CHARVAKA

Rationalism. Secularism. Freedom

Upanishads

  • Professor Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya as a Researcher

    G RAMAKRISHNA

    This analytical appraisal examines Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya’s pioneering historiographical methodology in Indian philosophy and science. By integrating anthropological insights, archaeology, and socio-economic analysis, Chattopadhyaya defended ancient Indian materialism, unmasked the social functions of superstition, and challenged traditional orthodox classifications, establishing a materialist counterpoint to idealist traditions and reclaiming science’s historical roots.

  • Materialism in Indian Philosophy

    SHRIPAD KRISHNA BELVALKAR

    and

    RAMCHANDRA DATTATREYA RANADE

    Tracing its roots from early Upanishadic heterodoxy and Ajita Keśakambalin’s radical elemental philosophy to the formal Lokāyata school, this compiled selection from S. K. Belvalkar and R. D. Ranade’s landmark 1927 volume presents Indian materialism as an influential, systematic framework of ancient rationalist thought that challenged orthodoxy and shaped early secular philosophy.

  • Ajita Kesa-Kambalin

    SHRIPAD KRISHNA BELVALKAR

    and

    RAMCHANDRA DATTATREYA RANADE

    Extracted from S. K. Belvalkar and R. D. Ranade’s History of Indian Philosophy (1927), this study examines the radical radicalism of Ajita Keśakambalin. Drawing from the Sāmaññaphala Sutta, the authors explore his rejection of ritualism, his four-element physicalism, and his place as an early precursor to full-fledged Cārvāka thought.

  • 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.