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Atheism (Sanskrit: Nirīśvaravāda) or disbelief in the creationist god has been a historically propounded viewpoint in many of the Hindu philosophies.
Astika atheism
Astika (Sanskrit:Āstika, "one who acknowledges") is a term used in Hinduism to refer to a person or philosophical school that accepts the Vedas. The term Astika is sometimes loosely translated as theist while Nastika as atheist. This is inaccurate as the belief concerned is only about Vedas as a revealed scripture. Within the Astika schools of Hindu philosophy, the Samkhya and the early Mimamsa school did not accept a God in their respective systems.
The atheistic viewpoint as present in the Samkhya and Mimamsa schools of Hindu philosophy takes the form of rejecting a creator-God. The Samkhya school believed in a dual existence of Prakriti ("nature") and Purusha ("soul") and had no place for a Ishvara ("God") in their system. The early Mimamsakas believed in a adrishta ("unseen") that was the result of performing karmas ("works") and saw no need for a Ishvara in their system. Mimamsa, as a philosophy, deals exclusively with karma and thus is sometimes called Karma-Mimamsa. The karmas dealt with in Mimamsa concern the performance of Yajnas ("sacrifices to gods") enjoined in the Vedas.
Nastika Atheism
In Hindu philosophy, three schools of thought are commonly referred to as Nastikas: Jainism, Buddhism and Carvaka for rejecting the doctrine of Vedas. Nastika refers to the non-belief of Vedas rather than non-belief of God. Although, all these schools also rejected a notion of creationist god. Carvaka, an atheistic school of Hindu philosophy, traces its origins to 600 BCE. Carvaka philosophy appears to have died out some time after 1400 CE. Buddhism and Jainism also have their origins before 300 BCE.
Atheism as a Way of life
Many notable personalities have described Hinduism as a way of life rather than a religion. Those who consider Hinduism as a way of life find a strong argument to be an Atheist and a Hindu.
Hindu atheists in recent times
The Indian Nobel Prize-winner Amartya Sen, in an interview with Pranab Bardhan for the California Magazine published in the July-August 2006 edition by the University of California at Berkeley states:
- "In some ways people had got used to the idea that India was spiritual and religion-oriented. That gave a leg up to the religious interpretation of India, despite the fact that Sanskrit had a larger atheistic literature than exists in any other classical language. Even within the Hindu tradition, there are many people who were atheist. Madhava Acharya, the remarkable 14th century philosopher, wrote this rather great book called Sarvadarshansamgraha, which discussed all the religious schools of thought within the Hindu structure. The first chapter is "Atheism" - a very strong presentation of the argument in favor of atheism and materialism."
Prominent Hindu atheist personalities
There have been some prominent personalities who espoused atheism and Hinduism at the same time.
- Well-known personality, Veer Savarkar, who was president of Hindu Mahasabha, was an atheist. He is credited for developing a Hindu nationalist political ideology he termed as Hindutva (Hinduness).
- The first Hindu woman in British politics was Baroness Shreela Flather of Windsor and Maidenhead. She described herself as a "Hindu atheist". Broadly, she is an atheist with affinity to secular aspects of Hindu culture such as dress and diet.
- Bal Thackeray, the founder and 'Pramukh'(President) of the Shiv Sena, has publicly proclaimed himself an atheist after the death of his wife.
Fictional Hindu atheists
- Sudhamoy Dutta from Taslima Nasreen's Bangla novel Lajja.
References
- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/690490.cms
- http://www.ece.mtu.edu/faculty/jeffc/students/sskaramp/second/atheism.html
- http://www.alumni.berkeley.edu/calmag/200607/sen.asp
- * Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Savarkar Samagra: Complete Works of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 10 volumes, ISBN 8173153310
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/features/hindu_lives/script1.shtml
- http://www.mouthshut.com/review/Lajja_-_Taslima_Nasreen-86205-1.html