History of Indian Philosophy

SR No.: 007593
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Surendranath Dasgupta
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication Year: 1922
Total Pages: 2517
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 125 MB

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Appendix to Volume I that the Bșhaspati who was the author of these sūtras on polity could not have been the author of the lokāyata science. Nor could it have been the legal writer BỊhaspati. In Kautilya's Artha-śāstra a Bịhaspati is referred to as a writer on polity, but this must be a different one from the Bārhaspatya-sūtra published by Dr Thomas1. The Brhaspati of Kautilya's Artha-śāstra is reported there as admitting agriculture, trade and commerce (vārtā), law and statecraft (danda-nīti), as the only sciences; in the next passage of the same chapter (Vidyā-samuddeśa) danda-nīti is regarded as the one subject of study by. Uśanas. In the Prabodha-candro-daya Krsna Miśra makes Cārvāka hold the view that law and statecraft are the only sciences and that the science of vārtā (i.e. agriculture, commerce, trade, dairy, poultry, etc.) falls within them. According to this report the Cārvākas took only danda-nīti and vārtā into account, and thus their views agreed with those of Brhaspati and Uśanas, and more particularly with those of the latter. But we cannot from this assume that either Brhaspati or Uśanas mentioned by Kautilya could be regarded as the author of the original lokāyata. Bphaspati, the author of the Lokāyata-śāstra, is thus a mythical figure, and we have practically no information regarding the originator of the lokāyata system. It is probable that the original lokāyata work was written in the form of sūtras which had at least two commentaries, the earliest of which was probably as early as 300 or 400 B.c. There was at least one metrical version of the main contents of this system from which extracts are found quoted in Madhava's Sarva-darśana-samgraha and in other places.
It is difficult to say whether Cārvāka was the name of a real person or not. The earliest mention of the name is probably to be found in the Mahābhārata, XII. 38 and 39, where Cārvāka is described as a Rākşasa in the garb of an ascetic Brahmin with three staffs (tridandi), but nothing is said there about the doctrine that he professed. In most of the early texts the lokāyata doctrines are either mentioned as the lokāyata view or attributed to Brhaspati. Thus, in the Padma Puräna in the Syst-khanda, XII. 318-340, some of the lokāyata doctrines are described as being the instructions of Brhaspati. Kamalasīla, of the eighth century, refers to the Cārvākas as being the adherents of the lokāyata doctrine; the Prabodhacandro-daya speaks of Cārvāka as being the great teacher who
1 Kautilya's Artha-śāstra, pp. 6, 29, 63, 177, 192, Mysore ed. 1924.