Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Studies on the Cārvāka/Lokāyata
- I Origin of Materialism in India: Royal or Popular?
- II Jain Sources for the Study of Pre-Cārvāka Materialist Ideas in India
- III Ajita Kesakambala: Nihilist or Materialist?
- IV Perception and Inference in the Cārvāka Philosophy
- V Commentators of the Cārvākasūtra
- VI Cārvāka Fragments: A New Collection
- VII On the Authenticity of an Alleged Cārvāka Aphorism
- VIII Paurandarasūtra Revisited
- IX What Did the Cārvāka-s Mean by sukhaṃ jīvet?
- X Sāṃkhya, Yoga and Lokāyata in the Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra: A Re-View
- XI Yogācāra against the Cārvāka: A Critical Survey of Tattvasaṅgraha, Chapter 22
- XII Jayantabhaṭṭa's Representation of the Cārvāka: A Critique
- XIII What does Udayana Mean by lokavyavahārasiddha iti cārvākāḥ?
- XIV Hemacandra on the Cārvāka: A Survey
- XV Haribhadra's Ṣaḍdarśanasamuccaya, Verses 81-84: A Study
- XVI The Significance of Lokāyata in Pali
- XVII On Lokāyata and Lokāyatana in Buddhist Sanskrit
- XVIII Lokāyata and Lokāyatana in Sanskrit Dictionaries
- XIX ṛṇaṃ kṛtvā ghṛtaṃ pibet: Who Said This?
- XX jīvikā dhātṛnirmitā or jīviketi bṛhaspatiḥ?
- XXI mṛtānāmapi jantūnām…
- XXII Cārvāka/Lokāyata Philosophy: Perso-Arabic Sources
- XXIII What is Meant by nāstika in the Nyāyasūtra Commentary?
- Bibliography
XX - jīvikā dhātṛnirmitā or jīviketi bṛhaspatiḥ?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Studies on the Cārvāka/Lokāyata
- I Origin of Materialism in India: Royal or Popular?
- II Jain Sources for the Study of Pre-Cārvāka Materialist Ideas in India
- III Ajita Kesakambala: Nihilist or Materialist?
- IV Perception and Inference in the Cārvāka Philosophy
- V Commentators of the Cārvākasūtra
- VI Cārvāka Fragments: A New Collection
- VII On the Authenticity of an Alleged Cārvāka Aphorism
- VIII Paurandarasūtra Revisited
- IX What Did the Cārvāka-s Mean by sukhaṃ jīvet?
- X Sāṃkhya, Yoga and Lokāyata in the Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra: A Re-View
- XI Yogācāra against the Cārvāka: A Critical Survey of Tattvasaṅgraha, Chapter 22
- XII Jayantabhaṭṭa's Representation of the Cārvāka: A Critique
- XIII What does Udayana Mean by lokavyavahārasiddha iti cārvākāḥ?
- XIV Hemacandra on the Cārvāka: A Survey
- XV Haribhadra's Ṣaḍdarśanasamuccaya, Verses 81-84: A Study
- XVI The Significance of Lokāyata in Pali
- XVII On Lokāyata and Lokāyatana in Buddhist Sanskrit
- XVIII Lokāyata and Lokāyatana in Sanskrit Dictionaries
- XIX ṛṇaṃ kṛtvā ghṛtaṃ pibet: Who Said This?
- XX jīvikā dhātṛnirmitā or jīviketi bṛhaspatiḥ?
- XXI mṛtānāmapi jantūnām…
- XXII Cārvāka/Lokāyata Philosophy: Perso-Arabic Sources
- XXIII What is Meant by nāstika in the Nyāyasūtra Commentary?
- Bibliography
Summary
At the end of the first chapter of the SDS, S-M quotes a number of verses and ascribes them to Bṛhaspati. One of them runs as follows:
agnihotraṃ trayovedās tridaṇḍaṃ bhasmaguṇṭhanam|
buddhipauruṣahīnānāṃ jīvikā dhātunirmitā (sic) ∥
J. Muir, the first English translator of this passage from the SDS, renders it thus:
The agnihotra sacrifice, the three Vedas, the mendicant's triple staff, and the practice of smearing oneself with ashes, are only a means of livelihood ordained by the Creator for men who have neither understanding nor energy.
The verse seems to strike an odd note. It is well known that Bṛhaspati, the eponymous founder of the Lokāyata doctrine, denied the existence of God, after-life, etc. Why should he speak of the Creator, dhātṛ?
Cowell indeed felt that there was something wrong here. He therefore translated dhātṛnirmitā as “made by Nature”. In a note he added, “I take Dhātṛi as God, or nature, speaking by common parlance. Dr Hall (Catalogue, p. 162) would seem to take Dhātṛi as the name of an author. —‘Dhātṛi may sometimes stand for Bṛihaspati’.”
There is no evidence elsewhere or in the lexicons that Bṛhaspati was also called Dhātṛ. In any case, even accepting that would be of no avail in the given context. How could Bṛhaspati or a mere author (as Hall would have it) make or ordain the livelihood of the ascetics?
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- Studies on the Carvaka/Lokayata , pp. 207 - 212Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2011