(a) Did the Carvakas Refuse to Admit Inference?
In the Indian philosophical
context, besides the issues of rebirth, afterlife and otherworld, the instruments
of cognition (prammana) are
considered to be of seminal importance. The Carvakas are generally branded as a
philosophical school that accepted perception as the only means of knowledge.
But there are enough evidence to show that, in addition to perception, the Carvakas
also admitted inference as a valid means of cognition in so far as it was based
on perception and hence verifiable by perception. As to verbal testimony,
analogy and other instruments of cognition accepted by various schools, the Carvakas
refused to accept them. We shall now delineate on this issue.
All college textbooks and most of
the popular digests and handbooks of Indian philosophy describe the Carvakas as
pramanaikavadin, i.e., they recognize
no other instrument of cognition except one, viz., perception. Vacaspatimitra
(ninth/tenth century) satirizes the Carvakas in the following way:
Moreover, even beasts, with a view to obtaining the beneficial and avoiding the harmful, move towards a field green with soft, fresh grass and leave one full of dried grass and thorns. The Nastika, not knowing what would lead to his own good or what would lead him into harm, is more beastly than a beast. In this matter (of determining a thing as desirable and undesirable), which is the basis of an effort for obtainment (pravrtti) or an effort for avoidance (nivrtti), and can only be known by inference, perception is not capable of doing anything.11
Many other Brahminical and Jain
philosophers have similarly condemned the Carvakas as pramanaikavadin. But such
a branding is not only wrong but betrays some design as well. Let us take the
following instance.
To prove that the Carvakas declined
to admit inference as a valid means of knowledge Santaraksita and Jayantabhatta
cite several verses. All of them, however, are taken from Bhartrhari’s Vakyapadiya. Silanka, Vacaspatimitra and
Vadidevasuri too follow them. Now Bhartrhari was a staunch Vedist. He did not
believe in any other means of knowledge except verbal testimony. Both
perception and inference were unacceptable to him. Yet the opponents of the Carvakas
prefer to cite his view as if it corresponds to the Lokayatikas’. If there were
any aphorism denying the validity of inference in the Carvakas works, why did
the antagonist all quote Bhartrhari and then set out to refute the Carvakas?
One has the impression that Santaraksita and others simply use the Carvakas as
their Sikhandin: the butt of their attack was really Bhartrhari or the school
of grammarians, although they never declared it in so many words.12 If
any school of Indian
The fact is that the Carvakas did
admit inference along with perception as an instrument of cognition. Let us
have a look at the evidence.
Kamalasila in his commentary on Tattvasangraha, verses 148182, quotes a
line: “Purandara however says, ‘The Carvakas too admit of such an inference as
is well-known in the world, but that which is called inference [by some],
transgressing the worldly way, is prohibited [by them]’.” Soon after the
publication of this work (1926) Satkari Mookerjee (1935) referred to this
sentence as did Surendranath Dasgupta (1940).13 Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya (1989),
too, devotes a section on “The Evidence of Purandara”.14
Dasgupta also refers to
Vadidevasuri, who says that, according to the Carvakas, “Since in the supposed
suprasensuous transcendent world no case of the hetu [reason] agreeing with the presence of its sadhya [inferable property] can be
observed, no inductive generalization or law of concomitance can be made
relating to this sphere.”
M. Hiriyanna too notes that the
opponents of the Carvakas may even have misrepresented its tenets:
Thus it is commonly assumed by the critics that the Carvakas denounce reasoning as a pramana; but to judge from the reference to it in one Nyaya treatise, they seem to have rejected only such reasoning as was ordinarily thought sufficient by others for establishing the existence of God, of a future life, etc.15
Hiriyanna observes: “Such a
discrimination in using reason alters the whole complexion of the Carvakas view.
But this is only a stray hint we get about the truth. What we generally have is
a caricature.”
The Nyaya treatise Hiriyanna
mentions is Jayantabhatta’s Nyayamañjari,
the first printed edition of which appeared as early as 1895. None before
Hiriyanna, however, noticed this hint. (Hiriyanna in his turn also failed to
notice the passages in the works of Kamala†„la and Vadidevasuri which provide
categorical assertions—not mere stray hints—regarding the limited validity of
inference admitted by the Carvakas).
Besides Kamalasila, Jayanta and
Vadidevasuri, Sarvamatasangraha, an
anonymous and undated digest, presents the Carvakas view more elaborately:
This rice, because of its riceness (annatva) satisfies hunger as it did yesterday—such an inference as this is included there (sc. in the Lokayata Sastra), due to its being rooted in perception. The fruits of worldly goods (abhyudaya) and summum bonum (nihsreyasa), the matter of religion and brahman as well as the Veda are devoted to the pretersensual, hence are not (to be admitted as) means of knowledge— this is the conclusion.16
Ratnaprabh‚, a Jain philosopher,
too, seems to echo Purandara when he writes:
The Carvakas, however, contend that they admit inferences which are of practical utility, such as the inference of fire from smoke, and deny only those which deal with such supernatural matters as the heaven, the unseen power (apurva) which generates in a next birth fruits of acts done in a present life, etc. etc.17
Gunaratna, another Jain philosopher,
repeats the same view:
The Carvakas admit the validity of inference which tend to facilitate the daily activities of ordinary people (loka-yatra-nirvahana-pravanam), such as the inference of fire from smoke, etc., but they never admit the validity of extraordinary inferences which seek to establish the heaven, merit and demerit, etc.18
Last but not least, Sukhlalji
Sanghvi, the eminent Jain scholar of our times, prefers to follow this view.
The Carvakas, according to him, belongs to the side which accepts the dominance
of the senses (indriyadhipatya-paksa)
as opposed to those who reject the senses (in favour of the mind or the self),
those who admit the dominance of both the senses and the mind (or the self),
and those who admit only the dominance of the Vedas.19
In fact, the distinction made
between two kinds of inference—one confined to the ways of the world (laukika), and the other relying on the
scriptures or the suprasensual (sastrasiddha)—is
the lasting contribution of the Carvakas to Indian Logic. It is a sad
commentary on the state of scholarship that the true Carvakas view regarding
inference has all along been distorted and willfully misrepresented. Is it too
much to expect that the writers of the twenty-first century will take note of
these discoveries (not all of them very recent) and put an end to caricaturing
the Carvakas position? They should realize what S. Radhakrishnan, no friend of
materialism, said long ago in relation to the verses at the end of SDS, ch. 1:
“A philosophy professed seriously for centuries could not have been of the
coarse kind that it is here reported to be.”20
(b)
Were the Carvakas Sensualists?
All that has been said above is
enough, I think, to dispel the notion that the Carvakas were a happy-go-lucky
lot and their sole aim in life was sensual gratification. Had it been so, all
their opponents would not have dealt with them so seriously. The Carvakas, of
course, did not believe in the otherworld and were not credulous enough to
believe in the existence of two separate places called heaven and hell. So the
opponents of the Carvakas have portrayed them as immoral people preaching “eat,
drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die”. But none of the opponents quotes a
single sutra in support of such representation. Serious scholars like Richard
Garbe and M. Hiriyanna noted long ago that such a (mis)representation has all
the characteristics of a caricature.
Let us reexamine the sources of
the basis on which the Carvakas have been branded as unrestrained hedonists.
The only “evidence” that is cited is a verse found in SDS.
yavajjivet sukham jived rnam krtva ghrtam pibet /
bhasmibhutasya dehasya punar agamanam kutah//
While life remains, let a man live happily; let him feed on ghee even though he runs in debt; when once the body becomes ashes, how can it ever return again?
The same verse, however, is
quoted in no fewer than thirteen sources both before and after SDS and almost
everywhere the second hemistich reads nasti
mrtyor agocarah (nothing is
beyond the scope of death).21 Whatever other variants there may be, nowhere
does the second hemistich reads rnam krtva
ghrtam pibet, excepting in SDS.
More interesting is the fact that Sayana-Madhava himself quotes this verse
twice in the same chapter, once at the beginning and again at the end. In the
first instance he too quotes the second hemistich as nasti mrtyor agocarah!
There is no proof to show that
the verse under discussion originated from among the Carvakas. It is first
found in the Visnudharmottara Mahapurana
(108. 1819). Here, too, the second hemistich reads nasti mrtyor agocarah. The verse is attributed to King Be‹a who,
both in this Purana and elsewhere, is represented as a king who did not believe
in the otherworld. So he never cared to conform to the traditional duties of a
devout person. There is no mention of any such term as Barhaspatya or Carvakas or
Lokayata in this context. In fact, most of the verses that are attributed to Brhaspati
by Sayana-Madhava and others are of doubtful authenticity.
Whatever be the authenticity of
the yavajjivet verse, the fact
remains that this very verse has been generally taken to be the quintessence of
the Carvakas philosophy. But what the verse says in its original form is pretty
simple. The message is quite clear: Since there is no rebirth, there is no use
of practising austerity; death will overpower everyone anyway.
Let us look at the matter from
another angle. Jayantabhatta has no soft spot for the Carvakas. He controverts
at some length the Carvakas regarding the acceptance of inference as an
instrument of cognition both in his philosophical work, Nyayamañjari and his allegorical play, Agamadambara. He, however, refuses to accept the view that the Carvakas
prescribed any hedonistic doctrine. He rather believes that the Lokayata “is
only the assertion of the vaitandika
(representing merely the destructive criticism of others); it is not really a
body of precepts.” 22
A putative opponent is said to
object: “But then there it has been (positively) prescribed: ‘Live in pleasure
as long as you live’.” Jayanta brushes aside this objection. “No,” he says,
“the fact being naturally established, a prescription in this regard becomes
useless.” 23
In other words, the verse, according to Jayanta, does not contain any
prescription at all.
It is also to be noted that other
philosophers who have crossed swords with the Carvakas have concentrated solely
on epistemological questions. We may mention the names of Sankaracarya, Santaraksita
and Prabhacandra who find fault with the Carvakas doctrine on both
epistemological and metaphysical grounds, but they never call it hedonistic or
anything of that sort. There is no denying the fact that the Carvakas did not
abide by the Vedas, nor did they believe in the doctrine of rebirth and karman; they also refused to accept any
statement based on inference unless it was supported by or based on perception.
All these objections have been raised and contested from the Brahminical,
Buddhist and Jain points of view. But in the philosophical works no charge has
been levelled against them that involves moral depravity. It seems that a
facile equation was made by the custodians of orthodoxy between the denial of
the otherworld and indulgence in sensual gratification.
Such an equation is also met with
in ancient Greece .
Epicurus (341270 BCE) lived an austere life, as did Ajita Kesakambala.24 Yet
Epicurus was maligned as a glutton in subsequent Greek and Roman literature.
Two modern English words, ‘Epicure’ and ‘Epicurean’, stand for “a person who
takes particular pleasure in fine food and drink” (as given in the Concise Oxford Dictionary, 2001).
But did Epicurus not preach that
pleasure was the highest good? Most certainly he did. But by “pleasure” he
meant intellectual pleasure. In a letter to Menoeceus he made his position
amply clear:
So when we say that pleasure is the end, we do not mean the pleasures of the dissipated and those that consist in having a good time, as some out of ignorance and disagreement or refusal to understand suppose we do, but freedom from pain in the body and from disturbance in the soul. For what produces the pleasant life is not continuous drinking and parties or pederasty or womanizing or the enjoyment of fish and the other dishes of an expensive table, but sober reasoning which tracks down the causes of every choice and avoidance and which banishes the opinions that beset souls with the greatest confusion.25
If, in spite of, such crystal
clear exposition, the Epicurean view of pleasure could be so much distorted,
what could the poor Carvakas do? Not a single fragment of the Carvakas sources
contains any reference to pleasure or what the founders of that system meant by
pleasure. Yet, thanks to some poets and playwrights and the writers of popular
digests of philosophy (both ancient and modern), the word, carvaka, has become synonymous with sensualism. Generations of men
and women have been victims of this malign campaign. It is high time that we
get rid of such a misconception.
Conclusion
What comes out of the above is
pretty clear: The Carvakas were uncompromising materialists, caring nothing for
religion of any sort, be it Brahminical, Jain or Buddhist. They refused to go
beyond nature and rejected everything called ‘supernatural’. They made fun of asceticism,
priestcraft, rituals and glorification of gift (dana) to the Brahmins. The system betrays a very early origin,
since it is firmly rooted in the concept of four basic elements (bhutas, viz., earth, air, fire and
water). But one cannot fail to notice the keen observation implicit in their
philosophical speculations. Referring to aphorism 1.5, B. K. Matilal remarks,
“This empirical methodology might have been the precursor of scientific thought
in India .”26
The Carvakas did not believe in
the caste (varna
Although some modern writers, in
spite of their affiliation to one idealist system or the other, doubted the
veracity of such representation, the authors of textbooks and popular digests
of Indian philosophy persist in the same game of maligning the Carvakas, as
their counterparts in Europe did in slandering Epicurus. How much is ignorance
of primary sources to be blamed, and how much ideological opposition, is worth
pondering.
Notes and References
11. Bhamati, sub-commentary on the Brahmasutra
(3.3.53). See Debiprasad Chattopadhayaya and Mrinal Kanti Gangopadhyaya ed. Carvaka/Lokayata. 1990. New Delhi : Indian Council of Philosophical
Research. p. 243.
12. Santaraksita quotes verses 3234
in their right order, Jayantabhatta quotes verses 32, 42, and 34 (in this order
both in Nyayamañjari and Agamadambara). ¤„l‚¥ka quotes verse 42
only, while Vacaspati and Vadidevasuri quote verse 32 only. For textual
details, see Bhattacharya, Ramkrishna. 1999. ‘Paurandarasutra Revisited’. Journal
of Indian Philosophy, 27(5): 489, 495.
13. Mookerjee, Satkari. 1935. The Buddhist Philosophy of Universal Flux.
Calcutta : Calcutta University Delhi :
Motilal Banarsidass. Vol. 3, pp. 536, 539.
14. Chattopadhyaya, Debiprasad.
1989. In Defence of Materialism in Ancient India New Delhi : People’s Publishing House. pp. 5254.
15. Hiriyanna, M. 1932. Outlines
of Indian Philosophy. Bombay : George Allen
& Unwin (India ).
1973 reprint. p. 188.
16. Sarvamatasamgraha. 1915. T. Ganapati Sastri ed. Trivandram. p. 15.
17. Commentary on Vadidevasuri’s Pramana-naya-tattvalokalamkara. 1967.
Hari Satya Bhattacharya trans. Bombay :
Jain Sahitya Vikas Mandal. p. 504.
18. Tarka-rahasya-dipika, commentary on Haribhadra’s Sad-darsana-samuccaya. 1914. Luigi
Suali ed. Calcutta :
The Asiatic Society. p. 306; Carvaka/Lokayata
(n. 11 above). p. 273.
19. Sanghvi, Sukhlalji. 1941. ‘Tattvopaplavasimha, Carvaka Darsana ka eka Apurva Grantha’ in Tattvopaplavasimha of Jayarasi Bhatta.
1987. Varanasi :
Bauddha Bharati. pp. 2324. The article first appeared in Bharatiya Vidya, 2 (1) and included in Sanghvi’s Darsana evam Cintana. Vadodora: Gujarata
Vidyasabh‚.
20. Radhakrishnan, S. 1929. Indian Philosophy. London : George Allen & Unwin. Vol, 1. p. 283.
21. For details see Bhattacharya,
Ramkrishna. 1996. ‘“mam krtva ghrtam pibet”—Who Said This?’ Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical
Research, 14(1): 170174 and 1999. ‘“jivika dhatrnirmita” or “jiviketi brhaspati”?
’ JICPR, 17(1): 171176.
22.Jayantabhatta. Nyayamañjari.
Ahnika 4. Part I, p. 388.
23. Nyayamañjari (n. 7
above). p. 388.
24. For details see Bhattacharya,
Ramkrishna. 1999. ‘Ajita Kesakambala: Nihilist or Materialst?’ The Journal of the Asiatic Society,
41(1): 7483.
25. Long , A. A. and Sedley, D.
N. 1987. The Hellenistic Philosophers.
Cambridge : Cambridge University
26. Matilal, B. K. 1987. ‘Carvaka’
in Mircea Eliade ed. Encyclopedia of
Religion, New York :
Macmillan Publishing Co.Vol. 3, p. 165.
27. Jayantabhatta derisively
calls the Carvakas varaka, “wretched”
in Nyayamañjari
(n. 7 above). •hnika 3. Part I,
p. 229. Hemacandra also employs this derogatory word against the Carvakas in Yogasastra. 1926. Bhavnagar : Srijainadharma Pracharasabha. 2.
38. f. 96b.
This is the second part of the essay “Lokayata Darsana and a Comparative Study with Greek Materialism”, which we published earlier. This essay was originally published in Partha Ghose (ed.), Materialism and Immaterialism in India and the West: Varying Vistas. New Delhi : Centre for the Studies on Civilizations, 12:5, 2010, pp.21-34.
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Ramkrishna Bhattacharya taught English at theUniversity
of Calcutta
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