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.