Cārvāka (Sanskrit: चार्वाक), also known as Lokāyata, is a system of Indian philosophy that assumes various forms of philosophical skepticism and religious indifference.^[1] It seems named after Cārvāka^[2], the probable author of the Bārhaspatya-sūtras and probably a follower of Brihaspati, who founded the Lokāyata philosophy.

In overviews of Indian philosophy, Cārvāka is classified as a heterodox (nāstika) system, the same classification as is given to Buddhism and Jainism.^[3][4] 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.^[5][6]

Name and origins[link]

The name Lokāyata can be traced to Kautilya's Arthashastra, which refers to three ānvīkṣikīs (logical philosophies), Yoga, Samkhya and Lokāyata. Lokāyata 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 "Lokāyata" with the Vitandas (sophists).

Only from about the 6th century is the term restricted to the school of the Lokyātikas. The name Cārvāka 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 Kamalaśīla and Haribhadra. Shankara, on the other hand, always uses Lokāyata, not Cārvāka.^[7] By the 8th century, the terms Cārvāka, Lokāyata, and Bārhaspatya were used interchangeably to signify materialism ^[8].

The etymological meaning of the word Cārvāka 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 lokāyata 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).^[9]

Loss of original works[link]

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."^[10]

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."^[11]

Tattvopaplavasimha of Jayaraasi Bhatta[link]

The Tattvopaplavasimha of Jayarashi Bhatta (ca. 8th century) is often cited as the only extant authentic Cārvāka text, but which also shows Madhyamaka influence. It is, in any case, among the most important documents for the study of the Cārvāka school.

Philosophy[link]

The Cārvāka school of philosophy had a variety of atheistic and materialistic beliefs. They held perception to be the only source of knowledge.^[12]

Views on Consciousness and Afterlife[link]

Carvaka believed that body was formed out of four elements (not five) and consciousness was an outcome of body. Therefore, Carvaka did not believe in an afterlife. They denied the existence of any soul or consciousness in the afterlife and often used a quote from Brihadaranyaka Upanishad where Yajnavalkya informs Maitreyi that there is no consciousness after death, to justify this.^[12]

Springing forth from these elements itself

solid knowledge is destroyed

when they are destroyed—

after death no intelligence remains.^[12]

Views on pleasure[link]

Cārvāka believed there was nothing wrong with sensual pleasures and that it was the only enjoyment to be pursued. Since it is impossible to have pleasure without pain, Cārvāka belived, wisdom lay in enjoying pleasure and avoiding pain as far as possible. Unlike many of the Indian philosophies of the time, Cārvāka did not believe in rejecting pleasure out of fear of pain and held such reasoning to be foolish.^[12]

Views on religion[link]

The Cārvāka were extremely critical of the Vedas and thought that Vedas suffered from three faults - untruth, self-contradiction and tautology. To them, Vedas were just incoherent rhapsodies. They also held the belief that such texts were invented and made up by men and had no divine authority.^[13]

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.^[14]

Earliest description of Brihaspati[link]

Brihaspati is sometimes referenced as the founder of Cārvāka/Lokāyata 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."

"The wise should enjoy the pleasures of this world through the more appropriate available means of agriculture, tending cattle, trade, political administration, etc."

Vidyāraṇya and Cārvāka[link]

Mādhava Vidyāraṇya, the 13th & 14th-century Vedantic 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"), Vidyāraṇya 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?

Astika schools, Buddhism, and Jainism versus Cārvāka[link]

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 Lokāyatikas' arguments, the latter did not completely reject the method of inference.^{[citation needed]}

Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya 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."^[15]

In contrast to Buddhists and Jains, Cārvāka mocked the concept of liberation and thought that, the viewpoint of relinquishing pleasure to avoid pain was "reasoning of fools".^[13] 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.^[16]

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.^{[citation needed]}

Abul Fazl on Lokāyata[link]

Ain-i-Akbari, 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. Some Cārvāka philosophers are said to have participated in this symposium.^[17]

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 "Lokāyata"—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[link]

• Adevism
• Atheism
• Atheism in Hinduism
• Nastika
• Hinduism
• Hedonism
• Humanism

Notes[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Bhatta, Jayarashi. Tattvopapalavasimha (Charvaka Philosophy). 
• Chattopadhyaya, Debiprasad (1959). Lokāyata: A Study in Ancient Indian Materialism. New Delhi: People's Pub. House. 
• Chattopadhyaya, Debiprasad (1964). Indian Philosophy: A Popular Introduction. New Delhi: People's Pub. House. 
• Chattopadhyaya, Debiprasad (1969). Indian Atheism: A Marxist Analysis. Kolkata: Manisha. 
• Chattopadhyaya, Debiprasad (1976). What Is Living and What Is Dead in Indian Philosophy. New Delhi: People's Pub. House. 
• Cowell, E.B.; Gough, A.E. (1882). Sarva-Darsana Sangraha of Madhava Acharya: Review of Different Systems of Hindu Philosophy. New Delhi: Indian Books Centre/Sri Satguru Publications. ISBN 81-7030-875-5. 
• Flood, Gavin (1996). An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 
• Nambiar, Sita Krishna (1971). Prabodhacandrodaya of Krsna Misra. Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass. 
• Phillott, D. C. (ed.) (1989) [1927]. The Ain-i Akbari. by Abu l-Fazl Allami, trans. H. Blochmann (3 vols. ed.). Delhi: Low Price Publications. ISBN 81-85395-19-5 (set). 
• Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli; and Moore, Charles A. A Source Book in Indian Philosophy. Princeton University Press; 1957. Princeton paperback 12th edition, 1989. ISBN 0-691-01958-4.
• Riepe, Dale (1964). The Naturalistic Tradition of Indian Thought (2nd ed. ed.). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. 
• Salunkhe, A. H. (in Marathi). Aastikashiromani Chaarvaaka. 
• Sen, Amartya (2005). The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture and Identity. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 0-7139-9687-0. 
• Pradeep P. Gokhale, The Cārvāka Theory of Pramāṇas: A Restatement, Philosophy East and West (1993).
• John M. Koller, Skepticism in Early Indian Thought, Philosophy East and West (1977).
• R. Bhattacharya, Cārvāka Fragments: A New Collection, Journal of Indian Philosophy, Volume 30, Number 6, December 2002, pp. 597–640.
• R. A. Schermerhorn, When Did Indian Materialism Get Its Distinctive Titles?, Journal of the American Oriental Society (1930).

External links[link]

• Lokāyata/Cārvāka – Information site on Lokāyata
• 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 Lokāyat" in Some Reflections on Ethics by Dr. Ramendra
• Materialism in India: A Synoptic View Ramakrishna Bhattacharya

v t e Theological thought Abrahamism · Acosmism · Agnosticism · Animism · Antireligion · Atheism · Deism · Dharmism · Discordianism - Dualism · Esotericism · Feminist theology · Gnosticism · Henotheism · Immanence · Monism · Monotheism · Mysticism · New Age · New Thought · Nondualism · Pandeism · Pantheism · Polytheism · Process theology · Rastafari movement - Religious naturalism · Shamanism · Shramanism · Taoic · Theism · Thelema - Transcendence · more Religion portal