Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya and Lokayata

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Lokayata 'has taught and will continue to teach generations of scholars both at home and abroad how to view philosophy in a new light. In this volume, Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya and Lokāyata, most of the papers dealt directly with the contribution of philosopher Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, who made a distinction of not travelling in the 'oft-trodden' track of dealing with Indian philosophical issues in particular and the rest with multi- dimensional aspect of Lokāyata philosophy in general. The papers compiled here examined the claims of the critics of Cārvāka philosophy from modern perspective. This volume is a compilation of the revised version of twelve research papers presented in the two-day National Seminar organised by the Asiatic Society, Kolkata, and directed by Professor Dilipkumar Mohanta, on November 25-26, 2010, in order to celebrate the 50th year of the publication of Lokāyata: A Study in Ancient Indian Materialism by Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya (1918-1993).

The Editor of this volume Dilipkumar Mohanta, former First Vice-Chancellor of the Sanskrit College and University (Kolkata), and former Vice-Chancellor of Kalyani University (Nadia), is a Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Calcutta. Professor Mohanta has been awarded Jens Jacobsen Prize (2016, SUD, Warsaw, Poland); the William Paton Fellowship in Global Philosophy at the John Hick Centre for Global Philosophy of Religion (2015, University of Birmingham, UK); Fulbright- Nehru Visiting Lecturer (2011, University of Florida, USA); U.S. State Scholar in the Institute of Religious Pluralism (2008, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA); Associate (1999- 2001, UC) at the Indian Institute of Advance Study, Shimla. Apart from 17 books he has published over sixty research articles in academic journals of philosophy and anthologies.

The present volume is the fruition of a two-day-long National Seminar which was held at the Asiatic Society on November 25-26, 2010. The occasion that prompted this academic discourse was, according to the editor, Professor Dilipkumar Mohanta, the completion of the fiftieth year of Professor Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya's seminal work entitled Lokayata A Study in Ancient Indian Materialism (People's Publishing House, New Delhi, 1959). Going by the exact release of this mind-boggling original Bengali publication entitled Lokayata Darsan, it would appear that the book was first published in 1956 (B.S. 1363). One could easily trace its academic lineage with the rich research tradition of the Asiatic Society during its formative years. The contents of the book cite number of references, among others, from the Journal of the Asiatic Society (Bengal) and particularly from Haraprasad Shastri's contributions. The author Professor Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya respectfully dedicated the book

in the memory of Mm. Haraprasad Shastri. A number of very distinguished scholars took part in the deliberations and presented their valuable papers for publication. The renowned scholar-editor of the volume Professor Dilipkumar Mohanta in his editorial note has very eminently given us a glimpse of all the papers included in this important publication of the Society.

The readers would wonder how Professor Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya singlehandedly managed to carry out such a vast and important original research work in a relatively unexplored area in spite of having his regular teaching and other assignments. We, in the Asiatic Society perhaps felt and still rightly feel that Professor Chattopadhyaya was perhaps not suitably acknowledged for his path-breaking introspection of the existence of indigenous approach to the attainment of life and culture, full of original ideas, that led to the birth of pre-institutionalized germane philosophy in ancient India. This is what was conceptually encapsulated in the distinct spectrum of materialistic interpretation as the Lokayata.

It would certainly be worth of our modest tribute to this great scholar if the young researchers of society and culture could retrieve useful substance from these discussions for their future research work.