V Brodov Brhaspati (c. 7th-6th century B. C.) is believed to be the founder of the Charvaka Lokayatika School and the author of its Sutras. The Charvakas Lokayatikas are materialist philosophers. It would be a rude error, however, to restrict the Brhaspati line to the materialism of the Charvakas Lokayatikas. That would mean narrowing down…
Donald H Bishop Donald H Bishop wrote this essay as an introduction to the section, The Heterodox Schools, of the book Indian Thought – An Introduction, edited by him and published in 1975. At the time of the publication of the book, the author was with College of Sciences and Arts, Washington State University. We upload this essay as…
Ramkrishna Bhattacharya The title of the paper may sound odd to some, for Marx, in spite of his encyclopedic learning, was not at all conversant with the Indian philosophical tradition. Yet there are a few points in Marx’s works that may be of use in relation to the reconstruction of the materialist tradition in Indian…
Dipak Nandy (This essay first appeared in Marxism Today in its January 1962 issue) The Vice-President of India, Mr. Radhakrishnan, recently stated that “the characteristic of Indian thought is that it has paid greater attention to the inner world of man than to the outer world”. Indeed, the course of Indian thought, as told in…
Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya [This essay was first published as part of a collection of essays, Indian Thought – An Introduction, edited by Donald H Bishop, and published in 1975. Background Lokayata Epistemology Social Ethics Consciousness Lokayata and Indian Materialism] I. Background It is generally assumed that Indian materialism can be discussed today only on the basis of…
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Mádhava Áchárya [Madhavacharya was a minister of the Vijayanagara empire. He later became the 12th Jagadguru of the Sringeri Sharada Peetham from 1380 to 1386CE. He is the author of Sarva-darśana-saṃgraha, a compendium of Indian Philosopy, which discusses sixteen philosophical views. The Carvaka System (reproduced below) forms the first chapter. Sarva-darśana-saṃgraha was translated into English…
<!– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:Arial; mso-fareast-font-family:Arial; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:black; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} Ramkrishna Bhattacharya There are two ways of reading philosophy: Philosophical-doctrinal and Historical-textcritical. The first approach does not pay much attention…
Rhys Davids (From the introduction to the English translation of the Kutadanta Sutta; Dialogues of the Buddha – page 166-172, London, 1889) T. W. Rhys Davids There is a curious expression in the stock phrase describing the learned Brahman, so often found in the Piṭakas, which I have left untranslated in this Sutta, being uncertain…
Haraprasad Shastri (This essay was published in Dacca University Bulletin, No.1, 1925) Haraprasad Shastri The Sarvadarsanasamgraha was published in the Bibliotheca Indica Series in 1858 under the editorship of Pandit Isvar Chandra Vidyasagara. The first chapter of this work contained an account of the Carvaka Darsana – a system of philosophy which believed neither in…