The Demons of Indian philosophy and their Creators Part 02.

The Charvaka. System-01

By Sathyaprakasha Seetharama Trivedi

The sarva darshanas sangraha of sayana madhavacharya , the very first verse says

“ अथ कथं ऩरमेश्वरस्य ननिःश्रेयसप्रदत्वं अभिदीयते ? बह

ृ स्ऩनत मतानुसाररणा नास्स्तकभिरोमणणना
चावााकेन तस्य दोरोत्साररत्वात ्। दरु
ु च्छे दं हह चावााकस्य चेस्टितम ् ।

The inference for the above verse can drawn as follows.

But , then how can we attribute to the supreme self, the final release of all beings ? when
such a notion is out rightly rejected by “charvaka” , the follower of system propagated by
great sage Brihaspati . (?) . And it seems his claim is hard to be eradicated. Because the first
ever verse itself says

“ प्रायेण सवाप्राणणनस्तावद्यावज्जीवं सुखं जीवेन्नास्स्त मत्ृ युरगोचरिः । िस्मीिूतस्य दे हस्य

ऩुररागमनं कुतिः ? ।“
Enjoy your life to the fullest extent , live joyously for later for sure no one can escape from
the crutches of the death god, for sure our body will be burnt permanently , how shall one
ever return , So live your life happily when it is still yours.

The above verse clearly conveys that the system of thought at that time never had faith in
rebirth.

There has been lot of discussion about the word “Charvaks or the Charuvak” and if this
person , by the name Charvak was a follower of the sage Brihaspati ,it is even more
important that we have to understand who this sage “brihaspati” really is.

We have lot of references about this name “Brihaspati” in Vedas ,puranas,Mahabhararta,and

many more smritis, and we can also find the references of “Brihaspati-Sutra” in in these
smritis and elsewhere in Yajnyavalkya smriti , Bhavishyapurana and narada smriti also
mention about the “Arthashastra “ formulated by the sage “Brihaspati” hence also called as
the brihaspati sutra. However it is very difficult to attribute those references to the one
mentioned here.

But on the other hand we also see kautilya (May be 3 BCE ) quoting about predecessors in
his Sutras

अथााधधकरणम ् ॥ १५ ॥ तंत्र युक्तयिः ॥ ०१ ||

यं अथं अधधकृत्य उच्यते तद् अधधकरणम ् ॥ 15.1.04 ||
ऩधृ थव्या ऱािे ऩाऱने च यावंत्यथािास्त्राणण ऩूवााचाययिः प्रस्थापऩतानन प्रायििः तानन संहृत्य एकं इदं
अथािास्त्रं कृतम ् इनत ॥ 15.1.05 ||

Meaning :
That portion of a work in which a subject or topic is treated of is a book, as for example:
“This Arthasástra or Science of Polity has been made as a compendium of all those
Arthasástras which, as a guidance to kings in acquiring and maintaining the earth, have
been written by ancient teachers.”.

From these it is clear that Kautilya quotes about a particular system, says that a literature
bearing this title was extant in his days, and that he compiled his treatise after seeing the
works of his predecessors.

We also see a 4th CE poet Bhasa mention about Arthashastra of Brihaspati.

िास : प्रनतमा नािक :

"काश्यऩ गोत्रोऽस्स्म सांगोऩांगं वेदमधीये मानवीयं धमािास्त्रं, माहे श्वरं
योगिास्त्रं,बाहास्ऩत्यमथािास्त्रं,मेधानतथेन्याायिास्त्रं , प्राचेतसं श्राद्धकल्ऩं च ॥

Ravana avers that he belongs to the Kasyapa clan and has mastered over vedas,Manus
Dharmashastra , maheshwara’s yogashastra , Sage Brihaspati’s Artha shastra ,Sage
medhatithi’s nyaya shastra The Sage pracheta’s Shraddhakalpa.

The currently available aphorisms of brihaspati has six chapters.Which discusses other
systems also like the Lokayata, Arhata,bauddha. While describing the charecteristics of
Kshapanaka the sutra describes their urge for worldly pleasures, Veda-ninda and so on, which
seems to have been adopted by a deluded follower of this system. … Contd.

Next Article:-
The Demons of Indian philosophy and their Creators Part 03.

The Charvaka. System-02.

The Charuvaks or the Charvaks: The People who talked sweetly or the People who lived for
happiness.

Some people describe the word as “Charu”- Sweet, “Vak”=Talk , The people who talked
sweetly. Some other described the same as “charva”=seeking worldly pleasure , People
sought only worldly pleasures.

It is true that the author of this system extensively abused the Vedas rejecting it as the useless
creations of demons and the Learned with vested interests.