Svabhāvavāda and the Cārvāka/Lokāyata: A Historical Overview
Journal of Indian Philosophy 40 (6):593-614 (2012)
| Abstract | svabhāva (own being) and yadṛchhā (chance, accident) are named as two different claimants among others as the first cause (jagatkāraṇa) in the ŚvUp. But in later works, such as Aśvaghoṣa’s poems, svabhāva is synonymous with yadṛchhā and entails a passive attitude to life. Later still, svabhāva is said to be inhering in the Lokāyata materialist system, although in which sense—cosmic order or accident—is not always clearly mentioned. Svabhāva is also a part of the Sāṃkhya doctrine and is mentioned in the medical compilations. It is proposed that the idea of svabhāva as cosmic order became a part of Lokāyata between the sixth and the eighth century ce and got widely accepted by the tenth century, so much so that in the fourteenth century Sāyaṇa-Mādhava aka Vidyāraṇya could categorically declare that the Cārvāka/Lokāyata upheld causality, not chance. But the other meaning of svabhāva, identical with yadṛchhā, continued to circulate along with kāla, time, which was originally another claimant for the title of the first cause and similarly had acquired several significations in course of time. Both significations of svabhāva continued to be employed by later writers, and came to be used in another domain, that of daiva (fate) vis-à-vis puruṣakāra (manliness or human endeavour) | |||||||||
| Keywords | Cārvāka/Lokāyata first cause kāla Medical compilations Sāṃkhya svabhāva yadṛchhā | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,865 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesKrishna Del Toso (2010). Book Review: Ramkrishna Bhattacharya, Studies on the Carvaka/Lokayata, Società Editrice Fiorentina, Firenze 2009, € 28,00; Indian Edition: Manohar Publishers, New Delhi 2010, Rs. 750. [REVIEW] Psyche and Society 8 (2):81-84.
Krishna Del Toso (2010). The Stanzas on the Cārvāka/Lokāyata in the Skhalitapramathanayuktihetusiddhi. Journal of Indian Philosophy 38 (6):543-552.
Krishna Del Toso (2010). The Stanzas on the Cārvāka/Lokāyata in the Skhalitapramathanayuktihetusiddhi. Journal of Indian Philosophy 38 (6):543-552.
Jan Westerhoff (2007). The Madhyamaka Concept of Svabhāva: Ontological and Cognitive Aspects. Asian Philosophy 17 (1):17 – 45.
Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya & Mrinalkanti Gangopadhyaya (eds.) (1990). Cārvāka/Lokāyata: An Anthology of Source Materials and Some Recent Studies. Indian Council of Philosophical Research in Association with R̥ddhi-India, Calcutta.
Rāmakr̥shṇa Bhaṭṭācārya (2009). Studies on the Cārvāka/Lokāyata. Società Editrice Fiorentina.
Ramkrishna Bhattacharya (forthcoming). Commentators on the Cārvākasūtra: A Critical Survey. Journal of Indian Philosophy.
Krishna Del Toso (forthcoming). Tutto in Questa Vita: Considerazioni Sull’Etica E la Morale Dei Cārvāka/Lokāyata. In Krishna Del Toso & Pietro Piro (eds.), Perché guardare a Oriente? Prospettive, risorse e visioni di un mondo non più lontano. Tipheret Editore.
Shubhada A. Joshi (1995). Lokāyata, a Critical Study: Indian Spiritualism Reaffirmed. Sri Satguru Publications.
Hara Prasad Shastri (1982). Lokayata and Vratya. Available with Firma K.L. Mukhopadhyay.
Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya (1968). Lōkayata. [New Delhi]People's Pub. House.
Analytics
Monthly downloads
Sorry, there are not enough data points to plot this chart.
|
Added to index2012-11-15Total downloads1 ( #277,212 of 556,815 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #64,847 of 556,815 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
