Charvaka, The Indigenous. Poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar

The founder of Charvaka is Brihaspati;
Pursuit of sensuous pleasure is its ethic.
Its concept is to reject liberation belief,
Karma theory and the immortality of soul.
No pleasure is bad in itself, it says.
Sexual pleasure is the greatest pleasure.
Chastity for woman is an invention
On women by the clever male weaklings.

Not five but four elements do they
Recognise, leaving ether as not perceivable.
Pratyaksa (perception) is the sole source of knowledge
And not Anumanya (inference) , Upamanya (comparison) ,
Arthapatti (postulation) , Anupalabdi (Cognitive) and Sabda (testimony of past proof)
Thus, Charvaka holds direct perception,
Empiricism and conditional
Inference as the source of knowledge.

It embraces philosophical scepticism
And rejects ritualism and supernaturalism.
It is one of the Nastika or heterodox
Schools of Indian Philosophy.
Whenever one infers a truth
From a set of observations
Or truths, one must acknowledge doubts;
Inferred knowledge is conditional.

The fire is hot, the water cold,
Refreshing cool the breeze of morn;
By whom came this variety?
From their own nature was it born.
All natural phenomena
Was produced spontaneously
From the inherent nature of things.
Hence soul is one such phenomena.

Vedic literature speaks of Charvaka

There is no other world than this;
There is no heaven and no hell.
The realm of Shiva and like regions
Are fabricated by stupid imposters.
(Sarvasiddhanta Samgraha verse 8)

"Which life is yours, live joyously;
None can escape Death's searching eye,
When once this frame of ours they burn,
How shall it ev'r again return? "
(Madhave Vidyaraya)

"O, the highly wise! Arrive at a conclusion,
Therefore, that there is nothing beyond this universe;
Give precedence to that which meets the eye,
And turn your back on what is beyond our knowledge"
(Valmiki Ramayana (2.108.17))
25'02'2023