Cārvāka
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In Defence of Reason
This essay defends rationality against modern fundamentalism and postmodern critiques, drawing parallels between classical Greek drama and Indian philosophy. Highlighting quotes from Sophocles, Euripides, and the Yogavāsiṣṭha, it underscores that reason must be continuously cultivated. In ancient India, the heterodox Cārvāka materialists stood out as uncompromising rationalists who rejected uncritical scriptural authority.
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Tattvopaplavavāda of Jayarāśi and its Alleged Relation to the Cārvāka/Lokāyata
Ramkrishna Bhattacharya challenges the classification of Jayarāśibhaṭṭa’s Tattvopaplava-siṁha as a Cārvāka text. Highlighting internal textual evidence, he argues Jayarāśi rejected all pramāṇas and claimed intellectual superiority over Bṛhaspati. Rather than endorsing materialism, Jayarāśi established a distinct, radical doctrine—tattvopaplavavāda—aimed at upsetting all philosophical principles and refuting all opposing views.
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Lectures on the Cārvāka/Lokāyata (Part I) :
An Overview of the Cārvāka/Lokāyata MaterialismThis lecture provides an overview of philosophical materialism, examining its foundational tenets and unique emergence within ancient India. It traces the development of Cārvāka/Lokāyata as a systematized, indigenous school, contrasting its empirical epistemology, materialist ontology, and anti-ascetic ethics with Presocratic Greek thought, pre-Cārvāka proto-materialism, and various regional folk-tradition cults.
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Hemacandra and the Misunderstanding of Cārvāka Inference
This analysis reveals how Jain scholar Hemacandra and commentator Malliṣeṇa misrepresented Cārvāka epistemology by ignoring commentarial literature. Contrary to their claim that Cārvākas rejected all inference, commentators like Purandara, Aviddhakarṇa, and Udbhaṭa affirmed empirical inference for daily life while rejecting its use for unobservable, supernatural entities like heaven or karma.
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Jayanta Bhaṭṭa’s Inconsistencies and Misrepresentations
This section analyzes Nyāya scholar Jayanta Bhaṭṭa’s contradictory polemics against Cārvāka epistemology in the Nyāyamañjarī. By shifting inconsistently between the base sūtra text and Udbhaṭa’s commentary, Jayanta obscured the Cārvāka acceptance of practical, worldly inference, misrepresenting their nuanced empirical position as absolute agnostic skepticism to undermine their materialist philosophy in debate.
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Cārvāka Miscellany – I
The notes propose to throw light on certain aspects of materialism in ancient India and point out some longstanding errors that have gone unnoticed. Some links are also sought to be established between the pre-Cārvāka materialism and the Cārvāka/Lokāyata system that emerged in or around the sixth/seventh century CE.
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The Heterodox Schools of Indian Thought
Donald H. Bishop examines the origins, metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics of Cārvāka materialism. He highlights its rejection of ether, inference, and theistic dogmas in favor of empirical perception and hedonism. Challenging priestly orthodoxy, Cārvākism provided a vital skeptical counterweight that shaped heterodox traditions like Buddhism and Jainism in ancient India.
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Marx and the Materialist Tradition in Indian Philosophy
Ramkrishna Bhattacharya applies Karl Marx’s classical philological method—used in analyzing Greek fragments—to reconstruct Indian materialism. Rejecting uniform historical linearity and uncritical acceptance of anti-materialist representations, Bhattacharya highlights internal epistemological developments, showing how Cārvāka thinkers accepted perception-based inference while rejecting scriptural dogma and later revisionist interpretations.
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Reasoners and Religious Law-makers: An Ancient Indian Case Study
Ramkrishna Bhattacharya examines how orthodox Indian Dharmaśāstras systematically vilified rationalist freethinkers. Terms like haituka—originally meaning reasoner—were conflated with nāstika to brand dissenters as heretics. Despite severe scriptural condemnation and social stigmatization in epics like the Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata, rationalist inquiry persisted through Cārvāka and Lokāyata traditions.