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Art. XI.—Verses from the Sarva-darsana-sangraha, the Vishnu Purāana, and the Rāamāayana, illustrating the tenets of the Chāarvāakas, or Indian Materialists, with some Remarks on Freedom of Speculation in Ancient India

1862; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 19; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1017/s0035869x00156588

1474-0591

James Muir,

Political Economy and Marxism

In his essay on the heretical schools of the Hindus, Mr. Colebrooke has given an account of the tenets of the Chāarvāakas, or Materialists (Misc. Essays, L, 402 ff). Professor Wilson also, in his “Sketch of the Religious Sects of the Hindus” (As. Ees., Vol. XVI., pp. 5, 6), alludes to the attacks made by the founder of the atheistical, or materialistic school, Vrihaspati, on the Vedas and the Brahmans, and quotes some verses attributed to that author, in which he asserts that “the whole Hindu system is a contrivance of the priesthood to secure a means of livelihood for themselves.” I am not aware whether either the aphorisms of Vrihaspati (Vāarhaspatya Sŭutras), to which Mr. Colebrooke refers (Misc. Ess., L, 404) as having been quoted by one of the commentators on the Vedanta, or the work which contains the verses adduced by Professor Wilson, be still extant or not. As, however, the Sarva Darśsana Sangraha of Māadhava ÃAchāaryya (a work containing a concise account of the different philosophical schools of India, both orthodox and heretical), from which Professor Wilson derived the verses which he cites, contains a good many more of a similar tendency, which are both satirical and clever, I shall translate the whole, and compare them with passages of the same tenor which occur in the Vishnu Purāana and in the Rāamāayana.