Irreligion in India

Several śramaṇa movements are known to have existed in India before the 6th century BCE (pre-Buddha, pre-Mahavira), and these influenced both the āstika and nāstika traditions of Indian philosophy.[11][12] Martin Wiltshire states that the Śramaṇa tradition evolved in India over two phases, namely Paccekabuddha and Savaka phases, the former being the tradition of individual ascetic and latter of disciples, and that Buddhism and Jainism ultimately emerged from these as sectarian manifestations.[13] These traditions drew upon already established Brahmanical concepts, states Wiltshire, to formulate their own doctrines.[13] Reginald Ray concurs that Śramaṇa movements already existed and were established traditions in pre-6th century BCE India, but disagrees with Wiltshire that they were nonsectarian before the arrival of Buddha.[11]

In Indian philosophy, there are six major orthodox (astika) schools of Hindu philosophy—Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mīmāṃsā and Vedanta, and five major heterodox (nāstika) schools of Śramaṇa —Jain, Buddhist, Ajivika, Ajñana, and Cārvāka.[14] The four most studied Nāstika schools, those rejecting the doctrine of Vedas, are Jainism, Buddhism, Cārvāka, and Ājīvika.[15]

There is no heaven, no final liberation, nor any soul in another world, Nor do the actions of the four classes, orders, etc., produce any real effect.

— from the Sarvadarśanasaṅ̇graha, attributed to Brhaspati[16][17]

The Cārvāka school originated in India around the 6th century BCE.[18] It is classified as a nāstika school. It is noteworthy as evidence of a materialistic movement in ancient India.[19] Followers of this school only accepted pratyakşa (perception) as a valid pramāna (evidence). They considered other pramāna like sabda (testimony), upamāna (analogy), and anumāna (inference) as unreliable.[20] Thus, the existence of a soul (ātman) and God were rejected, because they could not be proved by perception. They also considered everything to be made of four elements: earth, water, air and fire. The Cārvāka pursued enjoyment of life and elimination of physical pain. So, they can be considered hedonistic.[21] All of the original Cārvāka texts are considered lost.[22] A much quoted sūtra (Barhaspatya sutras) by Brhaspati, who is considered the founder of the school, is thought to be lost.[23] The Tattvopaplavasimha by Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa (8th century CE) and the Sarvadarśanasaṅ̇graha by Madhavacarya (13th century) are considered important secondary Cārvāka texts.[21]

Sāṃkhya is an āstika school, but has some atheistic elements. Sāṃkhya is a radically dualist philosophy.[24] They believed that the two ontological principles, puruṣa (consciousness) and prakriti (matter), to be the underlying foundation of the universe.[24][25] The objective of life is considered the achievement of separation of pure consciousness from matter (kaivalya).[24] The reasoning within this system led to the Nir-isvara Sāṃkhya (Sāṃkhya without God) philosophy, which deemed the existence of God as unnecessary.[26] There is the opposing reasoning which accepts God, called Sesvara Sankhya (Sāṃkhya with God).[27] Samkhya Karika (c. 350 CE) is the earliest known systematic text of this philosophy.[24]

Mīmāṃsā (meaning exegesis)[24] is also an astika school. They believed the Vedas to be author-less and self-authenticating. They did not accept the Vedas as being composed by any ṛishi (saint), they considered them to not be authored by anyone (apauruṣeya). They accepted the minor deities of the Vedas but resisted any notion of a Supreme Creator. They only concentrated on upholding the ṛta (order) by following the duties of the Vedas. The foundational text of this school is the Mīmāṃsā Sutra by Jaimini (c. 200 BCE – 200 CE).[24]

Ājīvika is yet another nastika school with an atheistic outlook. None of their scriptures survive and there is some question as to whether or not the accounts of them in secondary sources (often hostile) are accurate. They believed in a naturalistic atomic theory and held that the consequence of natural laws led to a deterministic universe. They denied karma, but upheld the atman. They lived in ascetic communities and existed in southern India until at least the 14th century.

Jainism rejects the idea of a creator deity responsible for the manifestation, creation, or maintenance of this universe. According to Jain doctrine, the universe and its constituents (soul, matter, space, time, and principles of motion) have always existed. All the constituents and actions are governed by universal natural laws and an immaterial entity like God cannot create a material entity like the universe. Jainism offers an elaborate cosmology, including heavenly beings (devas), but these beings are not viewed as creators; they are subject to suffering and change like all other living beings, and must eventually die. Jains define godliness as the inherent quality of any soul characterising infinite bliss, infinite power, Kevala Jnana (pure infinite knowledge)[28] and Perfect peace. However, these qualities of a soul are subdued due to karmas of the soul. One who achieves this state of soul through right belief, right knowledge and right conduct can be termed a god. This perfection of soul is called kevalin. A soul thus becomes a liberated soul – liberated of miseries, cycles of rebirth, world, karmas and finally liberated of body as well. This is called moksha.

Gautama Buddha rejected the existence of a creator deity,[29][30] refused to endorse many views on creation[31] and stated that questions on the origin of the world are not ultimately useful for ending suffering.[32][33] Buddhism instead emphasises the system of causal relationships underlying the universe, pratītyasamutpāda, which constitute the dhamma and source of enlightenment. No dependence of phenomena on a supernatural reality is asserted in order to explain the behaviour of matter.

Ajita Kesakambali was a materialist philosopher. He is mentioned in the Samaññaphala Sutta. He rejected gods, an afterlife and karma.[34] Payasi is a character, referred to as a prince, who appears in the Buddhist text Digha Nikaya in the Payasi Sutta. He did not believe in rebirth or karma. He debated Kassapa, a disciple of Buddha, and lost according to Buddhist sources.[35][36]

In the Hindu epic Ramayana (Ayodhya Khanda), when Bharata goes to the forest to convince Rama to return home, he was accompanied by a sophist[37] called Jabali ("जाबालिः"). Jabali uses nihilistic[38] reasoning to convince Rama. He also says that rituals are a waste of food and scriptures were written by smart men so that people will give alms. But Rama calls him a deviant from the path of dharma ("धरमपथात"), refuses to accept his "nastika" views and blame his own father for taking Jabali into service.[39] He also equates the Buddha to a thief.[39] On hearing Rama's retort, Jabali retracts his statements, saying that he was merely arguing like a nihilist.[38] However, these verses referring to the Buddha[40] are considered a later interpolation, as those verses use a different metre.[40][41]

A character described as a Carvaka briefly appears in the Mahabharata (in the Shanti Parva). As Yudhishthira enters the city of Hastinapur, a brahmin, referred to as Carvaka, accuses him of killing his own kinsmen and says that he would suffer for it. The accuser is revealed to be a rakshasa in disguise, who was a friend of Duryodhana. He had existed since the Satya Yuga by virtue of a boon from the god Brahma, that he could only be killed when he is showing contempt towards brahmins. He was killed by other brahmins by the chanting of sacred hymns and Yudhishthira was assured that his actions were within the kshatriya code.[42] This event may be a possible denigration of the Carvaka philosophy.[43]

In the 9th century CE, Jain philosopher Jinasena wrote the Mahapurana. The book contains the following often quoted words,[44]

Some foolish men declare that a creator made the world. The doctrine that the world was created is ill-advised, and should be rejected. If God created the world, where was he before creation? If you say he was transcendent then, and needed no support, where is he now?

This quote was also featured later in Carl Sagan's book, Cosmos.[45] In the 14th century, philosopher Madhavacarya wrote the Sarvadarśanasaṅ̇graha, which is a compilation of all Indian philosophies, including Carvaka, which is described in the first chapter.[17]

Between 1882 and 1888, the Madras Secular Society published a magazine called The Thinker (Tattuvavivesini in Tamil) from Madras. The magazine carried articles written by anonymous writers and republished articles from the journal of the London Secular Society, which the Madras Secular Society considered itself affiliated to.[46]

The Yukthivadi in 1929 was the first atheist/rationalist magazine published in Malayalam.

Twentieth century India too experienced multiple spiritualism activism trends which weighed in favor of spirituality over religion and rituals.[9]

Periyar E. V. Ramasamy (1879–1973) was an atheist and rationalist leader of the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam.[9] His views on irreligion are based on the eradication of the caste system, thinking religion must be denied to achieve its obliteration.

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (1883–1966) was an eminent Hindu nationalist leader of the Indian independence movement. He was also an atheist and a staunch rationalist[47] who disapproved of orthodox Hindu belief, dismissing cow worship as superstitious.[48] Being Hindu, for him, was a cultural and political identity.

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964), India's first Prime Minister was a Hindu agnostic and a self-styled scientific humanist.[49] He wrote in his autobiography, Toward Freedom (1936), about his views on religion and superstition.[50]

Meghnad Saha (1893–1956) was an atheist astrophysicist best known for his development of the Saha equation, used to describe chemical and physical conditions in stars.

Bhagat Singh (1907–1931), an Indian revolutionary and socialist nationalist who was hanged for using violence against British government officials, was a staunch atheist. He laid out his views in the essay "Why I Am an Atheist", written in jail shortly before his execution.[51]

Goparaju Ramachandra Rao (1902–1975), better known by his nom de guerre "Gora", was a social reformer, anti-caste activist, atheist and desciple of Mahatma Gandhi. He and his wife, Saraswathi Gora (1912–2006) who was also an atheist and social reformer, founded the Atheist Centre in 1940.[52] The Atheist Centre is an institute working for social change.[53] Gora expounded his philosophy of positive atheism as a way of life.[52] He later wrote more about positive atheism in his 1972 book, Positive Atheism.[54] Gora also organised the first World Atheist Conference in 1972. Subsequently, the Atheist Centre has organised several World Atheist Conferences in Vijayawada and other locations.[53]

Khushwant Singh (1915–2014), a prominent and prolific writer of Sikh extraction, was avowedly non-religious.

Founded in 1984 Tarksheel Society (Rationalist Society) is a rationalist group based in Punjab, India.[9][55]

Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti ( Committee for Eradication of Blind Faith, CEBF) is an organisation dedicated to fighting superstition in India, particularly in the state of Maharashtra. It was founded by Narendra Dabholkar in 1989.[56]

In 1997, the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations was founded.[57]

Amartya Sen (born 1933), an Indian economist, philosopher and Nobel laureate, is an atheist[58] and he holds that this can be associated with one of the atheist schools in Hinduism, the Lokayata.[59][60][61]

Sunday Sapiens, the successor of Maharashtra Rationalist Association,[62] is actively involved in developing scientific temper and eradicating superstition.

In 2008, the website Nirmukta was founded. It later became an organisation aiming to promote free thought and secular humanism in India.[63]

In 2009, historian Meera Nanda published a book entitled The God Market. It examines how Hindu religiosity is gaining more popularity among the rising middle class, as India is liberalising the economy and adopting globalisation.[64]

In March 2009, in Kerala, a pastoral letter addressing the laity was issued by the Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council urging the members to not vote for political parties which advocate atheism.[65][66] In July 2010, another similar letter was issued.[67]

On 10 March 2012, Sanal Edamaruku investigated a so-called miracle in Vile Parle, where a Jesus statue had started weeping and concluded that the problem was caused by faulty drainage. Later that day, during a TV discussion with some church members, Edamaruku accused the Catholic Church of miracle-mongering. On 10 April, Angelo Fernandes, President of the Maharashtra Christian Youth Forum, filed a police complaint against Edamaruku under the Indian Penal Code Section 295A.[68] In July while on a tour in Finland, Edamaruku was informed by a friend that his house was visited by the police. Since the offence is not bailable, Edamaruku stayed in Finland.[69]

On Friday 7 July 2013, the first "Hug an Atheist Day" was organised in India by Nirmukta. The event aimed to spread awareness and reduce the stigma associated with being an atheist.[70][71]

On 20 August 2013, Narendra Dabholkar, a rationalist and anti-superstition campaigner,[72] was shot dead by two unknown assailants, while he was out on a morning walk.[73]

According to Sultan Shahin of progressive New Age Islam, more Indian Muslims are now questioning their own religion, some consider themselves just cultural Muslim and some consider themselves even as ex-Muslims.[9]

On 17 March 2017, H.Farook, an ex-Muslim atheist, was murdered by Muslim radical group in Coimbatore. The murders of Farook joined their close and hidden ex-Muslim organization pretending to be ex-Muslims who has understood the hollow falsehood of Islam and Quran. Later one day they called Farook saying that one of their bikes was out of petrol and needed him to come with some. They attacked in a group and murdered him. It is reported that the group involved practiced thefts and plundering at night and distributed a share of it to the nearby slums like what Mohammed had done in sixth century.[74]

On 9 Jan 2021, E.A.Jabbar, freethinker, atheist, and rationalist from Kerala and Islamic preacher M.M. Akbar were engaged in a debate on the Quran.[75] Both sides claimed to have defeated the other debater even as there was no clear verdict.[76]

In August 2021, Abdul Khader Puthiyangadi, an Indian citizen and rationalist from Kerala, was arrested by the UAE police in 2021 without bail and sentenced to prison in the UAE for three years for criticizing Islam on social media in his native language Malayalam.[77][78]

On 10 January 2022, ex-Muslim rationalist Aneesh Jasy from Tamil Nadu was arrested without bail over his Facebook posts against Islam.[79]

In 2021 in Kerala, several ex-Muslims formed an organisation called Ex-Muslims of Kerala.[80] It is an organisation founded in 2021 by E. A. Jabbar, Liyakkathali CM, Arif Hussain, and a few others who left Islam in Kerala.[80] The organisation gives support to those who left Islam, a minority that is facing persecution from the Islamic community because of their leaving.[81] The organisation conducts debates with Islamic scholars and fundamentalists on various topics.[80] Ex-Muslims of Kerala observe 9 January as ex-Muslim day as the remembrance of E. A. Jabbar's debate with Islamic preacher M. M. Akbar, by conducting seminars on atheism and Islam.[81]

On 29 October 2013, the Bombay High Court judged in favour of an atheist school teacher from Nashik.[88] Sanjay Salve had been employed by the state-funded Savitribai Phule Secondary School since 1996. In June 2007, during a prayer session, Salve did not fold his hands during the pledge or prayer. The school management called this indiscipline and refused him a higher pay grade in 2008 when Salve became eligible for it. Salve sought legal recourse citing the article 28 (a) of the Constitution which states "no person attending any educational institution recognised by the State or receiving aid out of State funds shall be required to take part in any religious instruction that may be imparted in such institution or to attend any religious worship that may be conducted in such institution".[89][90] The court ruled in Salve's favour and directed the school to release his dues by 31 January 2014.[91]

On 23 September 2014, the Bombay High Court declared that the government cannot force a person to state a religion on any document or form. The court also stated any citizen has the right to declare that he/she does not belong to any religion. The decision came in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Ranjit Mohite, Kishore Nazare and Subhash Ranware, representing an organisation called Full Gospel Church of God, after the Maharashtra state printing press refused to issue them a gazette notification stating that they belonged to no religion. The petitioners stated that the organisation had 4000 members, and that they believe in Jesus Christ but they do not follow Christianity or any religion. Responding to the petition, the Maharashtra and the central governments had stated that "no religion" cannot be treated as a religion on official forms. The court cited the Article 25 of the Constitution, which guarantees right to freedom of conscience, while passing the verdict.[92][93]

The Indian census does not explicitly count atheists.[10] In the 2011 Census of India, the response form required the respondent to choose from six options under religion. The "Others" option was meant for minor or tribal religions as well as atheists and agnostics.[63]

The religion data from 2011 Census of India was released in August 2015. It revealed that about 2,870,000 people had stated no religion in their response, about 0.27% of the nation's population.[108] However, the number included atheists, rationalists and also those who believed in a higher power. K. Veeramani, a Dravidar Kazhagam leader, said that it was the first time the number of non-religious people was recorded in the census. However, he added that he believed that the number of atheists in India was actually higher as many people do not reveal their atheism out of fear.[109]

According to the 2006 World Values Survey, conducted by the Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2006), 6.6% of Indians stated that they had no religion.[110]

According to the 2005 Global Index of Religion and Atheism report from WIN-Gallup, 87% of Indians were religious and 4% called themselves atheists.[111] According to the 2012 report by the same organisation, 81% of Indians were religious, 13% were non-religious, 3% were convinced atheists and 3% were unsure or did not respond.[4] A 2022 Gallup survey found that 18% of Indians did not believe in God, equating to around two hundred million of the population.[112]

In 2007, a survey was conducted by the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and culture of the Trinity College with the help of Center for Inquiry (India) called Worldviews and Opinions of Scientists in India. 1100 scientists surveyed from 130 institutes. Most of them identified themselves as secular (59%) or somewhat secular (16%) but refused to be labelled irreligious. 83% defined secularism, as it appears in the Indian constitutions, as the separation of state and religion. But, 93% also defined it as tolerance of other religious philosophies. 20% equated secularism to atheism. Only 11% called themselves completely not spiritual. However, 8% reportedly said they would refuse to do stem cell research based on religious or moral convictions.[113] Y. S. Rajan commented on this saying that most Indians do not feel there is a conflict between science and religion.[114] Other the hand, Innaiah Narisetti, chairman of Centre for Inquiry (India) and Pushpa Bhargava, the former director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, pointed out the lack of scientific temper among Indian scientists.[115]

In a survey conducted by Elaine Howard Ecklund of Rice University, it was found that:

The ongoing study has surveyed 1,581 scientists from UK and 1,763 from India.[116]