Questions on Indian Philosophy

[Satya Upadhya]

I have a few questions for the folks here as regards Indian philosophy:


Do the Charvaka (materialist) philosphers only rely on perception as a
pramana, or do they also accept inference.

Traditionally, it has been held that Charvakas only accept perception (from
what their intellectual enemies tell us), but the Charvaka philospher
Purandara clearly says that inference is to be accepted as long as it does
not concern transcendental matters (as S.N. Dasgupta says).

I have read a fairly detailed analysis of Mrinal Kanti Gangopadhyaya,  as to
why Charvaks did in fact accept inference as a pramana, and that the claim
of them accepting only perception is incorrect.

I would like to hear the views on this by other members of this forum.

-Satya

p.s. Am i right in concluding that the Mimansak philosophers, at least
originally, were atheists? Kumarila Bhatta (and I am sure Prabhakar, and
other Mimansaks as well) has certainly written extensively as to why he
rejects the idea of God, and yet this fact is in fact glossed over by many
modern writers.

p.p.s. Furthermore, am i correct to conclude that the Nyaya-Vaisesik
philosophies were originally atheistic? After all, God never occurs in the
Vaisesik Sutra, and it occurs only once in the Nyaya Sutra. And when it does
occur that one time (in the Nyaya Sutra), it can be shown that the sutra
which contains the word "God" is in the form of a "purvapaksa". What are
your views on this?




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