The Charvakas were an interesting example of the intellectual heterodoxy of ancient Hinduism. Not only were they unabashedly materialist, but they challenged the most cherished assumptions of the astikas. The sage Madhvacharya summarised the Charvaka School in his Sarvadarsana Sangraha as arguing that ‘there is no heaven, no final liberation, no soul (which continues to exist) in another world, nor any ceremonies of castes or orders which are productive of future reward’. The Charvakas were in fact contemptuous of holy men and their practices: ‘The Agnihotra sacrifice, the three Vedas, the
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