The State of Philosophy in India before the Buddha.

It is indeed difficult to give a short sketch of the different philosophical speculations that were prevalent in India before Buddhism.  The doctrines of the Upani@sads are well known, and these have already been briefly described.  But these were not the only ones.  Even in the Upani@sads we find references to diverse atheistical creeds [Footnote ref 1].  We find there that the origin of the world and its processes were sometimes discussed, and some thought that “time” was the ultimate cause of all, others that all these had sprung forth by their own nature (svabhava), others that everything had come forth in accordance with an inexorable destiny or a fortuitous concourse of accidental happenings, or through matter combinations in general.  References to diverse kinds of heresies are found in Buddhist literature also, but no detailed accounts of these views are known.  Of the Upani@sad type of materialists the two schools of Carvakas (Dhurtta and Sus’ik@sita) are referred to in later literature, though the time in which these flourished cannot rightly be discovered [Footnote ref 2].  But it seems

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[Footnote 1:  S’vetas’vatara, I. 2, kala@h svabhabo niyatiryad@rccha bhutani yoni@h puru@sa iti cintyam.]

[Footnote 2:  Lokayata (literally, that which is found among people in general) seems to have been the name by which all carvaka doctrines were generally known.  See Gu@naratna on the Lokayatas.]

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probable however that the allusion to the materialists contained in the Upani@sads refers to these or to similar schools.  The Carvakas did not believe in the authority of the Vedas or any other holy scripture.  According to them there was no soul.  Life and consciousness were the products of the combination of matter, just as red colour was the result of mixing up white with yellow or as the power of intoxication was generated in molasses (madas’akti).  There is no after-life, and no reward of actions, as there is neither virtue nor vice.  Life is only for enjoyment.  So long as it lasts it is needless to think of anything else, as everything will end with death, for when at death the body is burnt to ashes there cannot be any rebirth.  They do not believe in the validity of inference.  Nothing is trustworthy but what can be directly perceived, for it is impossible to determine that the distribution of the middle term (hetu) has not depended upon some extraneous condition, the absence of which might destroy the validity of any particular piece of inference.  If in any case any inference comes to be true, it is only an accidental fact and there is no certitude about it.  They were called Carvaka because they would only eat but would not accept any other religious or moral responsibility.  The word comes from carv to eat.  The Dhurtta Carvakas held