Studies on the Cārvāka/Lokāyata

This volume deals with the Cārvāka/Lokāyata, the most uncompromising materialist school of philosophy in ancient India. Bhattacharya's endeavour has been to disprove certain notions about the Cārvāka/Lokāyata —two of which are generally admitted as being beyond doubt: Cārvāka-s did not approve of any other instrument of cognition except perception, and they advocated unalloyed sensualism and hedonism. In the 23 chapters of the book, the author has tried to show that both the charges are groundless calumnies. He has also established the fact that a pre-Cārvāka school of materialism existed in India, although there is no way to prove that the Cārvāka system grew out of it. A new collection of Cārvāka fragments with sources, variant readings and translation is also provided.