Traces of Ajivika thought quietly ripple through the tapestry of later Indian traditions. The hallmark notion of niyati—absolute cosmic determinism—doesn’t stand alone in the Puranas and some Smriti texts; echoes of an all-powerful fate appear there, steering heroes and gods much like Ajivika philosophy had prescribed. That sense of an impersonal, unbreakable law shaped how medieval storytellers framed destiny in Mahabharata commentaries and regional folk epics.

Ajivika ascetic rigor also left its mark. Their insistence on celibacy, vegetarianism and austere solitude helped codify the monastic rules that Jain and Buddhist orders solidified over centuries. Even Shaiva and tantric lineages, emerging from rock-cut shrines in Udayagiri (where recent excavations have brought Ajivika caves back into scholarly debate), borrowed the language of extreme tapas and spontaneous samādhi as spiritual milestones.

More subtly, ritual practices once ascribed to Ajivikas—simple chanting, fixed-time meditations and a faith in ritual’s automatic efficacy—turn up in later Hindu tantric manuals. While mainstream Vedanta eventually championed free will and divine grace over rigid destiny, some regional cults clung to fate’s iron grip, a nod to Ajivika determinism.

Interest in this vanished school even flickers in contemporary circles. At the 2023 South Asian History Congress, papers highlighted how niyati resurfaced in Puranic fatalism, while a recent Netflix period drama set in Ashoka’s court staged Ajivika philosophers debating with Buddhist monks. Though the sect itself has slipped into history’s shadows, its deterministic vision and ascetic blueprint keep casting long shadows over India’s religious landscape.