CHARVAKA

Rationalism. Secularism. Freedom

Historical Materialism

  • D. D. Kosambi’s Views on the Six Heretics and the Buddha: A Critique

    RAMKRISHNA BHATTACHARYA

    Ramkrishna Bhattacharya compares how Indian Marxist thinkers D. D. Kosambi and Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya interpreted early Buddhism and its contemporary heretical sects. While Kosambi emphasized the Buddha’s social philosophy and the Middle Way as practical responses to socio-economic transitions, Chattopadhyaya initially viewed Buddhism as an illusion before adopting a similar historical-materialist perspective.

  • Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya’s Assessment and Reassessment of the Sāmañña-phala-sutta :
    A Critique

    RAMKRISHNA BHATTACHARYA

    Ramkrishna Bhattacharya analyzes Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya’s evolving perspective on early Buddhism and the five contemporary heretical sects in the Sāmañña-phala-sutta. Moving from a rigid, doctrinal framework in Lokāyata to a concrete historical-materialist method in later works, Chattopadhyaya re-examined ancient Indian materialism and radical social critique within its specific historical epoch.

  • Ancient Indian Materialism

    DIPAK NANDY

    In Marxism Today (January 1962), Dipak Nandy reviews D. P. Chattopadhyaya’s landmark book Lokayata. He explores how ancient Indian materialism, Tantrism, and Sāṃkhya philosophy emerged from early agricultural tribal communities, dismantling the anti-Marxist myth that materialist thought is fundamentally alien to Indian tradition.

  • Indian Materialism

    AUGUST THALHEIMER

    In Introduction to Dialectical Materialism, August Thalheimer provides a Marxist analysis of ancient India’s 6th-century BC intellectual crisis. He demonstrates how economic transformations—the breakdown of primitive village communes, urban trade, and rising caste divisions—fueled both Buddhist reform and radical Cārvāka materialism, establishing Lokāyata as a crucial precursor to dialectical thought.

  • Unmasking Misconceptions
    D. D. Kosambi’s Exasperating Essays

    PRABHAKAR NANAWATY

    First published in 1957, D. D. Kosambi’s Exasperating Essays: Exercises in the Dialectical Method offers a penetrating Marxist analysis of Indian society, history, and culture. Spanning topics from class structures and scientific freedom to the decline of Buddhism, Kosambi challenges both orthodox dogmas and bourgeois misconceptions, providing a brilliant, multidisciplinary framework for understanding India’s historical…