84-570: Charvak may refer to the following: Charvaka , a system of Indian philosophy Lake Charvak , an artificial lake in Uzbekistan Charvak, a journalist, activist and professor in India. See Charvak Mukhopadhyay Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Charvak . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
168-465: A generic term by 600 BCE. Its methodology of skepticism is included in the Ramayana , Ayodhya kanda , chapter 108, where Jabāli tries to persuade Rāma to accept the kingdom by using nāstika arguments (Rāma refutes him in chapter 109): O, the highly wise! Arrive at a conclusion, therefore, that there is nothing beyond this Universe. Give precedence to that which meets the eye and turn your back on what
252-709: A lifelong commitment to Marxism and communist movement. At a very early stage of his life Chattopadhyaya immersed himself in the left nationalist movement by joining the Association of Progressive Writers , which was formed in 1936. Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya obtained his academic training in philosophy in Calcutta, West Bengal under eminent philosophers like Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan and S. N. Dasgupta . After standing first in philosophy at University of Calcutta both in B.A. (1939) and M.A. (1942), he did his post-graduate research work under Prof S. N. Dasgupta . He taught philosophy at
336-561: A method of reasoning, that is jumping to conclusions or inference, is prone to flaw. Charvakas further state that full knowledge is reached when we know all observations, all premises and all conditions. But the absence of conditions, state Charvakas, can not be established beyond doubt by perception, as some conditions may be hidden or escape our ability to observe. They acknowledge that every person relies on inference in daily life, but to them if we act uncritically, we err. While our inferences sometimes are true and lead to successful action, it
420-482: A new way of thinking and re-evaluation of past doctrines. Hindu, Buddhist and Jain scholars extensively deployed Charvaka insights on inference in rational re-examination of their own theories. Charvaka epistemology represents minimalist pramāṇas (epistemological methods) in Hindu philosophy. The other schools of Hinduism developed and accepted multiple valid forms of epistemology. To Charvakas, Pratyakṣa (perception)
504-472: A period of struggle for national awakening and of world-wide fighting for the forces of materialism, progress, humanism and peace against imperialism. He has written this book Lokayata: A Study in Ancient Indian Materialism against the old fashioned conception that India was and is the land of dreamers and mystics". This study questioned the mainstream view that Indian philosophy's sole concern
588-480: A proponent of historical and dialectical materialism, writes Riepe, and Chattopadhyaya's book, according to Riepe, is a classic. Giving an overview of Debiprasad's other books Riepe writes, "These indications of the herculean efforts of Debiprasad are earnest tokens of his awareness of the great work still to be done for Indian philosophy. Although he has planted almost alone in the Indian fields, others are slowly harvesting
672-429: A variety of atheistic and materialistic beliefs. They held perception and direct experiments to be the valid and reliable source of knowledge. The Charvaka epistemology holds perception as the primary and proper source of knowledge, while inference is held as prone to being either right or wrong and therefore conditional or invalid. Perceptions are of two types, for Charvaka, external and internal. External perception
756-417: A work as Dasgupta has achieved, it is bound to the idealistic viewpoint even when he uses important physical data. Debiprasad stresses the need to establish the historical account of Indian thought on the basis of an objective and scientific approach. This implies the use of all relevant scientific methods and scientific knowledge in order to explain the rise of Indian philosophy and interpret its significance in
840-423: Is also a fact that sometimes inference is wrong and leads to error. Truth then, state Charvaka, is not an unfailing character of inference, truth is merely an accident of inference, and one that is separable. We must be skeptics, question what we know by inference, question our epistemology. This epistemological proposition of Charvakas was influential among various schools of Indian philosophies, by demonstrating
924-468: Is an ancient school of Indian materialism . It is considered as one example of the atheistic schools in the Ancient Indian philosophies. Charvaka holds direct perception , empiricism , and conditional inference as proper sources of knowledge, embraces philosophical skepticism and rejects ritualism. It was a well-attested belief system in ancient India . Brihaspati, a philosopher,
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#17328477860761008-426: Is based on the awareness that the Indian struggle for socialism today is related to the struggle for the Indian philosophical heritage." Chattopadhaya is, he says, convinced that an analysis of philosophical materials of India will lead, "if rightly followed," to Marxism in India. He calls the book the "most powerful ideological weapon" to "destroy the fiction of Indian wisdom being essentially God oriented.". Reviewing
1092-482: Is beyond our knowledge. (2.108.17) There are alternate theories behind the origins of Charvaka. Bṛhaspati is sometimes referred to as the founder of Charvaka or Lokāyata philosophy, although other scholars dispute this. Billington 1997 , p. 43 states that a philosopher named Charvaka lived in or about the 6th century BCE, who developed the premises of this Indian philosophy in the form of Brhaspati Sutra . These sutras predate 150 BCE, because they are mentioned in
1176-428: Is called conscious when it is endowed with the sense-organs". Further, Chattopadhyaya shows: Chattopadhyaya also tries to show in the book, how societal divisions, especially the caste system , which was enforced by the law-givers and their justificatory idealist ideologies, formed obstructions in the way of scientific development in India. This book was written in the context of growing state authoritarianism during
1260-475: Is cessation of life-breath... the wise therefore ought not to take pains on account of moksha . A fool wears himself out by penances and fasts. Chastity and other such ordinances are laid down by clever weaklings. The scholar Bhattacharya argues that the common belief that "all materialists are nothing but sensualists" is a misconception, as no authentic Carvaka aphorism have been cited by the movement's opponents to support this view. Charvakas rejected many of
1344-583: Is derived from the root carv , 'to chew' : "A Cārvāka chews the self (carvatyātmānaṃ cārvākaḥ). Hemacandra refers to his own grammatical work, Uṇādisūtra 37, which runs as follows: mavāka-śyāmāka-vārtāka-jyontāka-gūvāka-bhadrākādayaḥ. Each of these words ends with the āka suffix and is formed irregularly." This may also allude to the philosophy's hedonistic precepts of "eat, drink, and be merry". Others believe it to mean "agreeable speech" or pejoratively, "sweet-tongued", from Sanskrit's cāru "agreeable" and vāc "speech" (which becomes vāk in
1428-399: Is described as that arising from the interaction of five senses and worldly objects, while internal perception is described by this school as that of inner sense, the mind. Inference is described as deriving a new conclusion and truth from one or more observations and previous truths. To Charvakas, inference is useful but prone to error, as inferred truths can never be without doubt. Inference
1512-409: Is fragmentary, based largely on criticism of its ideas by other schools, and that it is not a living tradition: Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya English writers Bengali writers Punjabi writers Hindi writers Kashmiri writers Marathi writers Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya (19 November 1918 – 8 May 1993) was an Indian Marxist philosopher. He made contributions to the exploration of
1596-505: Is given by the historian Vincent Smith , in his article titled "The Jain Teachers of Akbar". Some Carvaka thinkers are said to have participated in the symposium. Under the heading "Nastika" Abul Fazl has referred to the good work, judicious administration and welfare schemes that were emphasised by the Charvaka law-makers. Somadeva has also mentioned the Charvaka method of defeating the enemies of
1680-477: Is good and helpful, it is the validity of inference that is suspect – sometimes in certain cases and often in others. To the Charvakas there were no reliable means by which the efficacy of inference as a means of knowledge could be established. Charvaka's epistemological argument can be explained with the example of fire and smoke. Kamal states that when there is smoke ( middle term ), one's tendency may be to leap to
1764-400: Is markedly different from the mainstream scholarship on Indian philosophy he calls it "a work almost unique in the history of Indian philosophy". In his book Indian Philosophy Since Independence , Dale Riepe calls Debiprasad's Lokayata "a work of originality and world significance...a fully-founded work showing the philosophical implications of historical considerations." Chattopadhyaya is
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#17328477860761848-551: Is misapplied to such an early stage of the Vedic thought". In the Preface, Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya says his purpose in this book is to present "an analysis of our philosophical traditions from the standpoint of our present philosophical requirements. These requirements, as understood here, are secularism, rationalism and science-orientation". He once again finds the philosophical development – debates and clashes – in ancient India embedded in
1932-612: Is missing or lost. Its theories and development has been compiled from historic secondary literature such as those found in the shastras (such as the Arthashastra ), sutras and the epics (the Mahabharata and Ramayana ) of Hinduism as well as from the dialogues of Gautama Buddha and Jain literature. In the oldest of the Upanishads , in chapter 2 of the Brhadāranyaka (ca. 700 BCE),
2016-415: Is no awareness'." Substantial discussions about the Charvaka doctrines are found in texts during the 6th century BCE because of the emergence of competing philosophies such as Buddhism and Jainism. Bhattacharya posits that Charvaka may have been one of several atheistic, materialist schools that existed in ancient India during the 6th century BCE. Though there is evidence of its development in Vedic era,
2100-401: Is no world other than this; There is no heaven and no hell; The realm of Shiva and like regions, are fabricated by stupid imposters. Charvaka believed that there was nothing wrong with sensual pleasure. Since it is impossible to have pleasure without pain, Charvaka thought that wisdom lay in enjoying pleasure and avoiding pain as far as possible. Unlike many of the Indian philosophies of
2184-451: Is nothing beyond the senses, consciousness is an emergent property, and that it is foolish to seek what cannot be seen. The accuracy of these views, attributed to Charvakas, has been contested by scholars. An extract from Aaine-Akbari (vol.III, tr. by H. S. Barrett, pp217–218) written by Abul Fazl , the famous historian of Akbar's court, mentions a symposium of philosophers of all faiths held in 1578 at Akbar's insistence. The account
2268-480: Is the consolidation of Socialist consciousness in its right sense among the Indians today", for which "it is imperative to understand and absorb the philosophical views of Lenin". This book is meant to be a "guide or introduction" to Lenin's philosophical writings. It seeks "to lead the readers to the actual study of Lenin, providing them with some clarifications, annotations and summations that they may be useful only for
2352-468: Is traditionally referred to as the founder of Charvaka or Lokāyata philosophy, although some scholars dispute this. Charvaka developed during the Hindu reformation period in the first millennium BCE, after Buddhism was established by Gautama Buddha and Jainism was re-organized by Parshvanatha . Its teachings have been compiled from historic secondary literature such as those found in the shastras , sutras , and Indian epic poetry . In other words,
2436-502: Is yet another provocative critique of the standard accounts of Indian philosophy and religion. This book brings out a coherent historical account of atheism in India. In fact, according to Chattopadhyaya, "an unbiased survey of the Vedas clearly shows the total absence of religious consciousness in its earlier stage and the Rgveda is full of relics of this stage of thought. Even the world polytheism
2520-580: The Mahābhāṣya (7.3.45). Arthur Llewellyn Basham, citing the Buddhist Samaññaphala Sutta , suggests six schools of heterodox, pre-Buddhist and pre-Jain, atheistic Indian traditions in 6th century BCE, that included Charvakas and Ajivikas . Charvaka was a living philosophy up to the 12th century in India's historical timeline , after which this system seems to have disappeared without leaving any trace. The Charvaka school of philosophy had
2604-498: The Indian Emergency declared by Indira Gandhi , on the one hand, and the upsurge of rightist forces in the form of Jan Sangh , Shiv Sena etc., on the other. Chattopadhyaya opined "that in these grim and anxious days through which India today is passing, that which holds hope for our future is the growing awareness of our people of socialism being the only way out". And, "an essential pre-condition for moving forward to Socialism
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2688-512: The Padma Bhushan , India's third highest civilian honour, posthumously, in 1998. Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya was born on 19 November 1918 in Calcutta . His father was a supporter of India's freedom struggle. It was probably his influence that initiated Debiprasad to two major passions in his life – Indian philosophy and politics; he quickly progressed towards radical streams in both fields, developing
2772-558: The Susruta-samhita have an ambiguous character, which, when dissected, reveals the intense struggle between the theological philosophers on the one hand, and the doctors who strove for a truly scientific view of the world, on the other. It is unmistakably a chapter in the 'warfare of science with religion'...I do feel that your philological and philosophical analysis has been here a really splendid contribution." Commenting on Chattopadhyaya's book Lokayata , Louis Renou wrote: "The book
2856-463: The materialist current in ancient Indian philosophy . He is known for Lokayata: A Study in Ancient Indian Materialism , which is his exposition of the philosophy of Lokayata . He is also known for work on history of science and scientific method in ancient India , especially his 1977 book Science and Society in Ancient India on the ancient physicians Charaka and Sushruta . He was awarded
2940-511: The Arthashastra is not anti-Vedic, but implies Lokāyata to be a part of Vedic lore. Lokāyata here refers to logic or science of debate ( disputatio , "criticism"). Rudolf Franke translated Lokayata in German as "logisch beweisende Naturerklärung", that is "logically proving explanation of nature". In 8th century CE Jaina literature, Saddarsanasamuccaya by Haribhadra, Lokayata is stated to be
3024-415: The Charvaka epistemology states that whenever one infers a truth from a set of observations or truths, one must acknowledge doubt; inferred knowledge is conditional. Charvaka is categorized as one of the nāstika or "heterodox" schools of Indian philosophy . The etymology of Charvaka (Sanskrit: चार्वाक) is uncertain. Bhattacharya quotes the grammarian Hemacandra , to the effect that the word cārvāka
3108-404: The Charvaka school is nihilistic, focusing solely on rejecting concepts like "The Good" and divinity, rather than actively promoting hedonism. The Charvaka did not believe in karma , rebirth or an afterlife . To them, all attributes that represented a person, such as thinness, fatness, etc., resided in the body. The Sarvasiddhanta Samgraha states the Charvaka position as follows, There
3192-405: The Charvaka school of philosophy predated the Āstika schools as well as being a philosophical predecessor to subsequent or contemporaneous philosophies such as Ajñāna , Ājīvika , Jainism and Buddhism in the classical period of Indian philosophy. The earliest Charvaka scholar in India whose texts still survive is Ajita Kesakambali . Although materialist schools existed before Charvaka, it
3276-544: The Charvaka thought. However, the authors of these works were thoroughly opposed to materialism and tried to portray the Charvaka in an unfavourable light. Therefore, their works should only be accepted critically. There was no continuity in the Charvaka tradition after the 12th century. Whatever is written on Charvaka post this is based on second-hand knowledge, learned from preceptors to disciples and no independent works on Charvaka philosophy can be found. Chatterjee and Datta explain that our understanding of Charvaka philosophy
3360-721: The City College of Calcutta for three decades. Subsequently, he was appointed a UGC Visiting Professor at the universities of Andhra Pradesh, Calcutta and Poona. He remained associated with the activities of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPHR) and the National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS) of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) under various capacities. His second wife
3444-476: The Hindu school where there is "no God, no samsara (rebirth), no karma, no duty, no fruits of merit, no sin." The Buddhist Sanskrit work Divyavadana (ca. 200–350 CE) mentions Lokayata , where it is listed among subjects of study, and with the sense of "technical logical science". Shantarakshita and Adi Shankara use the word lokayata to mean materialism, with the latter using the term Lokāyata, not Charvaka. In Silāṅka's commentary on Sūtra-kṛtāṅgna ,
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3528-649: The Vedas to be incoherent rhapsodies whose only usefulness was to provide livelihood to priests. They also held the belief that Vedas were invented by man, and had no divine authority. Charvakas rejected the need for ethics or morals, and suggested that "while life remains, let a man live happily, let him feed on ghee even though he runs in debt". The Jain scholar Haribhadra, in the last section of his text Saddarsanasamuccaya , includes Charvaka in his list of six darśanas of Indian traditions, along with Buddhism , Nyaya - Vaisheshika , Samkhya , Jainism and Jaiminiya . Haribhadra notes that Charvakas assert that there
3612-453: The approach taken by followers of modern Western idealism like S.N. Dasgupta, Riepe writes: Debiprasad's approach here is based on anthropological and archaeological findings, in sharp contrast to the mythopoeic constructions of the revivalists and Indian philosophers following the lead of modern Western idealism. Debiprasad's approach, in contrast to his teacher, Surendranath Dasgupta, is not simply ideological, conceptual and literary, as fine
3696-457: The book Lokayata Joseph Needham wrote: "Your book will have a truly treasured place on my shelves. It is truly extraordinary that we should have approached ancient Chinese and ancient Indian civilisations with such similar results...." About Chattopadhayay's 1977 book, Science and Society in Ancient India , he said: "I feel that you have entirely proved your case that the Caraka-samhita and
3780-459: The class struggles of the time. He discusses the materialist foundation of Vedic rituals, which he finds similar to the magical belief of controlling the natural forces through yajnas , etc. He shows how these rites and rituals that evolved as primitive scientific endeavours were transformed into superstitions and monopolies in the hands of the oppressors with the advent of class divisions. The book also endeavours to demonstrate how Indian philosophy
3864-412: The conclusion that it must be caused by fire ( major term in logic). While this is often true, it need not be universally true, everywhere or all the times, stated the Charvaka scholars. Smoke can have other causes. In Charvaka epistemology, as long as the relation between two phenomena, or observation and truth, has not been proven as unconditional, it is an uncertain truth. In this Indian philosophy such
3948-444: The details of their philosophy. E. W. Hopkins , in his The Ethics of India (1924), claims that Charvaka philosophy predated Jainism and Buddhism, mentioning "the old Cārvāka or materialist of the 6th century BC". Rhys Davids assumes that lokāyata in ca. the 5th century BC came to mean "skepticism" in general without yet being organised as a philosophical school. This proves that it had already existed for centuries and had become
4032-499: The diverse philosophical traditions of India to form a ladder that leads to the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta . Being a Marxist, Chattopadhyaya's uses the method of historical materialism to study "the ultimate material basis of the primitive deha-vada and the primitive rituals related to it" and to reveal how these could "be connected with the mode of securing the material means of subsistence". He also traced "the course of development this archaic outlook eventually underwent". It
4116-422: The empirical data. They go even to the extent of claiming that the truth of any conclusion thus arrived at is to be tested ultimately by the criterion of practice". For them, "everything in nature occurs according to some immutable laws, the body of which is usually called svabhava in Indian thought" and "from the medical viewpoint there can be nothing which is not made of matter". They even say that "a substance
4200-632: The first chapter: ...but how can we attribute to the Divine Being the giving of supreme felicity, when such a notion has been utterly abolished by Charvaka, the crest-gem of the atheistic school, the follower of the doctrine of Brihaspati? The efforts of Charvaka are indeed hard to be eradicated, for the majority of living beings hold by the current refrain: Sanskrit poems and plays like the Naiṣadha-carita, Prabodha-candrodaya, Āgama-dambara , Vidvanmoda-taraṅgiṇī and Kādambarī contain representations of
4284-512: The foundation of original Samkhya." But disagreeing with this conclusion of Chattopadhyaya he says, "To argue... for an archaic agricultural-matriarchal tradition of mother-right and a pastoral-patriarchal tradition of male dominance and then to trace in a direct one-to-one correlation of a Samkhya materialism to the former and a Vedanta idealism to the latter is clearly an oversimplification that reflects Chattopadhyaya's political ideology more than it does India's ancient cultural heritage." Concluding
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#17328477860764368-400: The history of India. The various publications of Chattopadhyaya on Carvaka/Lokayata have been praised as pioneering and important contributions to the studies by Ramakrishna Bhattacharya. However, Bhattacharya also questions Chattopadhyaya analysis. For example, Ramkrishna Bhattacharya states, "Chattopadhyaya did not deny Ajita Kesakambali was a materialist, but chose to emphasize that 'Ajita
4452-423: The leading theorist Yājnavalkya states in a passage often referred to by the irreligious: "so I say, after death there is no awareness." This declaration arises in a discussion with his female philosophy interlocutor, Maitreyi , who notices that this might mean there is no afterlife – no religion: "After Yājñavalkya said this, Maitreyi exclaimed: 'Now, sir, you have totally confused me by saying 'after death there
4536-457: The limited of a preliminary acquaintance with Lenin's philosophical ideas". Communist leader E.M.S. Namboodiripad in his overall appreciative review of the book criticised Chattopadhyaya for not explaining "in a sufficiently convincing way as to why Lenin thought it necessary to go to Hegel in his later years", as evident from his Philosophical Notebooks of 1914 . Gerald Larson sees Chattopadhyaya's writings on ancient Indian philosophies as
4620-441: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charvak&oldid=751674674 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Charvaka Charvaka ( Sanskrit : चार्वाक ; IAST : Cārvāka ), also known as Lokāyata ,
4704-424: The main criterion of truth. Nyaya - Vaisheshikas were most outspoken in this regard, "after a knowledge is proved true in practice, there remains no doubt about the proof; hence the question of proving does not arise". On the other hand, the idealists believed in complete separation between theory and practice. They adhered to, in the words of Kumarila Bhatta , the principle of bahyartha-sunyatva (the unreality of
4788-445: The means of knowing were found to be worthy to establish the invariable connection between middle term and predicate, Charvakas concluded that the inference could not be used to ascertain metaphysical truths. Thus, to Charvakas, the step which the mind takes from the knowledge of something to infer the knowledge of something else could be accounted for by its being based on a former perception or by its being in error. Cases where inference
4872-404: The modern understanding of natural science is medicine". The main concentration of the book is to present an analysis of Caraka Samhita , the crucial source book on Indian medicine. According to Chattopadhyaya, "discarding scripture orientation, they [the Indian physicians] insist on the supreme importance of direct observation of natural phenomena and on the technique of rational processing of
4956-472: The most interesting and sustained Marxist interpretation of Indian thought. Reviewing Chattopadhyaya's writings on Samkhya philosophy he observes, "Chattopadhyaya proceeds to reconstruct what the original Samkhya position was, claiming that the classical notion did not include Purusha , and that the most important notion in the Samkhya is Prakrti , citing pre-Vedic Tantra traditions of a matriarchal society to be
5040-586: The nation. In the epic Mahabharata , Book 12 Chapter 39, a rakshasa who dresses up like a Brahmin and appoints himself as spokesperson for all Brahmins is named Charvaka . Charvaka criticizes Yudhishthira for killing his kinsmen, superiors, and teacher, and claims that all the Brahmins are uttering maledictions to him. Yudhishthira is ashamed of this, but the Brahmin Vaishampayana reassures him. The Brahmins, now filled with rage, destroy Charvaka with
5124-485: The nominative singular and in compounds). Yet another hypothesis is that it is eponymous, with the founder of the school being Charvaka, a disciple of Brihaspati. According to claims of Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya , the traditional name of Charvaka is Lokayata. It was called Lokayata because it was prevalent ( ayatah ) among the people ( lokesu ), and meant the world-outlook of the people. The dictionary meaning of Lokāyata (लोकायत) signifies "directed towards, aiming at
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#17328477860765208-460: The objects of knowledge), which, according to Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, formed "the real pivot of idealism throughout its Indian career". This book is about scientific method in ancient India and how societal divisions of the time shaped the development of science. Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya chooses the field of medicine for the purpose, because, according to him, "the only discipline that promises to be fully secular and contains clear potentials of
5292-519: The oldest Jain Āgama Prakrt literature, he has used four terms for Cārvāka viz. (1) Bṛhaspatya (2) Lokāyata (3) Bhūtavādin (4) Vāmamārgin. The tenets of the Charvaka atheistic doctrines can be traced to the relatively later composed layers of the Rigveda , while substantial discussions on the Charvaka is found in post-Vedic literature. The primary literature of Charvaka, such as the Brhaspati Sutra ,
5376-404: The power of their mantras. No independent works on Charvaka philosophy can be found except for a few sūtras attributed to Brihaspati. The 8th century Tattvopaplavasimha of Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa with Madhyamaka influence is a significant source of Charvaka philosophy. Shatdarshan Samuchay and Sarvadarśanasaṅ̇graha of Vidyaranya are a few other works which elucidate Charvaka thought. One of
5460-406: The presupposed predominance of shastrartha or textual interpretation. He views the development of Indian philosophy as the consequence of real clashes of ideas – "contradiction constituted the moving force behind the Indian philosophical development". Dale Riepe in his review of this book says that Chattopadhyaya "combines the analytic sagacity of Hume with the impatient realism of Lenin". This
5544-429: The results at home and abroad where his renown is exceeding many of the leading idealists". According to Chattopadhyaya, states Riepe, "Buddha looked backwards to the tribal collectives and wanted to revive... the imaginary substance of the tribe...". According to Dale Riepe, "Chattopadhyaya claims most of the ancient Indian traditional philosophers were atheists", and contrasting the approach taken by Debiprasad with
5628-442: The review Larson avers "what begins as a refreshing anthropological methodology for studying ancient thought and culture is reduced to an ideological perspective designed to show that... private property and the state machinery are not eternal adjuncts to human existence..." and that "...the spiritualistic outlook is not innate in man". Johannes Quack, in his preface to the book Indian Atheism: A Marxist Analysis , writes, "This book
5712-403: The same book Dale Riepe calls it the most complete study of its kind; "its special importance lies in its iconoclasm toppling the idols of European and Indian accounts of early Indian religion and philosophy". He notes that the book ends with "another 140 pages of text with staggering load of argument that will make rationalists and theists alike somewhat dizzy". Noticing that Chattopadhyaya's book
5796-446: The standard religious conceptions of Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Ajivikas, such as an afterlife , reincarnation , samsara , karma and religious rites . They were critical of the Vedas , as well as Buddhist scriptures. The Sarvadarśanasaṃgraha with commentaries by Madhavacharya describes the Charvakas as critical of the Vedas, materialists without morals and ethics. To Charvakas,
5880-446: The text states, the Vedas suffered from several faults – errors in transmission across generations, untruth, self-contradiction and tautology . The Charvakas pointed out the disagreements, debates and mutual rejection by karmakanda Vedic priests and jñānakanda Vedic priests, as proof that either one of them is wrong or both are wrong, as both cannot be right. Charvakas, according to Sarvadarśanasaṃgraha verses 10 and 11, declared
5964-407: The time, Charvaka did not believe in austerities or rejecting pleasure out of fear of pain and held such reasoning to be foolish. The Sarvasiddhanta Samgraha states the Charvaka position on pleasure and hedonism as follows, The enjoyment of heaven lies in eating delicious food, keeping company of young women, using fine clothes, perfumes, garlands, sandal paste... while moksha is death which
6048-548: The widely studied references to the Charvaka philosophy is the Sarva-darśana-saṅgraha (etymologically all-philosophy-collection), a famous work of 14th century Advaita Vedanta philosopher Mādhava Vidyāraṇya from South India , which starts with a chapter on the Charvaka system. After invoking, in the Prologue of the book, the Hindu gods Shiva and Vishnu ("by whom the earth and rest were produced"), Vidyāraṇya asks, in
6132-543: The world, worldly". In early to mid 20th century literature, the etymology of Lokayata has been given different interpretations, in part because the primary sources are unavailable, and the meaning has been deduced from divergent secondary literature. The name Lokāyata, for example, is found in Chanakya 's Arthashastra , which refers to three ānvīkṣikīs (अन्वीक्षिकी, literally, examining by reason, logical philosophies) – Yoga , Samkhya and Lokāyata. However, Lokāyata in
6216-426: Was "a result of much of his commitment to values of scholarship" as to the "communist movement" in India. His efforts to explain materialism and atheism in Indian philosophy in its antiquity, against the old fashioned conception that India was and is the land of dreamers and mystics, required "tremendous intellectual courage", yet "Chattopadhyaya never flinched in the face of isolation in his own profession". Endorsing
6300-446: Was an introductory book that examined Indian philosophy through an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on anthropological, economic and philological studies. The book traced the philosophical development in India from the Vedic period to later Buddhism. In this introductory study, Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya targets another important myth that overshadows the study of Indian philosophy – that of
6384-469: Was fellow of the German and USSR Academies of Sciences . He died in Calcutta on 8 May 1993. In his writings, Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya aimed to illuminate science and materialism in ancient India, and to trace their evolution. While commenting on his work on Lokayata, German indologist Walter Ruben called him a "thought-reformer", who was "conscious of his great responsibility towards his people living in
6468-440: Was justified by the result were seen only to be mere coincidences. Therefore, Charvakas denied metaphysical concepts like reincarnation , an extracorporeal soul , the efficacy of religious rites , other worlds (heaven and hell), fate and accumulation of merit or demerit through the performance of certain actions. Charvakas also rejected the use of supernatural causes to describe natural phenomena. To them all natural phenomena
6552-580: Was no less a philosopher of futility and moral collapse than the Buddha , Mahavira , Purana and Pakudha [...]". Bhattacharya notes that "Chattopadhyaya brands Ajita's teachings as a philosophy of the graveyard". Chattopadhyaya's rational reconstruction of the history of Indian materialism in Lokayata: A Study in Ancient Indian Materialism and other texts, was one of the most significant contributions, states Rajendra Prasad. Chattopadhyaya's pursuit, notes Prasad,
6636-570: Was not any exception to the sharp conflicts between idealism and materialism, which are universally evident in the philosophical traditions of other regions. Further, it considers the role of the law-givers like Manu in establishing the supremacy of the idealist traditions, and how due to the censor and censure anti-idealists like Varahamihira and Brahmagupta worked out their philosophies in distinctive Aesopian language , developing their own modes of camouflaging their ideas. Like elsewhere, in India too anti-idealists and materialists took practice as
6720-641: Was produced spontaneously from the inherent nature of things. The fire is hot, the water cold, refreshing cool the breeze of morn; By whom came this variety ? from their own nature was it born. The Charvaka school is commonly associated with egoism, emphasizing the individual's ends over others. It rejects ethical systems based on supernatural beliefs, advocating pleasure as the only intrinsic good, and promoting hedonism. It also opposes utilitarianism, which seeks collective pleasure, maintaining that individuals should prioritize their own interests and only benefit society if it serves them. Some scholars argue that
6804-435: Was the concept of Brahman . "From the scattered references in the ancient philosophical literature which were completely hostile to the ancient materialist schools, Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya reconstructed the philosophy of Lokayata , which consistently denied the existence of brahman and viewed pratyaksa (perception) as the sole means of knowledge. He demolished the so-called "interpretation of synthesis" which sought to combine
6888-566: Was the one valid way to knowledge and other means of knowledge were either always conditional or invalid. While the Charvaka school accepted just one valid means for knowledge, in other schools of Hinduism they ranged between 2 and 6. Advaita Vedanta scholars considered six means of valid knowledge and to truths: Pratyakṣa (perception), Anumāna (inference), Upamāna (comparison and analogy), Arthāpatti (postulation), Anupalabdhi (non-perception, cognitive proof) and Śabda (word, testimony of past or present reliable experts). Since none of
6972-475: Was the only school which systematised materialist philosophy by setting them down in the form of aphorisms in the 6th century BCE. There was a base text, a collection sūtras or aphorisms and several commentaries were written to explicate the aphorisms. This should be seen in the wider context of the oral tradition of Indian philosophy. It was in the 6th century BCE onwards, with the emergent popularity of Buddhism, that ancient schools started codifying and writing down
7056-439: Was the renowned educationist and Tibetologist , Dr. Alaka Majumder Chattopadhyaya (1926–1998). Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya's work on materialism and scientific method led to his active interactions with the international community of philosophers, historians and Indologists. He collaborated with some of the outstanding western scholars of the 20th century, like Joseph Needham , George Thomson , Bongard Levin and Walter Ruben . He
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