Ancient India Several
śramaṇa movements are known to have existed in India before the 6th century BCE (pre-Buddha, pre-Mahavira), and these influenced both the
āstika and nāstika traditions of Indian philosophy. Martin Wiltshire says that the Śramaṇa tradition grew in India over two stages: the Paccekabuddha stage was the tradition of the individual ascetic, and the Savaka stage was the tradition of the disciples. Buddhism and Jainism eventually grew out of these two stages as different religions. These traditions drew upon already established Brahmanical concepts, states Wiltshire, to formulate their own doctrines. The four most studied
Nāstika schools, those rejecting the doctrine of
Vedas, are
Jainism,
Buddhism,
Cārvāka, and
Ājīvika.
Charvaka The
Cārvāka school originated in India around the 6th century BCE. It is classified as a
nāstika school. It is noteworthy as evidence of a
materialistic movement in ancient India. Followers of this school only accepted
pratyakşa (perception) as a valid
pramāna (evidence). They considered other
pramāna like
sabda (testimony),
upamāna (analogy), and
anumāna (inference) as unreliable. As a result, perception could not support the existence of God or the soul (tman). They also considered everything to be made of four
elements: earth, water, air, and fire. The Cārvāka pursued enjoyment of life and the elimination of physical pain. So, they can be considered
hedonistic. All of the original Cārvāka texts are considered lost. A much-quoted
sūtra (
Barhaspatya sutras) by Brhaspati, who is considered the founder of the school, is thought to be lost. The
Tattvopaplavasimha by
Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa (8th century CE) and the
Sarvadarśanasaṅ̇graha by
Madhavacarya (13th century) are considered important secondary Cārvāka texts. They believed that the two
ontological principles,
puruṣa (consciousness) and
prakriti (matter), were the underlying foundation of the universe. The objective of life is considered to be the separation of pure consciousness from matter (
kaivalya). There is the opposing reasoning that accepts God, called
Sesvara Sankhya (
Sāṃkhya with God).
Samkhya Karika () is the earliest known systematic text of this philosophy. refused to endorse many views on creation, and stated that questions on the origin of the world are not ultimately useful for ending
suffering.
Buddhism instead emphasises the system of causal relationships underlying the universe,
pratītyasamutpāda, which constitutes the
dhamma and source of enlightenment. No dependence of phenomena on a supernatural reality is asserted in order to explain the behaviour of matter.
Philosophers and ancient texts Ajita Kesakambali was a
materialist philosopher. He is mentioned in the
Samaññaphala Sutta. He rejected gods, an afterlife and karma.
Payasi is a character, referred to as a prince, who appears in the Buddhist text
Digha Nikaya in the
Payasi Sutta. He did not believe in rebirth or karma. He debated with
Kassapa, a disciple of Buddha, and lost according to Buddhist sources.
Jabali's speech from the Ramayana In the Hindu epic
Ramayana (
Ayodhya Khanda), when
Bharata goes to the forest to convince
Rama to return home, he was accompanied by a
sophist called
Jabali (""). Jabali uses
nihilistic He also equates the Buddha to a thief. However, these verses referring to the Buddha are considered a later
interpolation, as those verses use a different
metre.
The Carvaka incident in the Mahabharata A character described as a Carvaka briefly appears in the
Mahabharata (in the
Shanti Parva). As
Yudhishthira enters the city of
Hastinapur, a
brahmin, referred to as Carvaka, accuses him of killing his own kinsmen and says that he would suffer for it. The accuser is revealed to be a
rakshasa in disguise, who was a friend of
Duryodhana. He had existed since the
Satya Yuga by virtue of a boon from the god
Brahma, that he could only be killed when he is showing contempt towards brahmins. He was killed by other brahmins by the chanting of sacred hymns and Yudhishthira was assured that his actions were within the
kshatriya code. This event may be a possible denigration of the
Carvaka philosophy.
Medieval India In the 9th century CE, Jain philosopher
Jinasena wrote the
Mahapurana. The book contains the following often quoted words, This quote was also featured later in
Carl Sagan's book,
Cosmos. In the 14th century, philosopher Madhavacarya wrote the
Sarva-Darsana-Sangraha, which is a compilation of all Indian philosophies, including
Carvaka, which is described in the first chapter.
20th century '' in 1929 was the first
atheist/
rationalist magazine published in
Malayalam. Twentieth century India too experienced multiple spiritualism activism trends which weighed in favor of spirituality over religion and rituals. The Atheist Centre is an institute working for social change. Gora expounded his philosophy of
positive atheism as a way of life. Gora also organised the first World Atheist Conference in 1972. Subsequently, the Atheist Centre has organised several World Atheist Conferences in
Vijayawada and other locations. He wrote in his
autobiography,
Toward Freedom (1936), about his views on religion and superstition.
Meghnad Saha (1893–1956) was an atheist
astrophysicist best known for his development of the
Saha equation, used to describe chemical and physical conditions in stars.
Bhagat Singh (1907–1931), an Indian revolutionary and socialist nationalist who was hanged for using violence against British government officials, was a staunch atheist. He laid out his views in the essay "
Why I Am an Atheist", written in jail shortly before his execution.
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (1883–1966) was an eminent
Hindu nationalist leader of the
Indian independence movement. He was also an atheist and a staunch
rationalist who disapproved of orthodox
Hindu belief, dismissing
cow worship as superstitious. Being Hindu, for him, was a cultural and political identity.
Joseph Edamaruku (7 September 1934 – 29 June 2006), popularly identified by his surname Edamaruku, was a journalist and rationalist from Kerala. He was the Delhi Bureau chief of the Malayalam magazine Keralasabdam for more than twenty years, and the founder-editor of Therali, a rationalist periodical in Malayalam. He was president of the
Indian Rationalist Association from 1995 to 2005.
Khushwant Singh (1915–2014), a prominent and prolific writer of Sikh extraction, was avowedly non-religious. Founded in 1984
Tarksheel Society (Rationalist Society) is a
rationalist group based in
Punjab,
India.
Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti ( Committee for Eradication of Blind Faith, CEBF) is an organisation dedicated to fighting
superstition in India, particularly in the state of
Maharashtra. It was founded by
Narendra Dabholkar in 1989. In 1997, the
Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations was founded.
21st century and knowledge, counter to
Saudi Arabia's logo of palm tree with swords (President, Non-Religious Citizens) and
Liyakkathali C. M. (President ex-Muslims of Kerala)
Amartya Sen (born 1933), an Indian
economist, philosopher and
Nobel laureate, is an atheist and he holds that this can be associated with one of the
atheist schools in
Hinduism, the
Lokayata.
Sunday Sapiens, the successor of Maharashtra Rationalist Association, is actively involved in developing scientific temper and eradicating superstition. In 2008, the website Nirmukta was founded. It later became an organisation aiming to promote
free thought and
secular humanism in India. In March 2009, in
Kerala, a
pastoral letter addressing the
laity was issued by the
Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council urging the members to not vote for political parties which advocate atheism. In July 2010, another similar letter was issued. On 10 March 2012,
Sanal Edamaruku investigated a so-called miracle in
Vile Parle, where a
Jesus statue had started weeping and concluded that the problem was caused by faulty drainage. Later that day, during a TV discussion with some church members, Edamaruku accused the
Catholic Church of miracle-mongering. On 10 April, Angelo Fernandes, President of the Maharashtra Christian Youth Forum, filed a police complaint against Edamaruku under the
Indian Penal Code Section 295A. In July while on a tour in
Finland, Edamaruku was informed by a friend that his house was visited by the police. Since the offence is not
bailable, Edamaruku stayed in Finland. On Friday 7 July 2013, the first "Hug an Atheist Day" was organised in India by Nirmukta. The event aimed to spread awareness and reduce the stigma associated with being an atheist. On 20 August 2013,
Narendra Dabholkar, a rationalist and anti-superstition campaigner, was shot dead by two unknown assailants, while he was out on a morning walk. According to
Sultan Shahin of progressive
New Age Islam, more Indian Muslims are now questioning their own religion, some consider themselves just
cultural Muslim and some consider themselves even as
ex-Muslims. On 17 March 2017, H.Farook, an ex-Muslim atheist, was murdered by Muslim radical group in Coimbatore. The murders of Farook joined their close and hidden ex-Muslim organization pretending to be ex-Muslims who has understood the hollow falsehood of Islam and Quran. Later one day they called Farook saying that one of their bikes was out of petrol and needed him to come with some. They attacked in a group and murdered him. It is reported that the group involved practiced thefts and plundering at night and distributed a share of it to the nearby slums. On 9 January 2021, E.A.Jabbar, freethinker, atheist, and rationalist from
Kerala and Islamic preacher
M.M. Akbar were engaged in a debate on the
Quran. Both sides claimed to have defeated the other debater even as there was no clear verdict. In August 2021, Abdul Khader Puthiyangadi, an
Indian citizen and rationalist from
Kerala, was arrested by the UAE police in 2021 without bail and sentenced to prison in the UAE for three years for criticizing Islam on social media in his native language
Malayalam. On 10 January 2022, ex-Muslim rationalist Aneesh Jasy from Tamil Nadu was arrested without bail over his Facebook posts against Islam.
Rise of ex-Muslims of Kerala In 2021 in
Kerala, several
ex-Muslims formed an organisation called
Ex-Muslims of Kerala. It is an organisation founded in 2021 by E. A. Jabbar, Liyakkathali CM, Arif Hussain, and a few others who left Islam in Kerala. The organisation conducts debates with Islamic scholars and fundamentalists on various topics. == Legal status, rights and laws ==