Carvaka/Lokayata: An Anthology of Source Materials and Some Recent Studies

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The ancient Indian materialistic thought system known as Carvaka or Lokayata formed the most redoubtable intellectual and doctrinal sect outside the Vedic fold. Despite intense persecution from orthodoxy, it stood its ground unfailingly and left a powerful impress on the corpus of Indian literature from the Vedas to the Upanisads and later. The irreproachable logic of its basic stance still appeals to perceptive minds.

In this anthology almost all the available materials on Carvaka Lokayata have been methodically arranged. They are divided into three sections, the first providing the text from traditional sources, the second being devoted to modern studies on the system, and the third offering a critical survey of Jayarasi's Tattvopaplavasimha. The English rendering closely follows the original text.

The present complication furnishes a full profile of one of the most controversial thought systems in India. The volume can be counted as a major contribution to the field of Indian philosophical studies. Teachers and researchers as well as the students of Indian materialism and Indology should find it indispensable.

About the Author:

Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya (b. 1918) has been a National Fellow of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research. He has worked as visiting Professor in several universities of India and extensively toured abroad, delivering lectures and presenting seminar papers. He has written on philosophy and history of science, and some of his books which deserve special mention are: Lokayata: A Study in Ancient Indian Materialism; What is Living and What is Dead in Indian Philosophy; Indian Atheism; Science and Society; and History of Science and Technology in Ancient India: The Beginnings.

Mrinal Kanti Gangopadhyaya (b. 1941) is currently Asutosh Professor of Sanskrit, University of Calcutta. His published works include: Naya-sutra with Vatsayana's Commentary and Phanibhusana's Elucidation (translated into English and published in five Volumes); Vinitadeva's Nayabindytika; Indian Atomism: History and Sources; Indian Logic in Its Sources.