<p>This review brings into conversation two distinctive thinkers—realists and traditionalists in their own right—Pradeep Gokhale and Sachchidanand Mishra, along with some classical and modern philosophical questions. Both scholars have recently undertaken the task of reviving the Indian materialist tradition of Cārvāka. Following a critical appraisal of their efforts, we argue that while their attempts are philosophically significant—indeed, amounting to a kind of renaissance—they remain incomplete in addressing certain cultural and contemporary challenges. These include not only the critiques posed by spiritual Indian traditions but also pressing issues from modern Western philosophy of mind, such as the nature of <i>qualia</i> and first-person experience, as well as axiological concerns that arise from the implicit ontology of the Cārvāka tradition. These unresolved issues, which resonate deeply with classical traditions such as Advaita Vedanta and Mahayana Buddhism, reveal significant gaps in their reconstructions. In this light, we propose that if the Lokāyata tradition is to be meaningfully reinvented, it must engage with modern cosmopolitan philosophical and methodological concerns. This is not a colonial imposition, but a recognition of the universality of philosophical inquiry across cultures and historical epochs.</p>