Ajita Kesakambali (Sanskrit: अजित केशकंबली; Chinese: 阿耆多翅舍欽婆羅; pinyin: Āqíduō Chìshěqīnpóluó) was an ancient Indian philosopher in the 6th century BC.
Thus, due to the nature of these references, the basic framework of his philosophy has to be derived by filtering out obscure legends associated with him.
[5] According to early Buddhist sources, Ajita Kesakambali argued that: There is no such thing as alms or sacrifice or offering.
The four bearers, on the bier as a fifth, take his dead body away; till they reach the burning ground, men utter forth eulogies, but there his bones are bleached, and his offerings end in ashes.
D. D. Kosambi, who elsewhere[7] calls Ajita a proto-materialist, notes[8] that he "preached a thoroughgoing materialist doctrine: good deeds and charity gained a man nothing in the end.