Carvaka Philosophy

Carvaka, also frequently transliterated as Charvaka or Cārvāka, and also known as Lokayata or Lokyāta, is a thoroughly materialistic and atheistic school of thought with ancient roots in India.

Destruction of original works

Available evidence suggests that Carvaka philosophy was set out in the Brhaspati Sutra in India, probably about 600 BCE. Neither this text nor any other original text of the Carvaka school of philosophy has been preserved. Its principal works are known only from fragments cited by its Hindu and Buddhist opponents. Carvaka philosophy appears to have died out some time after 1400 CE.

Countering the argument that the Carvakas opposed all that was good in the Vedic tradition, Dale Riepe says, "It may be said from the available material that Carvakas hold truth, integrity, consistency, and freedom of thought in the highest esteem." 1

Madhavacharya and Carvaka system

Madhavacharya, the 14th-century Vedantic philosopher from South India starts his famous work The Sarva-darsana-sangraha with a chapter on the Carvaka system with the intention of refuting it. After invoking, in the Prologue of the book, the Hindu gods Siva and Vishnu, ("by whom the earth and rest were produced"), Madhavacharya asks, in the first chapter:

...but how can we attribute to the Divine Being the giving of supreme felicity, when such a notion has been utterly abolished by Charvaka, the crest-gem of the atheistic school, the follower of the doctrine of Brihaspati? The efforts of Charvaka are indeed hard to be eradicated, for the majority of living beings hold by the current refrain Ð'--

While life is yours, live joyously;

None can escape Death's searching eye:

When once this frame of ours they burn,

How shall it e'er again return?

Some quotations (attributed to Carvaka) from Sarva-Darsana-Sangraha

The Agnihotra, the three Vedas, the ascetic's three staves, and smearing oneself with ashes Ð'--

Brihaspati says, these are but means of livelihood for those who have no manliness nor sense.

In this school there are four elements, earth, water, fire and air;

and from these four elements alone is intelligence produced Ð'--

just like the intoxicating power from kinwa &c, mixed together;

since in "I am fat", "I am lean", these attributes abide in the same subject,

and since fatness, &c, reside only in the body, it alone is the soul and no other,

and such phrases as "my body" are only significant metaphorically.

If a beast slain in the Jyothishtoma rite will itself go to heaven,

why then does not the sacrificer forthwith offer his own father?

If the Sraddha produces gratification to beings who are dead,

then why not give food down below to those who are standing on the house-top?

If he who departs from the body goes to another world,

how is it that he come not back again, restless for love of his kindred?

Hence it is only as a means of livelihood that Brahmans have established here

all these ceremonies for the dead, Ð'-- there is no other fruit any where.

The three authors of the Vedas were buffoons, knaves, and demons.

All the well-known formulae of the pandits, jarphari, turphari, etc.

and all the obscene rites for the queen commanded in Aswamedha,

these were invented by buffoons, and so all the various kinds of presents to the priests,

while the eating of flesh was similarly commanded by night-prowling demons.

Those parts which survive indicate a strong anti-clerical bias, accusing brahmins of fostering religious beliefs only so they could obtain a livelihood. The proper aim of a Charvakan or Charvaka, according to these sources, was to live a prosperous, happy, and productive life in this world.

Systems of ancient Indian thought can be divided into two broad classes: the Carvaka and Vedanta philosophies. Buddhism and Jainism were originally major atheistic branches, though later they incorporated theistic concepts alien to them.

Meaning of the word carvaka

The Sanskrit word chaarvaaka is generally understood to be a compound of two words chaari and vaak. Chaari means "sweet" or "attractive", and vaak means "speaking". Some other meanings are also ascribed to the word, but "sweet speaking" is the most plausible. This school of thought was also called Lokayata, probably from pre-Vedic times. "Lokayata" would broadly mean "prevalent among people" or "prevalent in the world" (loka and ayata).

Brihaspati and Lokayata

It is said that the Hindu sage Brihaspati, the preceptor of the Vedic gods, founded and preached the Lokayata thought, though this involves a number of contradictions with Hindu scriptures which would aver otherwise. In all likelihood, the relevant Brihaspati was another philosopher of the same name. Ancient texts like Brhati, a commentary on Saabarbhaashya, Sarvadarsanasangraha, etc, mention Brihaspati as the founder and champion of the Carvaaka doctrine.[citation needed]

The best-known verse attributed to Brihaspati enunciated a principle that is ironically used by the opponents as a handle to beat them with:

Yavajjivet sukham jivet

Rinam kritvaa ghritam pibet

Bhasmibhutasya dehasya

Punaraagamanam kutah

(As long as you live, live happily, take a loan and drink ghee. After a body is reduced to ashes where will it come back from?)

In Ayurveda, a Hindu medicinal system, "ghee is life"