Mahabharat e Nastikata by Shamim Ahmed [Hardcover]

One of India's greatest epics, the Mahabharata, contains various philosophical doctrines in the Mokshadharma section of the Shantiparva. How directly are these philosophical discussions connected to the story of the Kauravas and Pandavas? When the patriarch Bhishma was lying on a bed of arrows, he was answering Yudhishthira's questions about the world and life. Bhishma spoke of several atheistic doctrines. Among them were the Siddhanti Acharya Panchashikha, and the earlier schools like Lokayata or Charvaka, Jainism, Buddhism or Saugata, and Vaisheshika. Again, in the Ashwamedha Parva, there is mention of the philosophical communities named Tairthika and Uruloma, whom the narrator Vyasa has declared as atheists. In different parts of the epic, the Vaisheshika philosophy formulated by Maharshi Kanada is also called 'atheistic'. 'Anvikshiki' or logic has also received the title of atheism. This book discusses those atheistic communities in the light of the Mahabharata. The Mahabharata says that those who do not believe in the afterlife are atheists. These afterlife activities must follow the Vedas, and those who believe in these activities must also believe in the Vedas. Therefore, atheism in the Mahabharata is the disbelief in God, the Vedas, and the Vedic afterlife activities.