Athiest Hindu Philosophical Schools

Is atheist Hindu an oxymoron? It is hard to say. Hinduism by itself started off as a culture and it had nothing to do with the belief in God. It is interesting to note that atheist or nAstic schools of philosophy flourished a thousands years ago along with the theistic schools of philosophy.

In this post, let us look at how atheistic schools were possible within Hinduism. Broadly, the Vedic philosophical schools of thought were broken down into the ones that took the Vedas as their basis and ones that didn't. The Vedic schools of thought were philosophies like Samkhya, Nyaya, Visheshika, Vedanta, etc.

However, along with these philosophies that believe in the existence of a God, there were many that didn't make this assumption. The most notable among them is the Charvaka school which took to skeptical materialism - a philosophical viewpoint that is today popular. It is really interesting to note that the Charvaka school had arguments very similar to the present philosophical viewpoints among philosophers. Unfortunately, as with everywhere else, it is the theists that survive and the knowledge and teachings of the Charvaka school have been lost.