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LOKAYATA: A Study In Ancient Indian Materialism
A study of the philosophical schools prevalent in the Indian subcontinent during the historical stage in which Dravidian primitive communism encountered Aryan patriarchal pastoralism, in the style of Friedrich Engels. This man is a genius.
First published January 1, 1959
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About the author
Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya
74 books53 followersদেব্রীপ্রসাদ চট্টোপাধ্যায় (English: Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya) ভারতের কলকাতায় ১৯১৮ সালে জন্মগ্রহণ করেন। তিনি ছিলেন ভারতের একজন প্রখ্যাত মার্ক্সবাদী দার্শনিক। তিনি প্রাচীন ভারতের দর্শনের বস্তুবাদকে উদ্ঘাটন করেছেন। তাঁর লেখাগুলো একাধারে দর্শন ও বিজ্ঞানের সমন্বয়। এছাড়াও তিনি প্রাচীন ভারতের বিজ্ঞানের ইতিহাস ও বিজ্ঞানের পদ্ধতি সম্পর্কেও গবেষণা করেছেন। তিনি ১৯৯৩ সালে কলকাতায় মৃত্যুবরণ করেন।
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 30, 2015
I read this some years ago. It is based on Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya's thesis from the early 70s. It is an amazing book because he extracts/discovers/unearths information about an ancient Indian materialist philosophy that may have been extinguished in the first millennium ACE by orthodox Hindu philosophers -- as a result, none of the works written under the rubric of "Lokayata" (one possible translation is "naive materialism") have survived except as targets of criticism by biassed reporters like Shankara.
Instead of reviewing the book I will highlight some intriguing points it makes:
1. At one point in time, probably around 1000 BCE or earlier, much of the practice of Lokayata was codified in the Atharva-Veda and incorporated into orthodox Hinduism. The practice of Lokayata (like many naive materialist conceptions) had accumulated superstitions and magic practices -- these included beliefs like "mantras" (magic spells) could be used to control the world, that "yantras" (drawn instruments) could be used to take action, and so on -- these were categorized as Tantra. Incorporating Tantric lokayata into the Vedas was a political move intended to bring the mass of the people into the "fold" and subject them to the Brahmin-Kshatriya-Vaishya aristocracy.
2. "Food is Brahman" -- this description of an episode in the SamaVeda highlights the many ways in which the concept of Brahman is tied into concepts that postulate unity of all life. In an ecological web, the food chain that sustains all life on earth, We are all food! Even a top predator like humans are food. The Brahman, sometimes translated as the Universal Mind, is better translated as the Universal Collective -- this interpretation of Brahman unifies all life on earth. The standard definition of Brahman is an idealist conception and D.C. shows that it could have developed from a naive materialism that has become somewhat sophisticated and can relate to the unity of life.
When the concept of Brahman got incorporated into the Vedas, it changed but the Food is Brahman episode reveals its Lokayata roots.
3. Lokayata is not Dravidian urbanist versus Aryan pastoralist. Whether an Aryan invasion occurred or not, Lokayata is the belief of the common people who do not have the political and economic power of the ruling classes of Brahmin/Kshatriya/Vaishya. The ruling classes exercised their political/economic power and used the Vedas as the mystical source of their power and fitness to rule.
4. Lokayata, as the belief of the people, cannot die in principle. But it can easily be buried under layers of superstition and those added layers of idealism are used by the ruling classes to mystify their power. It is only the one who says "But the Emperor is naked" who can break free of the hold that mysticism exerts on the politically powerless. In that sense, the Hindu philosophers are right It is only possible to understand the Brahman (attain Nirvana, merge with the Universal soul, take your pick) and break free of the bonds of the material world by rejecting the institutions that give power to the powerful. It makes perfect sense to throw off your clothes and become a "Nanga Sadhu", for the Nanga Sadhu can exercise power that he would never have if he had not renounced the world.
As it is in other ways, Hinduism tells people how to achieve power -- if you are of an upper caste through hocus-pocus, and if you are of a lower caste by rejecting it all.
In that sense the closest Western equivalent to Lokayata would be the Jewish Kabbala or Gnosticism, both of which have a core of materialism encrusted with superstitious magic.
Instead of reviewing the book I will highlight some intriguing points it makes:
1. At one point in time, probably around 1000 BCE or earlier, much of the practice of Lokayata was codified in the Atharva-Veda and incorporated into orthodox Hinduism. The practice of Lokayata (like many naive materialist conceptions) had accumulated superstitions and magic practices -- these included beliefs like "mantras" (magic spells) could be used to control the world, that "yantras" (drawn instruments) could be used to take action, and so on -- these were categorized as Tantra. Incorporating Tantric lokayata into the Vedas was a political move intended to bring the mass of the people into the "fold" and subject them to the Brahmin-Kshatriya-Vaishya aristocracy.
2. "Food is Brahman" -- this description of an episode in the SamaVeda highlights the many ways in which the concept of Brahman is tied into concepts that postulate unity of all life. In an ecological web, the food chain that sustains all life on earth, We are all food! Even a top predator like humans are food. The Brahman, sometimes translated as the Universal Mind, is better translated as the Universal Collective -- this interpretation of Brahman unifies all life on earth. The standard definition of Brahman is an idealist conception and D.C. shows that it could have developed from a naive materialism that has become somewhat sophisticated and can relate to the unity of life.
When the concept of Brahman got incorporated into the Vedas, it changed but the Food is Brahman episode reveals its Lokayata roots.
3. Lokayata is not Dravidian urbanist versus Aryan pastoralist. Whether an Aryan invasion occurred or not, Lokayata is the belief of the common people who do not have the political and economic power of the ruling classes of Brahmin/Kshatriya/Vaishya. The ruling classes exercised their political/economic power and used the Vedas as the mystical source of their power and fitness to rule.
4. Lokayata, as the belief of the people, cannot die in principle. But it can easily be buried under layers of superstition and those added layers of idealism are used by the ruling classes to mystify their power. It is only the one who says "But the Emperor is naked" who can break free of the hold that mysticism exerts on the politically powerless. In that sense, the Hindu philosophers are right It is only possible to understand the Brahman (attain Nirvana, merge with the Universal soul, take your pick) and break free of the bonds of the material world by rejecting the institutions that give power to the powerful. It makes perfect sense to throw off your clothes and become a "Nanga Sadhu", for the Nanga Sadhu can exercise power that he would never have if he had not renounced the world.
As it is in other ways, Hinduism tells people how to achieve power -- if you are of an upper caste through hocus-pocus, and if you are of a lower caste by rejecting it all.
In that sense the closest Western equivalent to Lokayata would be the Jewish Kabbala or Gnosticism, both of which have a core of materialism encrusted with superstitious magic.
July 2, 2021
This work is a masterpiece. A work of brilliant, logical speculation, it traces the historical evolution of Indian society and consciousness through the last remnants of materialist philosophy, which has always been there, but never could manage to win the culture war.
It's method is in the style of historical materialism, as Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya is not interested in hand-waving or poetry(the same can't be said for other idealist philosophers like Radhakrishnan), he approaches the problem like an investigative journalist, using comparative anthropology, religious and spiritual documents and biographies to build a picture, and the result is a complete demystification of the history of Indian philosophy. The research is exhaustive, and the author, even when indulging in speculation, always, always shows his work. He never goes against the evidence present.
I've been reading this work since January, and it has profoundly shaped my worldview. This was the book I always needed, but never received. It has spoiled me for all future history books, because I'll compare them all to Chattopadhyaya's standard of complete, dialectical research and find them all spurious or wanting.
It's method is in the style of historical materialism, as Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya is not interested in hand-waving or poetry(the same can't be said for other idealist philosophers like Radhakrishnan), he approaches the problem like an investigative journalist, using comparative anthropology, religious and spiritual documents and biographies to build a picture, and the result is a complete demystification of the history of Indian philosophy. The research is exhaustive, and the author, even when indulging in speculation, always, always shows his work. He never goes against the evidence present.
I've been reading this work since January, and it has profoundly shaped my worldview. This was the book I always needed, but never received. It has spoiled me for all future history books, because I'll compare them all to Chattopadhyaya's standard of complete, dialectical research and find them all spurious or wanting.
July 14, 2016
I first read this book a long time ago, but there really is no substitute for it if you are interested in Lokayata. His basic theory is that Lokayata started off as a of nature-based-magic which existed in early aryan and pre aryan societies, alongside Brahminic Hinduism, and an array of other philosophies. Over time it changed in various ways, eventually adopting some features of science, or social science, but also of mysticism. Explaining this is difficult, and basically requires explaining the process of aryanization/sanskritization of the subcontinent. This book is essentially a book about Lokayata in relation to that process. Using this book as a MAJOR resource, I've been writing a series of articles starting with this one: http://videshisutra.com/2013/11/07/co...
September 27, 2014
This is on of the best findings in the world of Indian Philosophy, I liked it very much
May 20, 2025
The writer here starts off by trying to define what Lokayata meant to the ancient commentators. First, he says it is Tantra, then agricultural and matriarchal religious practices, then Sankhya philosophy. He uses it as a contrast to Vedic religion and then he says opposition to Vedic religion in theory and practice has always existed along side orthodox Hinduism.
The last section is a analysis of materialist thought in the Vedas and the Upanishads which later commentators refuse to indulge and abstract it way into the Brahma/Purusha. The writer does not confine himself to the study of Nastika philosophies. Rather he says early Indian religion was based on materialist approaches and only later with the Upanishads and the Brahmanas, purely idealistic approaches were developed and superimposed on the Vedas.
The book is quite an easy read in spite of my complete ignorance on the subject matter and Marxist analysis. Kudos to the author for showing a historical and non-idolatrous approach to the Vedas and their competing philosophies.
Definitely recommended for Indian history aficionados.
The last section is a analysis of materialist thought in the Vedas and the Upanishads which later commentators refuse to indulge and abstract it way into the Brahma/Purusha. The writer does not confine himself to the study of Nastika philosophies. Rather he says early Indian religion was based on materialist approaches and only later with the Upanishads and the Brahmanas, purely idealistic approaches were developed and superimposed on the Vedas.
The book is quite an easy read in spite of my complete ignorance on the subject matter and Marxist analysis. Kudos to the author for showing a historical and non-idolatrous approach to the Vedas and their competing philosophies.
Definitely recommended for Indian history aficionados.
October 10, 2025
The book covers an interesting topic but in an outdated manner. The writing has to be one that appeals to contemporary readers who may not be so well-versed with various literatures of Hinduism. A revised edition will be most welcome!
Want to read
December 14, 2015I read the book long ago and it made a profound impression on my mind. I want to read it again.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews