Editing Carvaka School of Thought in Indian Philosophy (section)

=== '''Genesis and Development of Indian Materialism''' ===
The school of Materialism in India seems very old. References are found to it in the epics and in the early Buddhistic literature. ‘Several vestiges show that even in the pre-Buddhistic India proclaimers of purely materialistic doctrines appeared’ (Garbe, 1897)<sup>4</sup>. It must have arisen as a protest against the excessive monkdom of the Brahmana priests. The externals of ritualism, which ignored the substance and highlighted the shadow, the idealism of the Upanisads that was inappropriate for the common people, the political and social upheavals that were common at the time, the exploitation of the masses by the petty rulers, monks, and the wealthy class, the lust and greed and small-scale conflicts in an unstable society, and these factors all contributed to the rise of materialism in India in the post-Upanisadic and pre Buddhitsic age. There are four distinct steps in the evolution of Indian materialism (Shastri, 1930, p.1)<sup>12</sup>. It started out as merely an oppositional attitude that questioned all forms of knowledge, both direct and indirect, and disregarded the legitimacy of the Vedas. Its name at the time was Barhaspatya. In its second stage, Svabhavavada, which acknowledged perception as a source of knowledge and incorporated the belief that the body and the self are one and the same, was added. It is indisputable that, during that remote period of Indian history, it was the only philosophical system deserving of the term, regardless of how low it may have fallen in the hierarchy of philosophical systems. In that period flourished famous materialists like AjitaKesakamblin, Kambalasvatara and Purana Kasyapa. In that stage it came to be known as hedonism, which was due, perhaps, to the corruption of freedom - social, religious and political- which formed the most essential feature of this school. As a consequence of this impact of corruption and misunderstanding Carvakism originated. In that stage, the school preached “ Eat, drink and be merry” for tomorrow we may die. The response to this extreme licentiousness was detrimental to the school's very existence. From that point on, this extremely materialistic school began to move towards spiritualism and eventually began to recognise and embrace, albeit in a limited way, both probability and inference as sources of genuine knowledge. In the fourth stage, it came to be one with the Buddhists and the Jainas in opposing the Vedantists and got the common designation ''nastika'' (Shartri, 1930, 2)<sup>12</sup>.