A doctrine of non-violence in Hinduism and Buddhism, concerned with the sacredness of all living things and an effort to avoid causing harm to them.
2006, Karen Armstrong, The Great Transformation, Atlantic Books 2007, p. 79:
Already, at this very early date, the ritualists were moving towards the ideal of ahimsa ("harmlessness") that would become the indispensable virtue of the Indian Axial Age.
