Atheism and agnosticism have a long history in India and flourish within the Śramaṇa movement. Indian religions like Jainism, Buddhism and some sects of Hinduism can be considered non-theistic or transtheistic. These schools of thought consider spirituality without necessarily the existence of a Supreme God . While a degree of doubt has been ingrained in Indian spiritual culture, a large proportion of atheists/agnostics face societal stigma and have to hide their irreligious identity. As a result, many irreligious mark their Family religion on Government forms and Census. This makes it difficult to ascertain the spread of irreligion in India.
India has produced some notable atheist politicians and social reformers. Around 0.7 million people in India did not state their religion in the 2001 census and were counted in the "religion not stated" category. They constituted 0.06% of India's population. Their number has significantly increased four times, from 0.7 million in the 2001 census to 2.9 million in the 2011 census (0.24% of India's population) at an average annual rate of 15%. Percentages are calculated from population figures for individual religions in this word document by dividing them from total population of India. According to the 2012 WIN-Gallup Global Index of Religion and Atheism report, 81% of Indians were religious, 13% were non-religious, 3% were convinced atheists, and 3% were unsure or did not respond, while a demographic study by Cambridge University Press in 2004 found that around 2-6% of Indians identified as atheists or irreligious.
Indian History
Ancient India Several śramaṇa movements are known to have existed in India before the 6th century BCE (pre-Buddha, pre-Mahavira), and these influenced both the āstika and nāstika traditions of Indian philosophy. Martin Wiltshire says that the Śramaṇa tradition grew in India over two stages: the Paccekabuddha stage was the tradition of the individual ascetic, and the Savaka stage was the tradition of the disciples. Buddhism and Jainism eventually grew out of these two stages as different religions. These traditions drew upon already established Brahmanical concepts, states Wiltshire, to formulate their own doctrines. Reginald Ray concurs that Śramaṇa movements already existed and were established traditions in pre-6th century BCE India, but disagrees with Wiltshire that they were nonsectarian before the arrival of Buddha.
Schools of Philosophy
In Indian philosophy, there are six major orthodox (astika) schools of Hindu philosophy—Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mīmāṃsā and Vedanta, and five major heterodox (nāstika) schools of Śramaṇa —Jain, Buddhist, Ajivika, Ajñana, and Cārvāka. The four most studied Nāstika schools, those rejecting the doctrine of Vedas, are Jainism, Buddhism, Cārvāka, and Ājīvika.
Charvaka
The Cārvāka school originated in India around the 6th century BCE. It is classified as a nāstika school. It is noteworthy as evidence of a materialistic movement in ancient India. Followers of this school only accepted pratyakṣa (perception) as a valid pramāna (evidence). They considered other pramāna like śabda (testimony), upamāna (analogy), and anumāna (inference) as unreliable. As a result, perception could not support the existence of God or the soul (tman). They also considered everything to be made of four elements: earth, water, air, and fire. The Cārvāka pursued enjoyment of life and the elimination of physical pain. So, they can be considered hedonistic. All of the original Cārvāka texts are considered lost. A much-quoted sūtra (Barhaspatya sutras) by Bṛhaspati, who is considered the founder of the school, is thought to be lost. The Tattvopaplavasiṃha by Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa (8th century CE) and the Sarvadarśanasaṅgraha by Madhavacarya (13th century) are considered important secondary Cārvāka texts.
Sāṃkhya
Sāṃkhya is an āstika school but has some atheistic elements. Sāṃkhya is a radically dualist philosophy. They believed that the two ontological principles, puruṣa (consciousness) and prakṛti (matter), were the underlying foundation of the universe. The objective of life is considered to be the separation of pure consciousness from matter (kaivalya). The reasoning within this system led to the Nir-īśvara Sāṃkhya (Sāṃkhya without God) philosophy, which deemed the existence of God as unnecessary. There is the opposing reasoning that accepts God, called Sesvara Sāṃkhya (Sāṃkhya with God). Samkhya Karika () is the earliest known systematic text of this philosophy.
Mīmāṃsā
Mīmāṃsā (meaning exegesis) is also an āstika school. They believed the Vedas to be author-less and self-authenticating. They did not accept the Vedas as being composed by any ṛṣi (saint), they considered them to not be authored by anyone (apauruṣeya). They accepted the minor deities of the Vedas but resisted any notion of a Supreme Creator (Brahman). They only concentrated on upholding the ṛta (order) by following the duties of the Vedas. The foundational text of this school is the Mīmāṃsā Sutra by Jaimini (c. 200 BCE – 200 CE).
Ājīvika
Ājīvika is yet another nāstika school with an atheistic outlook. None of their scriptures survive, and there is some question as to whether or not the accounts of them in secondary sources (often hostile) are accurate. They believed in a naturalistic atomic theory and held that the consequences of natural laws led to a deterministic universe. They denied karma but upheld the ātman. They lived in ascetic communities and existed in southern India until at least the 14th century.
Buddhism and Jainism
Jainism rejects the idea of a creator deity responsible for the manifestation, creation, or maintenance of this universe. According to Jain doctrine, the universe and its constituents (soul, matter, space, time, and principles of motion) have always existed. Along with this, as 'universal natural laws govern all of the components and actions, an immaterial being like God cannot create a material being like the universe'. Jainism offers an elaborate cosmology, including heavenly beings (devas), but these beings are not viewed as creators; they are subject to suffering and change like all other living beings and must eventually die. Jains define godliness as the inherent quality of any soul characterised by infinite bliss, infinite power, Kevala Jñāna (pure infinite knowledge), and perfect peace. However, these qualities of a soul are subdued due to the karmas of the soul. One who achieves this state of soul through right belief, right knowledge and right conduct can be termed a god. This perfection of the soul is called kevalin. A soul thus becomes a liberated soul—liberated of miseries, cycles of rebirth, the world, karmas, and finally of the body as well. This is called moksha.
Gautama Buddha rejected the existence of a creator deity,Approaching the Dhamma: Buddhist Texts and Practices in South and Southeast Asia by Anne M. Blackburn (editor), Jeffrey Samuels (editor). Pariyatti Publishing: 2003 pg 129 refused to endorse many views on creation, and stated that questions on the origin of the world are not ultimately useful for ending suffering. Buddhism instead emphasises the system of causal relationships underlying the universe, pratītyasamutpāda, which constitutes the dhamma and source of enlightenment. No dependence of phenomena on a supernatural reality is asserted in order to explain the behaviour of matter.
Philosophers and ancient texts Ajita Kesakambali was a materialist philosopher. He is mentioned in the Samaññaphala Sutta. He rejected gods, an afterlife and karma. Payasi is a character, referred to as a prince, who appears in the Buddhist text Digha Nikaya in the Payasi Sutta. He did not believe in rebirth or karma. He debated with Kassapa, a disciple of Buddha, and lost according to Buddhist sources.
Jabali's speech from the Ramayana
In the Hindu epic Ramayana (in the Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa), when Bharata goes to the forest to convince Rama to return home, he was accompanied by a sophist called Jabali (""). Jabali uses nihilistic reasoning to convince Rama. He also says that rituals are a waste of food and scriptures were written by smart men so that people will give alms. Rama then calls him a deviant from the path of dharma (""), refuses to accept his "nāstika" views and blames his own father for taking Jabali into service. He also equates the Buddha to a thief. On hearing Rama's retort, Jabali retracts his statements, saying that he was merely arguing like a nihilist. However, these verses referring to the Buddha are considered a later interpolation, as those verses use a different metre.
The Carvaka incident in the Mahabharata A character described as a Carvaka briefly appears in the Mahabharata (in the Shanti Parva). As Yudhishthira enters the city of Hastinapur, a brahmin, referred to as Carvaka, accuses him of killing his own kinsmen and says that he would suffer for it. The accuser is revealed to be a rakshasa in disguise, who was a friend of Duryodhana. He had existed since the Satya Yuga by virtue of a boon from the god Brahma, that he could only be killed when he is showing contempt towards brahmins. He was killed by other brahmins by the chanting of sacred hymns and Yudhishthira was assured that his actions were within the kshatriya code. This event may be a possible denigration of the Carvaka philosophy.
Medieval India In the 9th century CE, Jain philosopher Jinasena wrote the Mahapurana. The book contains the following often quoted words,
This quote was also featured later in Carl Sagan's book, Cosmos. In the 14th century, philosopher Madhavacarya wrote the Sarva-Darsana-Sangraha, which is a compilation of all Indian philosophies, including Carvaka, which is described in the first chapter.
Modern India
19th century
Between 1882 and 1888, the Madras Secular Society published a magazine called The Thinker (Tattuvavivesini in Tamil) from Madras. The magazine carried articles written by anonymous writers and republished articles from the journal of the London Secular Society, which the Madras Secular Society considered itself affiliated to.
20th century
Twentieth century India too experienced multiple spiritualism activism trends which weighed in favor of spirituality over religion and rituals.
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy (1879–1973) was an atheist and rationalist leader of the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam. His views on irreligion are based on the eradication of the caste system, thinking religion must be denied to achieve its obliteration.
Goparaju Ramachandra Rao (1902–1975), better known by his nom de guerre "Gora", was a social reformer, anti-caste activist, atheist and disciple of Mahatma Gandhi. He and his wife, Saraswathi Gora (1912–2006) who was also an atheist and social reformer, founded the Atheist Centre in 1940. The Atheist Centre is an institute working for social change. Gora expounded his philosophy of positive atheism as a way of life. He later wrote more about positive atheism in his 1972 book, Positive Atheism. Gora also organised the first World Atheist Conference in 1972. Subsequently, the Atheist Centre has organised several World Atheist Conferences in Vijayawada and other locations.
Abraham Kovoor (10 April 1898 – 18 September 1978) was an Indian professor and rationalist who gained prominence after retirement for his campaign to expose as frauds various Indian and Sri Lankan "god-men" and so-called paranormal phenomena. His direct, trenchant criticism of spiritual frauds and organized religions was enthusiastically received by audiences, initiating a new dynamism in the rationalist movement, especially in Sri Lanka and India.
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964), India's first Prime Minister was a Hindu agnostic and a self-styled scientific humanist. He wrote in his autobiography, Toward Freedom (1936), about his views on religion and superstition.