Carvaka
Encyclopedia
also known as , is a system of Indian philosophy
that assumes various forms of philosophical skepticism
and religious indifference. It seems named after , the probable author of the and probably a follower of Brihaspati, who founded the philosophy.
In overviews of Indian philosophy
, Cārvāka is classified as a "faithless" (nāstika) system, the same classification as is given to Buddhism
and Jainism
. It is characterized as a materialistic
and atheistic school of thought. While this branch of Indian philosophy is not considered to be part of the six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy
, some describe evidence of a materialistic movement
within Hinduism.
, Samkhya
and Lokayata. Lokayata here still refers to logical debate (disputatio, "criticism") in general and not to a materialist doctrine in particular. Similarly, Saddaniti and Buddhaghosa
in the 5th century connect the "Lokayatas" with the Vitandas (sophists).
Only from about the 6th century is the term restricted to the school of the s. The name is first used in the 7th century by the philosopher Purandara, who refers to his fellow materialists as "the Cārvākas", and it is used by the 8th century philosophers and Haribhadra
. Shankara
, on the other hand, always uses , not . The etymological meaning of the word is 'a person who is clever in speech and is extremely fond of wrangling (debate)'.
E. W. Hopkins, in his The Ethics of India (1924) assumes that Cārvāka philosophy is co-eval with Buddhism, mentioning "the old Cārvāka or materialist of the 6th century BC"; Rhys Davids assumes that lokayata in ca. 500 BC came to mean "skepticism" in general without yet being organized as a philosophical school, and that the name of a villain of the Mahabharata
, Cārvāka, was attached to the position in order to disparage it. The earliest positive statement of skepticism is preserved from the epic period, in the Ramayana
, Ayodhya kanda, chapter 108, where a brahmin
Jabāli tries to persuade Rāma
to accept the kingdom by using nāstika arguments. Rāma then 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 is beyond our knowledge. (2.108.17)
The Cārvāka school thus appears to have gradually grown out of generic skepticism in the Mauryan period, but its existence as an organized body cannot be ascertained for times predating the 6th century. The Barhaspatya sutras
were likely also composed in Mauryan times, predating 150 BC, based on a reference in the Mahabhasya of Patanjali (7.3.45).
Available evidence suggests that Cārvāka philosophy was set out in the Barhaspatya sutras
, probably in Mauryan times.
Neither this text nor any other original text of the Cārvāka school of philosophy has been preserved. Its principal works are known only from fragments cited by its Hindu
and Buddhist opponents. Cārvāka philosophy appears to have died out some time in the 15th century.
Countering the argument that the Cārvākas opposed all that was good in the Vedic tradition, Dale Riepe says, "It may be said from the available material that Cārvākas hold truth, integrity, consistency, and freedom of thought in the highest esteem."
influence. It is, in any case, among the most important documents for the study of the Cārvāka school.
beliefs.
, no life after death
"'Chastity and other such ordinances are laid down by clever weaklings; gifts of gold and land, the pleasure of invitations to dinner, are devised by indigent people with stomachs lean with hunger.
"'The building of temples, houses for water-supply, tanks, wells, resting places, and the like, please only travelers, not others.
"'The Agnihotra ritual, the three Vedas, the triple staff, the ash-smearing, are the ways of gaining a livelihood for those who are lacking in intellect and energy.' -- so thinks Brihaspati."
Although it seems evident to most scholars that this earliest extant Brihaspati quote comes from a writer who is hardly sympathetic to Carvaka/Lokayata thinking, the writer's summation of Carvaka/Lokayata thinking at the close of his description does suggest some degree of even-handedness in the author, since it's not entirely unflattering:
"The wise should enjoy the pleasures of this world through the more appropriate available means of agriculture, tending cattle, trade, political administration, etc."
This may indicate, then, that the direct quote from Brihaspati himself found here can be trusted. If so, this is an invaluable document, for it gives us the earliest known quote from the earliest known founder of an atheist philosophy. Of course, Brihaspati can hardly have been the first atheist ever. But he is the earliest extant atheist, and he initiated a carefully honed philosophy of non-belief that gained serious adherents reflecting a distinct point of view. Consequently, remarks like this concerning his impatience over the undue fuss made over the indigent and over travelers give us a valuable insight into both the social habits of his time and the response to them from the earliest known pioneer in atheism.
philosopher from South India
starts his famous work The Sarva-darsana-sangraha with a chapter on the Cārvāka system with the intention of refuting it. After invoking, in the Prologue of the book, the Hindu gods Shiva and Vishnu, ("by whom the earth and rest were produced"), Madhavacharya asks, in the first chapter:
Those parts which survive indicate a strong anti-clerical bias, accusing Brahmin
s of fostering religious beliefs only so they could obtain a livelihood. The proper aim of a Charvakan or Charvaka, according to these sources, was to live a prosperous, happy, and productive life in this world.
quotes S. N. Dasgupta:
While a Cārvāka's thought is characterized by an insistence on pleasure seeking on one hand and Jainism is known to emphasize penance on the other, Buddhism is said to stand for a "middle way", avoiding indulgence in sensual pleasures and penance alike.
The Cārvākas did not deny the difference between the dead and the living and recognized both as realities. A person lives, the same person dies: that is a perceived, and hence the only provable, fact. In this regard, the Cārvākas found themselves at odds with all the other religions of the time.
Rejection of the soul as separate from the body led the Cārvākas to confine their thinking to this world only.
, the famous historian of Akbar's court, mentions a symposium of philosophers of all faiths held in 1578 at Akbar's insistence. Some Cārvāka philosophers are said to have participated in this symposium.
Under the heading "Nastika," Abul Fazl has referred to the good work, judicious administration, and welfare schemes that were emphasized by the Cārvāka lawmakers. Somadeva has also mentioned the Cārvāka method of defeating the enemies of the nation.
Contrary to popular opinion, these so-called "peasant religions(or opinions)"— the direct translation of the word "Lokayata"—never demanded that the practitioner give up happiness; all they said was that the means of happiness is giving up that which contradicts Cārvāka, who claimed that (material) pleasures suffice to give happiness to the (material) body.
Indian philosophy
India has a rich and diverse philosophical tradition dating back to ancient times. According to Radhakrishnan, the earlier Upanisads constitute "...the earliest philosophical compositions of the world."...
that assumes various forms of philosophical skepticism
Philosophical skepticism
Philosophical skepticism is both a philosophical school of thought and a method that crosses disciplines and cultures. Many skeptics critically examine the meaning systems of their times, and this examination often results in a position of ambiguity or doubt...
and religious indifference. It seems named after , the probable author of the and probably a follower of Brihaspati, who founded the philosophy.
In overviews of Indian philosophy
Indian philosophy
India has a rich and diverse philosophical tradition dating back to ancient times. According to Radhakrishnan, the earlier Upanisads constitute "...the earliest philosophical compositions of the world."...
, Cārvāka is classified as a "faithless" (nāstika) system, the same classification as is given to Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and Jainism
Jainism
Jainism is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation. Any soul that has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state...
. It is characterized as a materialistic
Materialism
In philosophy, the theory of materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter; that all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. In other words, matter is the only substance...
and atheistic school of thought. While this branch of Indian philosophy is not considered to be part of the six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy
Hindu philosophy
Hindu philosophy is divided into six schools of thought, or , which accept the Vedas as supreme revealed scriptures. Three other schools do not accept the Vedas as authoritative...
, some describe evidence of a materialistic movement
Atheism in Hinduism
Atheism or disbelief in God or gods has been a historically propounded viewpoint in many of the orthodox and heterodox streams of Hindu philosophies...
within Hinduism.
Name and origins
The name can be traced to Kautilya's Arthashastra, which refers to three s (logical philosophies), YogaRaja Yoga
Rāja Yoga is concerned principally with the cultivation of the mind using meditation to further one's acquaintance with reality and finally achieve liberation.Raja yoga was first described in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and is part of the Samkhya tradition.In the context of Hindu...
, Samkhya
Samkhya
Samkhya, also Sankhya, Sāṃkhya, or Sāṅkhya is one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy and classical Indian philosophy. Sage Kapila is traditionally considered as the founder of the Samkhya school, although no historical verification is possible...
and Lokayata. Lokayata here still refers to logical debate (disputatio, "criticism") in general and not to a materialist doctrine in particular. Similarly, Saddaniti and Buddhaghosa
Buddhaghosa
Bhadantācariya Buddhaghoṣa（Chinese: 覺音）was a 5th-century Indian Theravadin Buddhist commentator and scholar. His best-known work is the Visuddhimagga, or Path of Purification, a comprehensive summary and analysis of the Theravada understanding of the Buddha's path to liberation...
in the 5th century connect the "Lokayatas" with the Vitandas (sophists).
Only from about the 6th century is the term restricted to the school of the s. The name is first used in the 7th century by the philosopher Purandara, who refers to his fellow materialists as "the Cārvākas", and it is used by the 8th century philosophers and Haribhadra
Haribhadra
Haribhadra Suri was a Svetambara mendicant Jain leader and author.-History:There are multiple contradictory dates assigned to his birth. These include 459, 478, and 529. However, given his familiarity with Dharmakirti, a more likely choice would be sometime after 650...
. Shankara
Adi Shankara
Adi Shankara Adi Shankara Adi Shankara (IAST: pronounced , (Sanskrit: , ) (788 CE - 820 CE), also known as ' and ' was an Indian philosopher from Kalady of present day Kerala who consolidated the doctrine of advaita vedānta...
, on the other hand, always uses , not . The etymological meaning of the word is 'a person who is clever in speech and is extremely fond of wrangling (debate)'.
E. W. Hopkins, in his The Ethics of India (1924) assumes that Cārvāka philosophy is co-eval with Buddhism, mentioning "the old Cārvāka or materialist of the 6th century BC"; Rhys Davids assumes that lokayata in ca. 500 BC came to mean "skepticism" in general without yet being organized as a philosophical school, and that the name of a villain of the Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
, Cārvāka, was attached to the position in order to disparage it. The earliest positive statement of skepticism is preserved from the epic period, in the Ramayana
Ramayana
The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...
, Ayodhya kanda, chapter 108, where a brahmin
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
Jabāli tries to persuade Rāma
Rama
Rama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...
to accept the kingdom by using nāstika arguments. Rāma then 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 is beyond our knowledge. (2.108.17)
The Cārvāka school thus appears to have gradually grown out of generic skepticism in the Mauryan period, but its existence as an organized body cannot be ascertained for times predating the 6th century. The Barhaspatya sutras
Barhaspatya sutras
The Bārhaspatya-sūtras , also Lokāyata sutras were the foundational text of the Cārvāka school of "materialist" philosophy....
were likely also composed in Mauryan times, predating 150 BC, based on a reference in the Mahabhasya of Patanjali (7.3.45).
Loss of original works
Chatterjee and Datta explain that our understanding of Cārvāka philosophy is fragmentary, based largely on criticism of the ideas by other schools, and that it is not a living tradition:
"Though materialism in some form or other has always been present in India, and occasional references are found in the Vedas, the Buddhistic literature, the Epics, as well as in the later philosophical works we do not find any systematic work on materialism, nor any organised school of followers as the other philosophical schools possess. But almost every work of the other schools states, for refutation, the materialistic views. Our knowledge of Indian materialism is chiefly based on these."
Available evidence suggests that Cārvāka philosophy was set out in the Barhaspatya sutras
Barhaspatya sutras
The Bārhaspatya-sūtras , also Lokāyata sutras were the foundational text of the Cārvāka school of "materialist" philosophy....
, probably in Mauryan times.
Neither this text nor any other original text of the Cārvāka school of philosophy has been preserved. Its principal works are known only from fragments cited by its Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
and Buddhist opponents. Cārvāka philosophy appears to have died out some time in the 15th century.
Countering the argument that the Cārvākas opposed all that was good in the Vedic tradition, Dale Riepe says, "It may be said from the available material that Cārvākas hold truth, integrity, consistency, and freedom of thought in the highest esteem."
Tattvopaplavasimha of Jayaraasi Bhatta
The Tattvopaplavasimha of Jayarashi Bhatta (ca. 8th century) is often cited as the only extant authentic Cārvāka text, but which also shows MadhyamakaMadhyamaka
Madhyamaka refers primarily to a Mahāyāna Buddhist school of Buddhist philosophy systematized by Nāgārjuna. Nāgārjuna may have arrived at his positions from a desire to achieve a consistent exegesis of the Buddha's doctrine as recorded in the āgamas...
influence. It is, in any case, among the most important documents for the study of the Cārvāka school.
Beliefs
The Cārvāka school of philosophy had a variety of atheistic, materialistic, and naturalisticNaturalism (philosophy)
Naturalism commonly refers to the philosophical viewpoint that the natural universe and its natural laws and forces operate in the universe, and that nothing exists beyond the natural universe or, if it does, it does not affect the natural universe that we know...
beliefs.
No life after death
The Carvaka believed there was no afterlifeAfterlife
The afterlife is the belief that a part of, or essence of, or soul of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity, survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, by natural or supernatural means, in contrast to the belief in eternal...
, no life after death
-
- Springing forth from these elements itself
- solid knowledge is destroyed
- when they are destroyed—
- after death no intelligence remains.
Naturalism
The Carvaka believed in a form of naturalism, that is that all things happen by nature, and come from nature (not from any deity or Supreme Being).-
- Fire is hot, water cold,
- refreshingly cool is the breeze of morning;
- By whom came this variety?
- They were born of their own nature.
Sensual indulgence
Unlike many of the Indian philosophies of the time, the Carvaka believed there was nothing wrong with sensual indulgence, and that it was the only enjoyment to be pursued.-
- That the pleasure arising to man
- from contact with sensible objects,
- is to be relinquished because accompanied by pain—
- such is the reasoning of fools.
- The kernels of the paddy, rich with finest white grains,
- What man, seeking his own true interest,
- would fling them away
- because of a covering of husk and dust?
-
- While life remains, let a man live happily,
- let him feed on butter though he runs in debt;
- When once the body becomes ashes,
- how can it ever return again?
-
- (The shloka in Sanskrit for the last verse:
- ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā ghṛtaṁ pībet yāvaj-jīvet sukhaṁ jīvet
- bhasmī-bhūtasya dehasya kutaḥ punar-āgamano bhavet)
- (The shloka in Sanskrit for the last verse:
Religion is invented by man
The Carvaka believed that religion was invented and made up by men, having no divine authority.-
- The three authors of the VedasVedasThe Vedas are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism....
were buffoons, knaves, and demons. - All the well-known formulae of the pandits, jarphari, turphari, etc.
- and all the obscene rites for the queen commanded in Aswamedha,
- these were invented by buffoons, and so all the various kinds of presents to the priests,
- while the eating of flesh was similarly commanded by night-prowling demons.
- The three authors of the Vedas
Earliest description of Brihaspati
Brihaspati is sometimes referenced as the founder of Carvaka/Lokayata philosophy. The earliest direct quote from Brihaspati's lost writings is found in the Sarvasiddhantasamgraha (sometimes attributed to Samkara, although some scholars question that). In the Sarvasiddhantasamgraha, the author quotes Brihaspati as follows:"'Chastity and other such ordinances are laid down by clever weaklings; gifts of gold and land, the pleasure of invitations to dinner, are devised by indigent people with stomachs lean with hunger.
"'The building of temples, houses for water-supply, tanks, wells, resting places, and the like, please only travelers, not others.
"'The Agnihotra ritual, the three Vedas, the triple staff, the ash-smearing, are the ways of gaining a livelihood for those who are lacking in intellect and energy.' -- so thinks Brihaspati."
Although it seems evident to most scholars that this earliest extant Brihaspati quote comes from a writer who is hardly sympathetic to Carvaka/Lokayata thinking, the writer's summation of Carvaka/Lokayata thinking at the close of his description does suggest some degree of even-handedness in the author, since it's not entirely unflattering:
"The wise should enjoy the pleasures of this world through the more appropriate available means of agriculture, tending cattle, trade, political administration, etc."
This may indicate, then, that the direct quote from Brihaspati himself found here can be trusted. If so, this is an invaluable document, for it gives us the earliest known quote from the earliest known founder of an atheist philosophy. Of course, Brihaspati can hardly have been the first atheist ever. But he is the earliest extant atheist, and he initiated a carefully honed philosophy of non-belief that gained serious adherents reflecting a distinct point of view. Consequently, remarks like this concerning his impatience over the undue fuss made over the indigent and over travelers give us a valuable insight into both the social habits of his time and the response to them from the earliest known pioneer in atheism.
Madhavacharya and Cārvāka
Madhavacharya, the 13th & 14th-century VedanticVedanta
Vedānta was originally a word used in Hindu philosophy as a synonym for that part of the Veda texts known also as the Upanishads. The name is a morphophonological form of Veda-anta = "Veda-end" = "the appendix to the Vedic hymns." It is also speculated that "Vedānta" means "the purpose or goal...
philosopher from South India
South India
South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...
starts his famous work The Sarva-darsana-sangraha with a chapter on the Cārvāka system with the intention of refuting it. After invoking, in the Prologue of the book, the Hindu gods Shiva and Vishnu, ("by whom the earth and rest were produced"), Madhavacharya asks, in 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:
-
- While life is yours, live joyously;
- None can escape Death's searching eye:
- When once this frame of ours they burn,
- How shall it e'er again return?
Quotations attributed to Brihaspati from Sarva-Darsana-Sangraha
- There is no heaven, no final liberation, nor any soul in another world,
- Nor do the actions of the four castes, order, &c, produce any real effect,
- The Agnihotra, the three Vedas, the ascetic's three staves, and smearing oneself with ashes —
- Brihaspati says, these are but means of livelihood for those who have no manliness nor sense.
- In this school there are four elements, earth, water, fire and air;
- and from these four elements alone is intelligence produced —
- just like the intoxicating power from kinwa &c, mixed together;
- since in "I am fat", "I am lean", these attributes abide in the same subject,
- and since fatness, &c, reside only in the body, it alone is the soul and no other,
- and such phrases as "my body" are only significant metaphorically.
- If a beast slain in the Jyothishtoma rite will itself go to heaven,
- why then does not the sacrificer forthwith offer his own father?
- If the Sraddha produces gratification to beings who are dead,
- then why not give food down below to those who are standing on the house-top?
- If he who departs from the body goes to another world,
- how is it that he come not back again, restless for love of his kindred?
- Hence it is only as a means of livelihood that Brahmans have established here
- all these ceremonies for the dead, — there is no other fruit anywhere.
- The three authors of the Vedas were buffoons, knaves, and demons.
- All the well-known formulae of the pandits, jarphari, turphari, etc.
- and all the obscene rites for the queen commanded in Aswamedha,
- these were invented by buffoons, and so all the various kinds of presents to the priests,
- while the eating of flesh was similarly commanded by night-prowling demons.
Those parts which survive indicate a strong anti-clerical bias, accusing Brahmin
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
s of fostering religious beliefs only so they could obtain a livelihood. The proper aim of a Charvakan or Charvaka, according to these sources, was to live a prosperous, happy, and productive life in this world.
Astika schools, Buddhism, and Jainism versus Cārvāka
Cārvākas cultivated a philosophy wherein theology and what they called "speculative metaphysics" were to be avoided. The Cārvākas accepted direct perception as the surest method to prove the truth of anything. Though their opponents tried to caricature the Lokayatikas' arguments, the latter did not completely reject the method of inference. Debiprasad ChattopadhyayaDebiprasad Chattopadhyaya
Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya was an eminent Bengali Marxist philosopher from India. He made extensive contributions to the exploration of the materialist current in ancient Indian Philosophy...
quotes S. N. Dasgupta:
- "Purandara (a Lokāyata philosopher) [...] admits the usefulness of inference in determining the nature of all worldly things where perceptual experience is available; but inference cannot be employed for establishing any dogma regarding the transcendental world, or life after death or the law of karma which cannot be available to ordinary perceptual experience."
While a Cārvāka's thought is characterized by an insistence on pleasure seeking on one hand and Jainism is known to emphasize penance on the other, Buddhism is said to stand for a "middle way", avoiding indulgence in sensual pleasures and penance alike.
The Cārvākas did not deny the difference between the dead and the living and recognized both as realities. A person lives, the same person dies: that is a perceived, and hence the only provable, fact. In this regard, the Cārvākas found themselves at odds with all the other religions of the time.
Rejection of the soul as separate from the body led the Cārvākas to confine their thinking to this world only.
Abul Fazl on Lokāyata
Ain-i-Akbari, written by Abul FazlAbu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak
Shaikh Abu al-Fazl ibn Mubarak also known as Abu'l-Fazl, Abu'l Fadl and Abu'l-Fadl 'Allami was the vizier of the great Mughal emperor Akbar, and author of the Akbarnama, the official history of Akbar's reign in three volumes, and a Persian translation of the Bible...
, the famous historian of Akbar's court, mentions a symposium of philosophers of all faiths held in 1578 at Akbar's insistence. Some Cārvāka philosophers are said to have participated in this symposium.
Under the heading "Nastika," Abul Fazl has referred to the good work, judicious administration, and welfare schemes that were emphasized by the Cārvāka lawmakers. Somadeva has also mentioned the Cārvāka method of defeating the enemies of the nation.
Contrary to popular opinion, these so-called "peasant religions(or opinions)"— the direct translation of the word "Lokayata"—never demanded that the practitioner give up happiness; all they said was that the means of happiness is giving up that which contradicts Cārvāka, who claimed that (material) pleasures suffice to give happiness to the (material) body.
See also
- AdevismAdevismAdevism is a term introduced by Friedrich Max Müller to imply the denial of gods, in particular, the legendary gods of Hinduism. Müller used it in the Gifford Lectures in connection with the Vedanta philosophy, for the correlative of ignorance or nescience...
- AtheismAtheismAtheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
- Atheism in HinduismAtheism in HinduismAtheism or disbelief in God or gods has been a historically propounded viewpoint in many of the orthodox and heterodox streams of Hindu philosophies...
- NastikaNastikaĀstika exists") and Nāstika are technical terms in Hinduism used to classify philosophical schools and persons, according to whether they accept the authority of the Vedas as supreme revealed scriptures, or not, respectively...
- HinduismHinduismHinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
- HedonismHedonismHedonism is a school of thought which argues that pleasure is the only intrinsic good. In very simple terms, a hedonist strives to maximize net pleasure .-Etymology:The name derives from the Greek word for "delight" ....
- HumanismHumanismHumanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
External links
- Lokāyata/Cārvāka – Indian Materialism (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
- Cārvāka, the first Chapter of The Sarva-darsana-sangraha of Madhavacharya
- "Ancient Indian Wisdom" by Dr. Ramendra published in International Humanist News
- "On Lokayat" in Some Reflections on Ethics by Dr. Ramendra