Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s9.t12.2

v1.c7.s9.t12.2

Chattopadhyaya proved the development history of ancient Indian philosophy with the approaches of dialectical materialism and historical materialism, criticised the views hold by European and American scholars that Indian philosophy had been the hometown of idealism and mysticism from ancient times, and also proved that the entire history of Indian philosophy not only included the religious tradition of idealism and mysticism, but also contained a wealth of materialism, rationalism, secularism, optimism and atheism traditions. In *Lokayata: A Study in Ancient Indian Materialism* and *Indian Atheism*, he proved materialistic thinking had emerged in the early Vedic times, the world view held by the ancient Indian ancestors had already reflected the pursuit of material interests and optimistic attitudes towards life. He also discussed in the Indian philosophical traditions, Lokayata was not the only school holding the idea of materialism and atheism, many other schools, like Samkhya, Vaisesika, Mimamsa, Jainadharma and some schools of Buddhism were also bearing materialism and atheism thoughts in varying degrees. In these schools with materialist ideology, besides Lokayata, although some schools were idealistic in view of the world, however they somewhat negated the role of divinity. Chattopadhyaya not only explained the continuity and universality of the development of Indian Materialism tradition, but also illustrated that Indian materialism had launched a long-term, continuous struggle against religious idealism since its generation.