The Jains against the Atheists

This paper focuses on the philosophical controversy between the Jain monk Sudatta and the Lōkāyata philosopher Caṇḍakarman. Although Caṇḍakarman, who also just so happens to be a Cāṇḍāla, is guaranteed to lose the debate, Sōmadēva presents the Lōkāyata position — which denies karmic retribution, rebirth, and a soul that survives after physical death — in some detail. Sōmadēva’s representation, doctrinally speaking, presents little that we don’t know from other sources, but the literary setting of the debate differs in several respects from similar “literary doxographies” that include Lōkāyata, including Sōmadēva’s model, Haribhadra’s Samarāiccakahā, as well as the Maṇimēkalai and the Upamitibhavaprapañcakathā.