fourth and last Tirthankara of the current cosmic cycle.

The twenty-third Tirthankara was Parshvanatha. He lived approximately two to three centuries before Mahavira, in the 9th to 8th century BCE. Parshvanatha taught four vows: non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, and non-possession. Mahavira added a fifth vow, celibacy, to this list. This tells us that Jainism had an established tradition before Mahavira. He reformed and strengthened it rather than creating it from nothing.

Life of Mahavira

Vardhamana Mahavira was born around 599 BCE in Vaishali, in present-day Bihar. He was born into a Kshatriya family. His father was a tribal chief, and his mother was related to the ruling family of the Lichchhavi clan. He grew up in comfort and privilege.

At the age of thirty, Mahavira renounced his family and worldly life. He gave up his clothes and possessions and began a life of extreme asceticism. For twelve years he wandered, meditating and subjecting himself to physical hardship. At the end of this period, at the age of forty-two, he attained Kevala Jnana, meaning perfect knowledge or enlightenment. He then spent the remaining thirty years of his life teaching across the Gangetic plains. He died at Pavapuri in Bihar around 527 BCE.

Mahavira taught in Ardhamagadhi, a vernacular language spoken by ordinary people of the Gangetic plains. This was a deliberate choice. By teaching in a language that common people understood, he made his teachings accessible to everyone, not just to the educated elite who knew Sanskrit.

The Five Vows of Jainism

Mahavira taught that liberation from the cycle of birth and death required following five strict vows.

Vow	Meaning
Ahimsa	Non-violence. Do not harm any living being in thought, word, or deed.
Satya	Truthfulness. Always speak the truth.
Asteya	Non-stealing. Do not take what belongs to others.
Aparigraha	Non-possession. Do not accumulate material possessions.
Brahmacharya	Celibacy. Added by Mahavira to the four vows of Parshvanatha.

Ahimsa was the most important of these five vows. It was the central principle of Jain life. Jain monks and nuns took these vows in their strictest form. Lay followers observed them in a modified form suited to daily life.

Key Fact	Detail
Birth	Around 599 BCE, Vaishali, Bihar
Family	Kshatriya — Lichchhavi clan
Renunciation	At age 30
Enlightenment	Kevala Jnana at age 42
Death	Around 527 BCE, Pavapuri, Bihar
Language of teaching	Ardhamagadhi
His place in tradition	24th and last Tirthankara
Predecessor	Parshvanatha — the 23rd Tirthankara

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4. Jain Philosophy — Anekantavada and Syadvada

Jainism made two remarkable contributions to Indian philosophy. These are Anekantavada and Syadvada. Both are connected to each other but they are distinct concepts. Students must understand the difference between them clearly because NDA has tested both.

Anekantavada — The Many-Sidedness of Reality

The word Anekantavada comes from three parts. Aneka means many. Anta means aspects or sides. Vada means doctrine. Together, Anekantavada means the doctrine of many-sidedness.

The central idea is this. Reality is complex. Any object or truth can be viewed from many different perspectives. No single perspective can capture the whole truth. [NDA 2017-I] A blind man touching an elephant’s leg says the elephant is like a pillar. Another touching the trunk says it is like a snake. Both are correct from their own perspective. Neither has the complete picture. Anekantavada teaches that all perspectives contain a partial truth. Absolute claims about reality are therefore always incomplete.

This was a direct philosophical challenge to the absolute claims of Brahminic religion and the absolutism of other philosophical schools. Jainism said that those who claim their view alone is correct are making a fundamental philosophical error.

Syadvada — The Doctrine of Conditional Predication

Syadvada is the logical method that flows from Anekantavada. The word Syat means perhaps or maybe in Sanskrit. Syadvada is therefore the doctrine of conditional predication, which is the method of qualifying every statement with the acknowledgement that it is made from a particular perspective. [NDA 2024-I]

Where Anekantavada is the philosophical principle (reality has many sides), Syadvada is the method of expressing this in language. Instead of saying “the pot is red,” a Jain logician would say, “from one perspective, the pot may be said to be red.” This reflects a profound intellectual humility. It acknowledges that every statement is made from a particular perspective and may not capture the whole truth.

Concept	What It Is	Key Idea
Anekantavada	The philosophical doctrine [NDA 2017-I]	Reality has many sides. No single perspective captures the whole truth.
Syadvada	The logical method [NDA 2024-I]	Every statement should be qualified with syat (perhaps) to acknowledge its conditional nature.

★ IMPORTANT Anekantavada and Syadvada are related but distinct. Anekantavada is the philosophical principle that reality is many-sided. Syadvada is the method of expressing this through conditional statements using the word syat (maybe). NDA has tested both separately. [NDA 2017-I, NDA 2024-I]

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5. The Jain Triratna and Three Jewels

Jainism teaches that liberation from the cycle of birth and death is achieved by following the Triratna, or Three Jewels. These three jewels are the practical path that every Jain aspirant must follow. [NDA 2020-I]

Jain Triratna	Meaning
Samyak Darshana	Right Faith — correct belief in the Jain teachings
Samyak Jnana	Right Knowledge — correct understanding of Jain philosophy
Samyak Charitra	Right Conduct — correct behaviour according to Jain ethics

Buddhism also has a concept called the Three Jewels. But the contents are completely different from the Jain Triratna. Students must not confuse them.

Feature	Jain Triratna	Buddhist Three Jewels
First Jewel	Right Faith	The Buddha
Second Jewel	Right Knowledge	The Dhamma (teachings)
Third Jewel	Right Conduct	The Sangha (monastic community)

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6. Digambara and Shvetambara — The Two Jain Sects

After Mahavira’s death, the Jain community eventually split into two major sects. This split developed gradually over several centuries and was formalised through disagreements about scripture and monastic practice.

Digambara means sky-clad. Digambara monks believe that true renunciation requires giving up all possessions, including clothing. They practise complete nudity as a sign of total non-attachment to the material world. [NDA 2019-I]

Shvetambara means white-clad. Shvetambara monks and nuns wear simple white garments. They believe that clothing does not compromise spiritual progress. [NDA 2019-I]

Feature	Digambara	Shvetambara
Meaning	Sky-clad	White-clad
Clothing	Complete nudity for monks	White garments
Women	Cannot attain liberation in female form	Can attain liberation in female form
Scriptures	Believe original scriptures were lost	Preserve their own scriptural canon
Geographic presence	Mainly south India	Mainly north and west India

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7. Jain Councils

After Mahavira’s death, the task of preserving and organising his teachings fell to his followers. Two important councils were held for this purpose.

Council	Date	Location	Outcome
First Jain Council	Around 300 BCE	Pataliputra	Compiled the Jain scriptures called the Agamas. Led by Sthulabhadra. Digambara monks did not attend, marking the beginning of the sectarian split.
Second Jain Council	Around 512 CE	Valabhi, Gujarat	Finalised and wrote down the Shvetambara scriptural canon. Digambaras rejected this canon, deepening the sectarian divide.

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8. Life of the Buddha

Siddhartha Gautama was born around 563 BCE at Lumbini, in present-day Nepal. [NDA 2023-I] He was born into the Shakya clan, a Kshatriya family. His father was Suddhodana, a chief of the Shakyas. His mother was Mahamaya, who died shortly after his birth. He grew up in the royal household at Kapilavastu in great comfort and privilege.

The Four Sights

Despite his sheltered upbringing, Siddhartha encountered what became known as the Four Sights during journeys outside the palace. He saw an old man, a sick man, a dead body, and finally a wandering ascetic who appeared at peace. These four sights shook him profoundly. They made him acutely aware of the suffering that is inherent in human life, and they planted the seed of his search for liberation.

The Great Renunciation

At the age of twenty-nine, Siddhartha made the Great Renunciation (the Mahabhinishkramana). He left his palace, his wife Yashodhara, and his newborn son Rahula in the middle of the night. He wandered for years, first studying with established teachers and then practising extreme asceticism with a group of five companions. He found that neither learning nor self-mortification gave him what he was searching for.

Enlightenment at Bodh Gaya

Abandoning extreme asceticism, Siddhartha sat down under a Bodhi Tree at Bodh Gaya in Bihar and vowed not to rise until he had found the truth. After a night of deep meditation, he attained enlightenment. [NDA 2023-I] He became the Buddha, meaning the Enlightened One or the Awakened One. He was thirty-five years of age.

The First Sermon at Sarnath

After his enlightenment, the Buddha travelled to Sarnath, near Varanasi, where he found his five former companions. There he delivered his first sermon, the Dhammachakkappavattana Sutta, meaning the Turning of the Wheel of the Dhamma. [NDA 2023-I] This sermon set out the core of his teaching. His five former companions became his first disciples. This event is called the Dhammachakka Pavattana — the setting in motion of the wheel of the Dhamma.

Parinirvana at Kushinagara

The Buddha spent the following forty-five years travelling and teaching across the Gangetic plains. He died at Kushinagara in present-day Uttar Pradesh around 483 BCE. [NDA 2016-I, NDA 2023-I] His death is called the Parinirvana — the final passing into Nirvana. He was approximately eighty years of age.

Event	Location	Detail
Birth	Lumbini, Nepal [NDA 2023-I]	Around 563 BCE. Shakya clan, Kshatriya family.
Enlightenment	Bodh Gaya, Bihar [NDA 2023-I]	Under the Bodhi Tree. Around 528 BCE.
First Sermon	Sarnath, near Varanasi [NDA 2023-I]	Dhammachakkappavattana Sutta. Five former companions were first disciples.
Parinirvana	Kushinagara, Uttar Pradesh [NDA 2016-I, NDA 2023-I]	Around 483 BCE. Final passing into Nirvana.

[Image Suggestion: Map showing the four key sites of the Buddha’s life — Lumbini, Bodh Gaya, Sarnath, and Kushinagara — with the route of his teaching journeys across the Gangetic plains]

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9. Core Teachings of Buddhism

The Four Noble Truths

The Buddha’s teaching begins with the Four Noble Truths. These are his diagnosis of the human condition and the path out of suffering.

Truth	Teaching
Dukkha	Life is suffering. Birth, old age, sickness, and death are all forms of suffering.
Samudaya	Suffering has a cause — craving and attachment.
Nirodha	Suffering can end. The cessation of craving leads to Nirvana.
Magga	There is a path to the cessation of suffering — the Eightfold Path.

The Eightfold Path

The Eightfold Path is the practical guide to ending suffering. It covers three areas: wisdom, ethical conduct, and mental discipline.

Path Element	Category
Right View	Wisdom
Right Intention	Wisdom
Right Speech	Ethical Conduct
Right Action	Ethical Conduct
Right Livelihood	Ethical Conduct
Right Effort	Mental Discipline
Right Mindfulness	Mental Discipline
Right Concentration	Mental Discipline

The Middle Path

The Buddha’s teaching was based on the Middle Path, avoiding the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification. He had personally experienced both extremes: the luxury of his royal upbringing and the severe asceticism of his years as a wandering seeker. Neither had led to liberation. The Middle Path was the balanced approach that had finally brought him enlightenment.

The Buddhist Three Jewels

Every Buddhist takes refuge in the Three Jewels — also called the Triple Gem.

Jewel	Meaning
The Buddha	The teacher and example
The Dhamma	The teachings
The Sangha	The monastic community

Nirvana

The goal of the Buddhist path is Nirvana is the complete extinguishing of craving, hatred, and ignorance. Nirvana is not a place or a heaven. It is a state of liberation from the cycle of birth and death (samsara). The Buddha taught in Pali, the language of ordinary people, making his teachings accessible to everyone.

★ IMPORTANT The Buddha rejected both the authority of the Vedas and the practice of extreme asceticism. His Middle Path, between self-indulgence and self-mortification, was the foundation of everything he taught. This is what distinguished his approach from both the Brahminic religious tradition and the extreme asceticism of the Jains.

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10. Hinayana and Mahayana — The Two Schools

After the Buddha’s death, Buddhism gradually divided into two broad schools with different philosophical emphases. This division was formalised at the Fourth Buddhist Council under Kanishka.

Feature	Hinayana (Theravada)	Mahayana
Ideal figure	Arahant — personal liberation	Bodhisattva — liberation of all beings [NDA 2014-I]
Goal	Individual Nirvana	Universal liberation
Language	Pali	Sanskrit
Geographic spread	Sri Lanka, Burma, Southeast Asia [NDA 2013-I]	China, Japan, Tibet, Central Asia
Key philosopher	—	Nagarjuna — Sunyata, Madhyamaka [NDA 2021-I]

The Bodhisattva Ideal

The Bodhisattva is the defining concept of Mahayana Buddhism. A Bodhisattva is a being who is on the path to enlightenment but who voluntarily delays entering Nirvana in order to help all other sentient beings achieve liberation. [NDA 2014-I] This is fundamentally different from the Hinayana ideal, in which the Arahant achieves personal Nirvana through individual effort.

Sunyata and Nagarjuna

The great Mahayana philosopher Nagarjuna developed the concept of Sunyata — emptiness. [NDA 2021-I] Sunyata is the doctrine that all phenomena are empty of independent inherent existence. Nothing exists in and of itself. Everything arises in dependence on other things. Nagarjuna’s school was called Madhyamaka means the Middle Way school, because it took a middle position between the extremes of absolute existence and absolute non-existence.

Sunyata is not the same as Nirvana. Sunyata is a philosophical doctrine about the nature of reality. Nirvana is the goal of Buddhist practice.

Theravada — The Oldest Surviving School

Theravada (the teaching of the Elders) is the school that developed from Hinayana Buddhism. It is the oldest surviving school of Buddhism. [NDA 2013-I] It is actively practised today in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, and other parts of Southeast Asia. The Theravada tradition preserved the original Pali canon of the Buddha’s teachings.

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11. The Four Buddhist Councils

After the Buddha’s Parinirvana, four major councils were convened to preserve, organise, and clarify his teachings. These councils are among the most frequently tested facts in this chapter.

Council	Date	Location	Ruler	Key Outcome
First	483 BCE	Rajagriha [NDA 2012-I]	Ajatashatru	Compiled Vinaya Pitaka and Sutta Pitaka
Second	383 BCE	Vaishali [NDA 2012-I]	Kalashoka	First major split — Sthaviravadins vs Mahasanghikas
Third	250 BCE	Pataliputra [NDA 2012-I]	Ashoka	Theravada established. Missionaries sent across Asia.
Fourth	1st–2nd century CE	Kundalvana, Kashmir [NDA 2010-I]	Kanishka	Mahayana and Hinayana formally separated

A detail that NDA has tested directly: Kanishka was not a contemporary of the Buddha. [NDA 2009-II] The Buddha lived in the 6th to 5th century BCE. Kanishka was a Kushana ruler who lived in the 1st to 2nd century CE, approximately six to seven centuries after the Buddha.

IMPORTANT The sequence of Buddhist Councils and their locations is one of the most tested facts in this chapter. Remember: Rajagriha → Vaishali → Pataliputra → Kundalvana (Kashmir). The rulers follow the sequence: Ajatashatru → Kalashoka → Ashoka → Kanishka. Ashoka presided over the Third Council, not the Fourth. Kanishka always comes last. [NDA 2010-I, NDA 2012-I]

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12. Buddhist Architecture and Art

Buddhism produced a distinctive and enormously influential architectural and artistic tradition. Three structural forms are central to this tradition.

Three Forms of Buddhist Architecture

Structure	Purpose	Famous Example
Stupa	Sacred memorial mound. Built over relics of the Buddha or Buddhist saints. Object of veneration — devotees walk around it.	Great Stupa at Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh
Chaitya	Prayer hall for worship and meditation. Usually built in the form of a cave or rock-cut hall.	Chaitya Hall at Karle, Maharashtra
Vihara	Monastery — residential and educational complex for monks.	Nalanda, Bihar

Buddhist Symbols in Early Art

Early Buddhist art was aniconic, meaning the Buddha was not represented in human form. Instead, his presence was indicated through symbols.

Symbol	Represents
Bodhi Tree	Enlightenment at Bodh Gaya
Dharma Chakra (Wheel of the Law)	First sermon at Sarnath
Footprints	Physical presence of the Buddha
Empty Throne	Buddha’s enlightenment and royal origins
Deer	Sarnath — the Deer Park where the first sermon was delivered
Lotus	Purity and the Buddha’s birth

The shift from aniconic to iconic art (the first human images of the Buddha) happened under the Gandhara school.

The Gandhara School of Art

The Gandhara school developed in northwestern India, in present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan, and flourished under Kushana patronage, especially during the reign of Kanishka. [NDA 2011-I] The defining feature of Gandhara art is its strong Greco-Roman influence. [NDA 2011-I] The sculptors of the Gandhara school produced the first human images of the Buddha, depicting him with features drawn from Hellenistic artistic traditions: wavy hair, draped robes resembling a Roman toga, and a naturalistic treatment of the human body.

Gandhara vs Mathura Schools

Feature	Gandhara	Mathura
Location	Northwestern India (Pakistan/Afghanistan)	Mathura, Uttar Pradesh
Influence	Greco-Roman [NDA 2011-I]	Purely Indian
Material	Grey schist stone	Spotted red sandstone
Key development	First human images of the Buddha	Indian stylistic tradition of the Buddha image

[Image Suggestion: Side-by-side comparison of a Gandhara Buddha sculpture (showing Greco-Roman influence) and a Mathura Buddha sculpture (showing purely Indian style)]

The Milindapanha

The Milindapanha is an important Buddhist text that records a dialogue between Menander (Milinda) — a Bactrian Greek king who ruled in northwestern India, and Nagasena — a Buddhist monk. [NDA 2018-I] It was composed around 100 BCE and is one of the most important sources for understanding the spread of Buddhism into the Greek world. The king’s questions and the monk’s answers cover the deepest points of Buddhist philosophy.

Students sometimes state that Milinda was an Indian king. He was not. Milinda (Menander) was a Greek king. Nagasena was an Indian Buddhist monk.

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13. Spread of Buddhism

Ashoka and the Spread of Buddhism

Ashoka was the single most important figure in the spread of Buddhism after the Buddha himself. After his conversion to Buddhism following the devastating Kalinga War, Ashoka used the resources of the Mauryan Empire to promote Buddhist teachings across Asia. He built stupas, erected pillars with Buddhist edicts, sent missionaries, and dispatched his own children to Sri Lanka.

Mahinda was Ashoka’s son. He was sent to Sri Lanka and converted the Sri Lankan king Devanampiya Tissa to Buddhism. Sanghamitta was Ashoka’s daughter. She brought a branch of the original Bodhi Tree from Bodh Gaya to Sri Lanka, where it was planted and continues to grow to this day.

Geographic Spread of Buddhist Schools

• Theravada spread to Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, and Cambodia
• Mahayana spread to Central Asia, China, Korea, and Japan
• Vajrayana (the tantric form of Buddhism) developed in Tibet

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14. Other Philosophical Movements — Ajivikas and Charvakas

The 6th century BCE produced not only Buddhism and Jainism but also several other important philosophical movements that challenged the Vedic religious order in different ways.

The Ajivikas

The Ajivikas were founded by Makkhali Gosala. [NDA 2015-I] Their central doctrine was absolute predetermination, the belief that the fate of every being is fixed in advance by an impersonal cosmic force called Niyati. No human effort, no religious practice, and no act of will can change what is destined to happen. Every being will eventually attain liberation after a fixed number of rebirths, regardless of what they do or do not do.

This doctrine stood in complete contrast to both Buddhism and Jainism, which placed enormous emphasis on personal effort and ethical living as the means of liberation. The Ajivikas attracted significant royal patronage. Ashoka and his successors granted cave dwellings to Ajivika monks, but the school eventually disappeared.

The Charvakas

The Charvaka school, also called Lokayata was the materialist philosophical tradition of ancient India. [NDA 2022-I] The Charvakas rejected the Vedas, the soul, karma, and rebirth. They accepted only direct perception as a valid source of knowledge. They rejected inference as unreliable, arguing that inferences can be wrong, but what is directly seen, heard, or felt is truly known.

School	Founder	Key Belief
Ajivika	Makkhali Gosala [NDA 2015-I]	Absolute predetermination. No free will. Fate controls everything.
Charvaka / Lokayata	—	Materialism. Rejected Vedas, soul, karma, rebirth. Direct perception only. [NDA 2022-I]

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