The 3AM magazine continues with its new series (1, 2, 3) of interviews of philosophers working in Indian thought, in an interview with Ramkrishna Bhattacharya (at the Pavlov Institute, Kolkata) about his work on Cārvāka. In this interview, Bhattacharya discusses the history of Cārvāka/Lokāyata and his understanding of their philosophy and its reception. For instance, he explains why Udbhaṭabhaṭṭa represents Cārvāka as a dualist system, and not a materialistic monism:
Of all the commentators so far known to us, Udbhaṭabhaṭṭa alone takes such a ‘revisionist’ stand. Other commentators apparently followed the Cārvākasūtra itself as redacted most probably by Purandara and remained staunchly monistic. So we can safely ignore Udbhaṭa’s somewhat strange reinterpretations of the aphorisms, particularly on that of matter and consciousness. Udbhaṭa exhibits his propensity towards dualism which is contradicted by the aphorism, ‘Earth, water, fire and air are the principles, nothing else’(I.2). The dissident voice of Udbhaṭa should not mislead us, given the fact that he often misinterprets words in the aphorism itself.
He also addresses why he thinks that Buddhism, unlike Cārvāka, has gained the attention of contemporary materialists:
Buddhism after all is a religion, although it has no God or gods, no sacred book like the Veda to be accepted as an inerrant guide, no caste system and yet it does not deny the Other World and rebirth. On the contrary, the Cārvāka/Lokāyata is uncompromisingly anti-religion and denier of the Other World and rebirth. Unless and until one is firmly convinced as an uncompromising materialist, the Cārvāka/Lokāyata cannot appeal to him or her.
Secondly, Buddhism offers a hope of liberation, nirvāṇa, getting out of the cycle of birth and rebirth, with suffering accompanying every birth. On the other hand, materialism has nothing to offer but the naked truth that consciousness dies as soon as the body is dead; therefore, there is no question of either liberation or rebirth. The hope for living forever in heaven is not there. Buddhism in this respect offers a middle way between traditional Hinduism and the Cārvāka/Lokāyata.
The entire interview is online at 3AM.
Thanks for this Malcolm. What a fascinating interview! In following up his reading suggestions, I was pleased to find that Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya’s Lokāyata: a Study in Indian Materialism is available at the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/LokayataAStudyInAncientIndianMaterialismDebiprasadChattopadhyaya
Good to know – that’s not an easy book to find! Or at least it wasn’t until it went up on the Archive…
Fortunately, I copied and formatted this as a Word doc., as it has disappeared from the site. I’ve done several searches and cannot find it. Should anyone be interested, I have a post up that may interest readers in Indian materialism, Marxism, and/or Buddhism: https://www.religiousleftlaw.com/2020/12/marxists-scholars-of-indian-especially-buddhist-philosophy-and-on-the-possibility-of-being-a-marxist-buddhist-or-buddhi.html
Yes, all of Richard Marshall’s interviews have moved from 3AM to the new 3:16am website. You can find an index of all the interviewees on the site.
And here’s the Indian materialist philosophy interview that the original post referred to.
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Oh, thank you so much Malcolm … I am embarrassed that my searching could not discover this! I’m most grateful … And happy holidays and best wishes to you and yours for the upcoming new year (when the psychopathic president will soon be out of office).