The Ajivika sect, which believed in fate (niyati), was founded by:

The Ajivika sect was founded (or led) by Makkhali Gosala (Maskarin Goshala), a contemporary of the Buddha and Mahavira.

About Makkhali Gosala:

• He lived in the 6th-5th century BCE.
• According to Jain texts, he was for some years a companion of Mahavira, but later separated from him because of differences.
• He became the leader of the Ajivikas, who were already a group of ascetics.
• He died at Shravasti, according to Jain sources.

Teachings of the Ajivikas:

• The central belief was "niyati" (fate or destiny): everything in the universe, including human actions and their results, is predetermined.
• Human effort cannot change one's destiny; souls pass through a fixed number of births (8,400,000 great cycles) before attaining liberation, whatever they do.
• NCERT mentions that the Ajivikas are often described as "fatalists", who believed that everything is predetermined.
• They practised severe austerities and went naked.
• They also had a theory of atoms (anu).

The Ajivikas in history:

• They received patronage from the Mauryan kings; Bindusara is said to have followed them.
• The sect survived for many centuries, especially in south India, and disappeared by about the 14th century.
• None of their own texts has survived; we know about them only from Buddhist, Jain and other sources, which were often critical.

Other teachers of the Buddha's time (the six heterodox teachers):

• "Ajita Kesakambalin": a materialist who taught that nothing survives after death; called a forerunner of the Lokayata.
• "Pakudha Kachchayana": taught that there are seven eternal elements.
• "Sanjaya Belatthiputta": a sceptic who refused to give definite answers.
• "Nigantha Nataputta": Mahavira.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Purana Kassapa, Ajita Kesakambalin and Sanjaya Belatthiputta were other teachers of the time.