Charvaka, also called Lokayata, is a heterodox (nastika) school of ancient Indian materialist philosophy traditionally attributed to the sage Brihaspati, which rejected the authority of the Vedas, denied an afterlife or transmigrating soul, and held that perception (pratyaksha) alone is a reliable means of knowledge, refusing to accept inference or testimony as independently valid on the grounds that they cannot be conclusively verified. Its physics held that the world and living beings, including consciousness, arise entirely from combinations of four material elements, earth, water, fire and air, with consciousness emerging as an incidental byproduct of their combination rather than as an independent, surviving principle, so that death is the final end of the person. Ethically the school is remembered, largely through hostile summaries by its philosophical opponents, for endorsing the pursuit of pleasure (kama) and material well-being (artha) as legitimate goals of life rather than subordinating them to ritual duty or liberation. No complete Charvaka text survives, and nearly everything known about the school's specific arguments comes from quotations and refutations preserved in the works of rival Nyaya, Vedanta and Buddhist philosophers, making it the most thoroughly reconstructed-from-opposition tradition among the classical Indian schools.
Facts
Disputed
Start YearThe Internet Encyclopedia distinguishes Vedic-era references to Brhaspati, which the -600 value already on record reflects, from the formal Lokayata school, which it dates to the 6th and 7th centuries CE. A single representative year (600) stands in for that two-century span. Kept alongside rather than replacing the existing value. Start Year600 BCE
Brihaspati is a legendary founding figure with no independently attested dates; the school's ideas are referenced in texts from as early as the mid-first millennium BCE, but its systematic sutras, now lost, may be considerably later. Founded DateFirst founded-date fact for this entity: the DATE column cannot hold the -600 BCE start-year already on record for the Vedic-era Brhaspati references, so this positive-year value instead reflects the Internet Encyclopedia dating of the formal Lokayata school to the 6th and 7th centuries CE. A single representative year (600) stands in for that two-century span. End YearSourced to the subject's own accountNo precise end date is established in the scholarship: no Charvaka texts survive, and Wikipedia's own account only says the school was a living philosophy up to the 12th century CE, after which it seems to disappear without trace. 1200 marks the end of that century as an approximation, not an attested closing date. Connections
In Branch
Charvaka is a materialist ontology: it denies non-material substances (souls, an afterlife, a creator), a metaphysical position first and an empiricist epistemology second.
Source Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Sources
1. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Stanford University, Center for the Study of Language and Informationentry: Carvaka/LokayataQuote, entry: Carvaka/Lokayata
The Carvaka, or Lokayata, school rejected the authority of the Vedas and held that perception is the only reliable means of knowledge.
2. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
IEP Indian Materialism, section 1, Lokayata formal emergenceQuote, IEP Indian Materialism, section 1, Lokayata formal emergence
During the 6th and 7th centuries C.E. it evolved into a formal school of thought and remains intact, though consistently marginalized.
3. Charvaka (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHistory section, closing paragraph before the Philosophy sectionQuote, History section, closing paragraph before the Philosophy section
Charvaka was a living philosophy up to the 12th century in India's historical timeline, after which this system seems to have disappeared without leaving any trace.
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