Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa

Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa was an Indian philosopher, probably active in South India around 800 CE, and the most radical sceptic of classical Indian thought. His only known work, The Lion of the Destruction of Principles (Tattvopaplavasiṃha), was rediscovered in manuscript in the twentieth century and published in 1940. It examines the accepted means of valid knowledge (pramāṇa), such as perception, inference and testimony, and argues that none can be defined or justified without circularity. If so, no doctrine about reality can be established. He presents himself as a follower of Bṛhaspati, so he is linked with the materialist Cārvāka school, though how closely is debated.

Key ideas

• No means of valid knowledge can be properly defined, since any definition already presupposes knowledge of what is real.
• Perception, inference and testimony each fail to justify themselves without circularity or infinite regress.
• Inference is especially weak, because it depends on universals and invariable connections that cannot be known.
• He refutes rival theses by showing that every possible version fails, without asserting the opposite thesis himself.
• Without valid knowledge, no doctrine of reality, including claims about a soul or an afterlife, can be established.

Major works

• The Lion of the Destruction of Principles (Tattvopaplavasiṃha) (c. 800)

In the Book corner

• The Lion of the Destruction of Principles (Tattvopaplavasiṃha) c. 8th–9th century CE · Advanced
  The only substantial work linked to the Cārvāka or Lokāyata materialists to survive, though its link to them is debated and its…

In the conversation

No topics yet. Start one about this thinker.