AHC/WI: Ajivika a major world religion

In the 5th Century BCE, there was a competitor to Buddhism and Jainism: Ajivika. Founded by a man named Makkhali Gosala, followers of Ajivika adopted a fatalist, deterministic outlook disbelieving in free will. They also believed in the concept of atoms, and they were atheists. However, they did believe in an afterlife and the concept of samsara like the Buddhists, but rather than being determined by one's free will, they believed everyone's path to nirvana was pre-determined by the cosmos.

Ajivika was fairly popular, and even received the support of the Mauryan Emperor Bindusara. However, Bindusara's successor Asoka was very pro-Buddhist, and he massacred more than 18,000 Ajivikas for their challenge to Buddhism. Asoka's dramatic promotion of Buddhism also helped popularize Ajivika's main competitor.

What if Asoka and later Mauryan emperors, rather than violently suppressing Ajivika, promoted that belief system instead of Buddhism, and it either became the dominant religion in India, and/or spread like Buddhism across Asia?
 
There are apparently ten thousand schools of thought in Eastern religions that we in the West know nothing about.

Some quick Wikipedia skimming has taught me that Buddhism and Jainism are part of a similar tradition called Sharamana, which is parallel to the Vedic religion that preceded Hinduism. I had no idea.

Anyway, apparently the final Jain Tirthankara, which apparently is sort of like a Buddha I guess, was a contemporary of Siddhartha. There are apparently loads of similarities between Mahavira and the Buddha. Given that Jainism preceded Buddhism and probably views it as an offshoot, to say the least, boom looks like they probably think of Siddhartha as some jumped-up pretender, not unlike how Judaism may think of Jesus...
 
It is interesting to note that the first three Mauryan emperors supported three different religions. Chandragupta Maurya, the founder and the first emperor embraced Jainism. Abdicating his throne he became a Jain monk and fasted to death as the practice among Jains, even today. Bindusara, son of Chandragupta, who ascended the throne after his father supported Ajivikas, another religious cult, which was not supported by other rulers. Ashoka, son of Bindusara, who succeeded him, did not follow the steps of his father or grandfather. He chose a third religion, Buddhism, to adopt as his own.
It is said that Ashoka persecuted Ajivikas, and I wonder why. It is doubtful whether they were a threat to Buddhism. The greatest threat to Buddhism was from the Brahmanic religion, which later uprooted Buddhism from India and became the present day Hinduism. The Brahmin elite viewed all the non-theistic religions, Jainism, Buddhism, Ajivika cult and Lokayata cult of Charvaka and similar cults as mortal enemies and worked to eliminate them. But Ashoka never suppressed the Brahmins and his dynasty, his empire and his religion had to pay heavily for this lapse. The Mauryan dynasty was overthrown by their Brahmin Army Chief in a coup. He assassinated the last Mauryan emperor in front of the Army and proclaimed himself the Emperor. Thus the Sunga dynasty was established and they persecuted the Buddhism. Eventually Buddhism was driven out of its land of birth. Had Ashoka put down the Brahmins, the religious as well as the political history of the subcontinent would have been vastly different.
 
It is interesting to note that the first three Mauryan emperors supported three different religions. Chandragupta Maurya, the founder and the first emperor embraced Jainism. Abdicating his throne he became a Jain monk and fasted to death as the practice among Jains, even today. Bindusara, son of Chandragupta, who ascended the throne after his father supported Ajivikas, another religious cult, which was not supported by other rulers. Ashoka, son of Bindusara, who succeeded him, did not follow the steps of his father or grandfather. He chose a third religion, Buddhism, to adopt as his own.
It is said that Ashoka persecuted Ajivikas, and I wonder why. It is doubtful whether they were a threat to Buddhism. The greatest threat to Buddhism was from the Brahmanic religion, which later uprooted Buddhism from India and became the present day Hinduism. The Brahmin elite viewed all the non-theistic religions, Jainism, Buddhism, Ajivika cult and Lokayata cult of Charvaka and similar cults as mortal enemies and worked to eliminate them. But Ashoka never suppressed the Brahmins and his dynasty, his empire and his religion had to pay heavily for this lapse. The Mauryan dynasty was overthrown by their Brahmin Army Chief in a coup. He assassinated the last Mauryan emperor in front of the Army and proclaimed himself the Emperor. Thus the Sunga dynasty was established and they persecuted the Buddhism. Eventually Buddhism was driven out of its land of birth. Had Ashoka put down the Brahmins, the religious as well as the political history of the subcontinent would have been vastly different.
So basically, if Asoka crushes the Brahmins, whatever religion he supports (Jainism, Ajivika, Buddhism, Lokayata,whatever) could become the main religion of India?
 
So basically, if Asoka crushes the Brahmins, whatever religion he supports (Jainism, Ajivika, Buddhism, Lokayata,whatever) could become the main religion of India?

Such was the rule of ancient kings. With enough will and brute force, Ashoka could root out the Brahmin. But it will be a bloodbath.
 
Suppressing the Brahmin wouldn't be an easy task. In the moment, it would likely seem an absurd pipe-dream, and one that would weaken and damage the regime.

I just can't see it happening on a grand scale. Could Ashoka have done more to propagate Buddhism? Possibly. Could he have destroyed the Brahmin? Not without a real mess, and we have to understand what destroying them entails.
 
Could he have weakened the Brahmins enough that whatever Sharamana school he endorsed would become the dominant religion of India, without having to resort to mass murder like with the Ajivika?
 
Barring the story of Ajivikas, I have not read that Ashoka had suppressed any of the several cults that existed at the time. Hence I have doubts about the story that Ashoka resorted to mass murder to root out the cult of Ajivikas. Ashoka had tried earnestly to preach and spread the eight-fold path. But he did not seem to have banned other cults or religions. Then why should he put down the cult supported by his father? The Lokayata cult of Charvaka was wiped off by the Brahmin elite by killing off their followers and burning their books. It was the most atheistic non-Vedic religion and hence attracted the most violent suppression.
 
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