India, May 18 -- Would you think that an ideology that considers the Vedas to be "incoherent rhapsodies" suffering from contradictions, errors, untruths and tautology, could be part of Hinduism? Would you believe that a school of philosophy that denies rebirth, the soul, an atman, religious rites, karma, heaven or hell - svarga-nark - gods or moksha, could be part of Sanatana Dharma? If you are about to say no, then think again. The eclectic intellectual adventurism inherent in the Hindu faith allows for such a school of thought to be a part of its conceptual corpus. The invigorating philosophical ferment around the 6th century BCE, post the Upanishads but predating the rise of Buddhism and Jainism, saw the emergence of the influential Lokayata materialist school, also known as Charvaka, whose tenets were enunciated in the Brihaspati Sutra, alas no longer extant. The name Charvaka is often traced to the sage Charvaka, a supposed founder, while Lokayata - meaning worldly or prevalent among the people - suggests its appeal to common sense and lived experience. What is significant - and entirely in keeping with the profundity of Hindu philosophy - is that the Charvakas argued their viewpoint with great logic and insight. According to them, pratyaksha, or direct perception is the only valid way to knowledge, while inference (anumana) and scriptural testimony (shabda) are unreliable. What you directly perceive exists, and what you don't, do not. All the rest is supposition. Even such examples like the hyphenation of smoke with fire, are not universally true since smoke can have other causes. Thus, metaphysical speculation, miracles, divine intervention, consciousness, and supernatural claims are all bunkum. In a culture steeped in transcendental spiritual certitudes, such a theory was nothing short of revolutionary. Even more unsettling for the orthodox religious establishment was the advice the Charvakas gave on how to live our lives. The Sarvasiddhant Samgraha, a later Lokayata text, states: "The enjoyment of heaven lies in eating delicious food, keeping the company of young women, using fine clothes, perfumes, garlands, sandal paste.. while moksha is only death which is simply the cessation of life-breath.the wise, therefore, ought not to take pains on account of moksha. A fool wears himself out by penances and fasts. Chastity and other such ordinances are laid down by clever weaklings." Was the Charvaka school, therefore, simplistically hedonistic? To my mind not. The materialists believed that human beings are essentially unable to accept their irrelevance at the cosmic level, nor the irrevocable finality of death. Hence, they seek crutches to justify their existence. Religion is a handy tool for this, because it operates on fear and want, and priests feed off human weakness. Millennia before Karl Marx said that religion was the opium of the masses, the Charvakas boldly proclaimed that the only usefulness of the Vedas was to provide livelihood to priests to exploit the gullible masses. If there is no life after death, and no heaven or hell, the materialists argue that the best you can do in this finite life is to enjoy it to the full. The Sarvadarshan Samgraha, written in the 14th century by Advaitist turned materialist scholar Madhava Vidyaranya says: "While life remains let a man live happily, led him feed on ghee, even though he runs into debt." In essence, enjoying pleasure without a sense of guilt, and avoiding pain as far as possible, was the Charvaka principle. In a world where no coordinate is certain - neither life nor death, leave alone what existed before or will follow later - the emphasis was on enjoying every moment of this life, for as their famous sutra says: While life is yours live joyously/ None can escape Death's searching eye/ When once this frame of ours they burn/ How shall it ever return? Unsurprisingly, the Charvakas were strongly rebutted by orthodox Hindus, Buddhists and Jains for being morally nihilistic and vulgar hedonists. Yet, their arguments were not easily refuted. If consciousness required a body, how could it survive death? If karma was real, why do the virtuous suffer and the wicked prosper? In an age of religious fundamentalism and blind faith, the Charvakas' insistence on evidence-based reasoning remains strikingly relevant. In their scepticism and uncompromising honesty, they remain among the most modern of India's ancient thinkers....