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The Lokāyata, Nāstika and Cārvāka 515 āyatana (basis), and lokāyata according to this interpretation means “the basis of the foolish and profane world1." The other meaning of lokāyata would be lokeșu āyata, i.e. that which is prevalent among the common people, and this meaning has been accepted by Cowell in his translation of Sarva-darśana-samgraha and here the derivation would be from a+yam + kta (spreading over)?. The Amara-koşa only mentions the word and says that it is to be in the neuter gender as lokāyatam. It seems that there are two lokāyata words. One as adjective meaning "prevalent in the world or among the common people” and another as a technical word meaning “the science of disputation, sophistry and casuistry” (vitandā-vāda-sattham); but there seems to be no evidence that the word was used to mean “nature-lore," as suggested by Rhys Davids and Franke, or "polity or political science" as suggested by other scholars. The Sukra-nīti gives a long enumeration of the science and arts that were studied and in this it counts the năstikaśāstra as that which is very strong in logical arguments and regards all things as proceeding out of their own nature and considers that there are no Vedas and no god3. Medhātithi, in commenting upon Manu, vii. 43, also refers to the tarka-vidyā of the Cārvākas, and all the older references that have been discussed show that there was a technical science of logic and sophistry called the Lokāyata. Fortunately we have still further conclusive evidence that the Lokāyata-śāstra with its commentary existed as early as the time of Kātyāyana, i.e. about 300 B.C. There is a Vārtika rule associated with vii. 3. 45"varnaka-tāntave upasamkhyānam," that the word varņaka becomes varņakā in the feminine to mean a blanket or a wrapper (prāvaraņa), and Patañjali (about 150 B.C.), in interpreting this vārtika sutra, says that the object of restricting the formation of the word varnaka only to the sense of a cotton or woollen wrapper is that in other senses the feminine form would
1 Linee di una storia del Materialismo Indiano, p. 17. Sārattha-pakāsint (Bangkok), 11. 96.
? Rhys Davids describes lokāyata as a branch of Brahmanic learning, probably Nature-lore, wise sayings, riddles, rhymes and theories, handed down by tradition, as to the cosmogony, the elements, the stars, the weather, scraps of astronomy, of elementary physics, even of anatomy, and knowledge of the nature of precious stones, and of birds and beasts and plants (Dialogues of the Buddha, 1. 171). Franke translates it as “logische beweisende Naturerklärung," Digha, 19.
3 yuktir valiyasī yatra sarvam svābhavikam matam-kasyā'pi ne svaraḥ kartā na vedo nāstikam hi tat. Sukra-niti-sūra, iv. 3. 55.
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