Makaranda Madhukar Anand Mahendale Festshrift

Author(s): M A Dhaky, Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: Shardaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre

Page 226

The Resurrection of Cārvāka
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to be concerned. This is true of a society too. If after generation after generations, it is not out of its primitive stage, it is a symptom of its retarded condition. Given enough intellectual capital of its members and favourable surroundings, a society is bound to change, howsoever slowly, in the direction of what is called civilisation. All effort to stall this process would be as futile as one to stall the development of an individual. The development of thought as the heritage of a society proceeds on similar lines from grosser to subtler, from outer to inner, from surfacial to fundamental, from force to psychological approach, from object to subject. All talk of going back to primitive conditions is as ridiculous as that of turning a grown up man into a child again.
Epilogue :
Motivated research
The common characteristic of all the books on Cārvāka listed at the opening of this article is that they are, on the whole, the outcome of a motivated research. An attempt is apparent in these books to raise Cārvāka in status and thus compensate for his despised position for centuries, and thereby providing an ancient basis for some modern movements / outlooks of their authors' liking. Thus DPC is interested in establishing roots of materialism, styled also as Marxism, in ancient Indian thought, while Salunkhe sees in Cārvāka an ancient champion of anti-Brahmanism and / or anti-Vedism. Both have based their conclusions on imaginative interpretations of material from mythical and poetic works which have no place in scientific discussions, along with philosophical and other treatises which are admissible as reliable sources, all in Sanskrit. What distinguishes DPC from others in his decent language characteristic of serious research and his anxiety to support his views by quoting from a wide range of literature. He claims no first hand knowledge of Sanskrit sources, and, as such, he has to rely on English translations thereof. Salunkhe is a Sanskritist and writes with a missionary / adolescent zeal that knows no bounds in reaching conclusions and attacking an adversary.
Imaginative school of research
DPC's claims made in behalf of Cārvāka, shared by others listed at the beginning of this article, show that a distinct school of research-the