Hundreds of years later, Pyrrho – who reportedly traveled east with Alexander the Great and discussed philosophy with the Indian gymnosophists – later introduced skepticism to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Greeks. There, the world’s oldest and most persistent documented tradition of atheism and skepticism has been around for almost three millennia, since Vedic times and the oldest of the Upanishads (commentaries to the Vedas), ca. In that case, we need look no further than the birthplace of philosophy, alongside Mesopotamia and Egypt ( Kemet), namely India ( Bhārat). Supposedly, it was the modern European mind that invented the criticism of religions and religiosity.īut what if it was the other way around? What if philosophical skepticism, rational arguments, and non-religiosity came first, while religions developed later? What if irreligiosity was suppressed by medieval religious minds, before this worldview was resurrected in the modern era? In the beginning was … atheism? And we have killed him,” Friedrich Nietzsche declared in 1882. And I don’t say there neither is, nor is not, another world.Īccording to popular belief, atheism is a modern invention: “God is dead. If you ask me whether there is another world, well, if I thought there were, I would say so. Another of those teachers quoted, is the skeptic Sanjaya Belatthiputta (belonging to the Ajnana tradition, another heterodox school in Ancient India) – whose answer might be said to define radical agnosticism: In this ancient Theravada Buddhist text, a king asks six “seeking” ( sramana) ascetics about their different worldviews. 500 BCE) in the classical text “Discourse on the Fruits of Contemplative Life,” written in the Indian language of Pali.
No, this anti-religious statement is not from the latest American Atheists convention rather it is a quote from the atheist philosopher Ajita Kesakambala (ca. Both the fool and the wise are annihilated and destroyed after death and dissolution of their bodies. The second and last part will cover three other aspects when it comes to these non-religious Indian schools of thinking: first, the Mughal era, atheism, and the influence on Europe second, the spread of Lokāyata ideas to China and third, it’s impact on Indian science.įools prescribe alms-giving and some assert that there is such a thing as merit in alms-giving but their words are empty, false and nonsensical. This is part I of Herbjørnsrud’s text on the Cārvāka/ Lokāyata philosophy of India. Contrary to common belief, the hallmark of India’s philosophy is its critique of religions. Rationality, skepticism, and atheism have been central parts of Indian thinking for 2,700 years.
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