Being Hindu or Being Human: A Reappraisal of the Pururthas Author(s): Donald R. Davis Jr.

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Being Hindu or Being Human: A Reappraisal of the Purus?rthas

Donald

R. Davis,

Jr.

Man

a creating animal, doomed is predominantly to strive consciously a towards goal and to occupy himself with the art of engineering.. ?But man is a frivolous and unseemly being, and perhaps, similar to a chess player, likes the of the process only achieving goal, but not the goal itself (Dostoevsky 1993: 31, 32).

or humanity," are said purus?rthas, namely, virtue, wealth, pleasure, and liberation, regularly to be among the foundational and unifying concepts of Hinduism and Hindu identity. For example, in his influential introduction to Hinduism, Gavin Flood In contemporary studies of Hinduism, the four "aims of the original three-fold conception of the purus?rthas: "Traditionally, the high-caste Hindu householder has had three goals of life (purus?rtha)" (1996: 34, see also 2000: 11). Similarly, Klaus Klostermaier, following V. and R. N. Indian Dandekar in Sources the classic Civilization Raghavan of states that the later of four-fold typology (1988), purus?rthas "deeply influenced the personal and social history of Hindus and Hinduism....Its structure...reflects what Hindus understand to be the essence of Hinduism" (1994: 337).1 Some scholars take the matter even further. Madeleine Biardeau has argued that the purus?rthas, beyond being mere philosophical categories, are embedded in the social structure and culture of Hindu society such that "there is a single hierarchy of four terms which everyone knows by heart and must respect" (1989: 41). purus?rthas his concise, assertion regarding the place of By far the most far-reaching in Hinduism, however, comes from Arvind Sharma. At the end of but thorough, monograph on the purus?rthas, Sharma writes: "This describes

International

Journal of Hindu Studies 8,1-3 (2004): ? 2005 by theWorld Heritage Press Inc.

1-27

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monograph

caturvarga thought that all Hindu

was designed to demonstrate the centrality of the Hindu doctrine of or the four purus?rthas to the Hindu way of life.. ..It is a sobering

cultural enterprises...have always vindicated themselves in light of this doctrine" (1982:40; emphasis added). The list of claims that the purus?rthas are central categories to Hindu thought and Hindu identity could easily be lengthened. Overall, most authorities on the history of Hinduism seem to agree that the purus?rthas are distinctive categories of Hinduism and that a person pursuing these goals is a Hindu. In this essay, I

challenge the idea that the purus?rthas are an "essential" or "distinctive" feature of Hinduism or the lives of Hindus by reviewing recent secondary work on the in and interpreting classic accounts of the purus?rthas concept of purus?rtha Previous work on the terms of an ontology of humanity, not of Hinduism. these of has the "Hinduness" categories and has purus?rthas overemphasized on of the focused too much the artha (aim, goal) portion compound term and not enough on the purusa (human, person, man) portion.

VALUES OR ACTIVITIES?: THE "MYTH"OF THE PURUS?RTHAS

in Hindu attention paid to the purus?rthas Essays critical of the excessive Studies have recently appeared. Daya Krishna, for instance, challenges the claim that the purus?rthas made by modern Indian philosophers "designate in any clear manner the goals men pursue or ought to pursue" (1986: 1). The idea that all human values by the categories virtue (dharma), wealth and liberation (moksa) strikes Krishna as an entirely (artha), pleasure (k?ma), inadequate typology of human endeavors. The connection of this typology with the vast range of observed human values, according to Krishna, is the "myth of can be summarized

the purus?rthas." After criticizing the "vague" manner in which Sanskrit texts Krishna concludes: "The oft-repeated describe each of the major purus?rthas, traditional theory of the purus?rthas, thus, is of little help in understanding the diversity and complexity of human seeking which makes human life so meaningful the modern While in diverse ways" the purus?rthas of interpretation values and finds itwanting. and worthwhile (1986: 13). Krishna takes seriously as a summary statement of human

do not provide a useful or I agree with Krishna that the purus?rthas like to dispute Krishna's account of human values, I would comprehensive to be a statement of Hindu were the intended that purus?rthas presupposition were primarily, much less axiology because I do not believe that the purus?rthas

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Being Hindu or Being Human: A Reappraisal

of the Purus?rthas

I 3

intended to be categories of human values (contra Sharma 1982, exclusively, that the "myth of the purus?rthas" derives from 1959). Krishna contends modern scholarly claims that the four-fold typology actually covers the diverse range of human values. In contrast, I would argue that the "myth" is that the
purus?rthas are values at all.

are the purus?rthas^. After all the term "artha" in such compound terms frequently means "what is aimed at, what ismade a goal" and could signify what a person values. The standard interpretation of the purus?rthas postulates virtue, wealth, pleasure, and liberation as values (Prasad 1981: 49; Rao 1970; Sharma 1982, 1999) or attitudes (Potter 1963: 1-25) that precede an activity; that is, that Hindus first consider what they value and then pursue that goal by an appropriate action. These four fundamental values, it is claimed, provide virtue, motivates the impetus for Hindus* actions in the world. social responsibility, religious worship, law, and so on; artha, or wealth and material success, motivates political and economic life; k?ma, or pleasure, motivates poetic, artistic, and sexual activity; and moksa, or liberation, motivates ascetic withdrawal from the world and Dharma, or to the obedience

If not values

then what

higher religious activity. Such a causal connection between value and action is problematic in the first place because action is not always preceded by or self-conscious reflection on the propriety or utility of the act. prompted by Humans do not always think before they act, much less think, determine an as John Koller points out in his appropriate value, and then act. Moreover, critique of Karl Potter's understanding of the purus?rthas, what a person aims

at or takes as a goal "is not something apart from the activity" involved in achieving that goal but rather "is part and parcel of the activity itself (1968: 317). In Roller's view, therefore, the purus?rthas may be understood as aims or goals of life that are intimately tied to the activities required to pursue those
aims.2

As a result, itmakes better sense to view the purus?rthas not as the values that inspire action but as the actions themselves or better as the principal categories or spheres of human activity. On this point, Bruce Sullivan notes: "From the time of the early Upanisads (perhaps 600 BCE) these four pursuits were all as regarded appropriate activities in which people should be engaged" (2001: 76). Similarly, Patrick Olivelle writes: spheres of human endeavour: dharma Indian thought identified three (the ritual, religious, and ethical), artha and k?ma (the aesthetic and sensual, especially "Ancient

(the economic and political), the sexual). Each of these spheres became the object of specialized branches of learning" (1997: x).3 Following I suggest that the Sullivan and Olivelle, concept of the three/four purus?rthas?that is, the "group of three/four" an abstract typology of legitimate human (trivarga/caturvarga)4?delineates

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4 / Donald R. Davis,

Jr.

in a general way in all Indie intellectual discourse to define broadly what the "good life" is in a primarily worldly sense. If we stop thinking of the purus?rthas as either values or attitudes thatmust structure Hindu activities in a proactive manner, we can begin to see them as similar tomodern classificatory categories5 that attempt to theorize an intellec from a disparate set of social facts (Dumont classification tually manageable activities utilized 1980: 303-4). Convenient English equivalents such as virtue, wealth, pleasure, and liberation fail to capture the wide semantic range of the Sanskrit terms. Each of these terms has a much broader significance in Sanskrit literature. Dharma, for example, is notoriously difficult to define. Its semantic range covers areas as diverse as religion, law, ethics, and social order. Similarly, artha morality, includes politics, economics and social status, while (wealth, trade, occupation), k?ma can incorporate sex, art, literature, and personal pleasure. Taken collec tively, the range of human endeavors and institutions covered by these three Sanskrit terms approximates the range of theoretically or analytically abstracted social structures in, for example, ethnographies of the twentieth century. In other words, the purus?rthas can profitably be viewed as sociological in to addition categories, catego being viewed as theological or philosophical ries. As Rajendra Prasad states: "The theory of trivarga can very well be treated as a statement of what men generally, ordinarily, or even naturally, aim at. This or prescriptive statement, however, also contains an element of evaluativeness ness in the sense that the purus?rthas are claimed to be not only the goals which are sought, but also those which ought to be sought, to make a man's life full or well-lived" cf. In 1969: the collective conception of the (1981: 53; 6). Iyer and normative elements, purus?rthas, therefore, there are both observational descriptions both of what people do in fact and of what they should do. Further more, like early sociological models, the notion of trivarga or caturvarga?that on a highly reductionistic is, the collective idea of the purus?rthas?depended understanding of human activity that forced the diversity of human action and into three or four categories. Krishna finds such reductionism expression untenable because it depends upon categories that vacillate between "narrow and wider meanings" Charles Malamoud (1986: 10). Following (1981: 44-46), as intellectual categories however, I contend that the power of the purus?rthas lies in their capacity to expand and contract semanticcally to fit a wide range of human artha, politics, actions. All intellectual to make reduction in order analysis after all depends on abstraction and sense of the complexity of human life. Dharma, abstract or reductionistic reasonable, than law, English and four different, but equally

k?ma,

and moksa

seem no more

sexuality, or religion, equivalents for the purus?rthas. If we understand

the individual purus?rthas

to have both sociological

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Being Hindu or Being Human: A Reappraisal

of the Purus?rthas

I 5

import, how can we make sense of the categories as a whole or as a a possible answer, I turn toWilhelm Halbfass*s article "Menschsein For group? zu den purus?rthas" und Lebensziele: (1994), which I consider Beobachtungen normative to be the best combines because it essay on the purus?rthas interpretive historical both the observational and normative sides of these human activities/

aims. After

in Sanskrit surveying the various uses of the term "purus?rtha" literature, Halbfass concludes: "In this sense, we can say that the purus?rthas are simultaneously of what it means to be factual and normative possibilities horizons of a self-projection and self-distancing which constitute

human,

humanity [as distinct]" (1994: 131).6 in relation to the Halbfass clarifies the normative side of the purus?rthas are more the that Halbfass contends side. With others, purus?rthas sociological areas of human than sociological of the activity. They are also descriptions to human problems. More for legitimate responses theological possibilities are philosophically committed to distinguishing importantly, the purus?rthas human beings from other forms of life that do not possess the same group of essential "are simultaneously the purus?rthas words, pursuits. In Halbfass's attributes and constituents of humanity. It is in the nature of humanity to be an arthin the purusa part of the [a being with goals]" (1994: 130). Therefore, areas these of compound word purus?rtha restricts pursuit to human beings and in fact distinguishes humans ontologicaily, while the artha portion describes a fundamental characteristic of human existence, namely, the urge to seek, plan, and make choices. If we draw together the philosophical, theological, and historical approaches to the purus?rthas discussed so far, we may conclude that the purus?rthas are the legitimate "spheres of human endeavour" that create for human beings a unique and separate ontoiogical space. The purus?rthas provide both the range of possibilities and the range of responses to human problems whether they be moral dilemmas, material or biological needs, or religious pursuits.

QUESTIONING THE HINDU-NESS OF THE PURUS?RTHAS

as an Indie formulation of a distinctive human of the purus?rthas the between ontology calls into question the frequently alleged connection purus?rthas and Hinduism. If the purus?rthas are "one of themain concepts that The notion underlies the Hindu attitude to life and daily conduct" (Raghavan and Dandekar 1988: 209), we would then expect to find some categorical distinctiveness reference to associated with the group and to encounter some anthropological

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the purus?rthas. texts Neither expectation is fulfilled in the extant classical or ethnographic data.7 In fact, I would concur with Julius Lipner that "though one often comes across this division in traditional literature there is nothing about it in thatmany Hindus simply do not make much of it, unlike modern Hindu (and non-Hindu) commentators on Hinduism" (1994:160). are an early Two facts militate against the claim that the purus?rthas or of Hindu of Hindu expression thought. First, the identity distinctively in particular the original trivarga formulation of dharma, artha, purus?rthas, and k?ma, appear not only in texts of the Hindu tradition but also in Jain and to the purus?rthas Buddhist texts.8 References in these three major religious seem to basis of the traditions share the descriptive, factual, or worldly categories for human life but differ in their formulations of the normative implications of the categories. In other words, the elite traditions agreed that the describe what people actually do, but they disagreed that the purus?rthas determined what all people should do. The view of the purus?rthas purus?rthas as a collective description of human aims constitutes what I would call the "anthropological collective notion centric notion Flood 2000: turn" in the history of the purus?rthas a it distinguishes the term because as the trivarga from the highly ritual 1990: 139; tradition (Clooney in the mim?ms? it appears to be the addition of moksa as the of sacrosanct

of purus?rtha 14). Subsequently, fourth purus?rtha that begins what might be called the "theological turn" in the is intellectual history of the collective notion of purus?rthas.9 My contention that the "anthropological" was part of the common notion of the purus?rthas intellectual vocabulary of classical India, while

the "theological" notions? liberation (moksa, especially regarding the nature of the final purus?rtha, nirvana)?naturally distinguished religious and theological schools of thought both within Hinduism and between Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains. Second, the internal evidence belies of Hindu texts themselves as discussed in the next section at least in the form of the trivarga, of "Hindu-ness." Instead, represented expression Hindu texts, in common with Jain and Buddhist texts, present the trivarga as an life grounded in a kind of shorthand trope for the broad epitome of worldly human activities. range of that the purus?rthas, or deliberate a conscious In Jain texts, the purus?rthas are discussed both in a general, observational and in to relation Jain Jain texts present both way theology more specifically. the factual and the normative sides of the purus?rtha typology and put forth a distinctively Jain understanding of the normative implications of the typology. A of this juxtaposition of general and Jain-specific references to the is found in ?ubhacandra's purus?rthas twelfth-century Jn?n?rnava which states: "The ancient sages teach that virtue, wealth, pleasure, and liberation are the good example the contention

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Being Hindu or Being Human: A Reappraisal

of the Purus?rthas

I 1

four-fold

activities

dangerous this, those who directly see reality strive for the attainment of liberation" (3.4-5, cited in Varni 1972: 70).10 The first verse provides a simple enumeration of the

of humanity. Among these, the group of three (trivarga) is and is contaminated with the disease that comes with birth. Knowing

four purus?rthas that constitute the caturvarga. The fact that the "ancient sages" have expounded this categorization implies that it is an accepted description of the activities of human life. In the second verse, however, Subhacandra proffers a Jain interpretation of what this categorization implies for the Jain path to are deemed "dangerous" and religious liberation. The first three purus?rthas "contaminated" because they are connected to a worldly life that keeps a person within the worlds of karmic bondage. Therefore, liberation (moksa) is extolled as the highest purus?rtha because it removes one from the cycle of birth and of what humans death. These two verses contain both a factual observation do and a normative theological statement of what humans should do from the Jain perspective. As I will show, the combination of these two elements of the conceptualization examples as well. example verse of Hemacandra's liberation A similar of the purus?rthas from the Jain will form a pattern for subsequent can be found in the fifteenth

tradition

Yogas?stra: "Among the group of four (purus?rtha), is the highest and discipline (yoga) is its cause. It [liberation] is also the triple jewel which takes the form of (right] knowledge, faith, and conduct" (Jambuvijaya 1977: 105).11 In the auto-commentary (Svopaj?avrtti) to this verse, first defines liberation." The different as "wealth, pleasure, virtue, and the caturvarga is important here because of the ordering categories to describe what is wrong (at least for ascetics) with the

Hemacandra Hemacandra

proceeds first three purus?rthas by creating a moral hierarchy of the relative significance tells us, cannot be of each of these human endeavors. Wealth, Hemacandra the highest purus?rtha because it is "contaminated by its close connection

and excess." with the evils produced by acquisition, protection, destruction, Next, pleasure is said to be better than wealth because it is at least minimally connected with real happiness (sukha) but ultimately leads to a more difficult (virasa) life. Finally, virtue is (durgati) and a "tasteless" or less meaningful it is concerned with judged better than both wealth and pleasure because virtue (dharma) is also happiness both in this world and in others. However, as "connected with the bondage of meritorious karma which takes the form of golden fetters" and as "the reason behind the ceaseless wanderings of existence." Therefore, only liberation can be held up as the highest purus?rtha which takes the form of a discipline (yoga) that consists of the classic "triple of that Jainism, is, faith, jewel" right right knowledge, and right conduct. is more explicit on Another reference to the purus?rthas in the Yogas?stra described

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the fact that, according

to Hemacandra

at least, practice

purus?rthas (trivarga) constitutes an important quality his listing of the thirty-five character traits of a good Jain layman, Hemacandra states in verse 52, "putting into practice even the group of three without

of the group of three among Jain laymen. In

fallowing them] to conflict with one another" (Jambuvijaya 1977: 145).12 The text is explicit that the practice or pursuit of the purus?rthas in the form of the to one be is of the desirable trivarga possessed by Jains. Liberation, qualities indicates a distinction is not included here; and it certainly interestingly, Hemacandra to which the is making between the proper practices of monks, earlier cited verse 15 refers, and those of laypeople referred to in this later verse. The core of the purus?rtha concept, as represented by the original trivarga, is as good religious conduct for lay Jains. The clearly accepted by Hemacandra distinction comes at a theological level and with regard to monks and nuns, for whom liberation alone, not the lesser purus?rthas, are legitimate. of the As with Subhacandra's Hemacandra's understanding explanation, that there are four realms of purus?rthas begins with a fact-based acceptance human activity. The Jain tradition on the whole13 agrees that, in an anthropo logical sense, humans in fact act in ways that can be described by the four purus?rtha categories. These four categories, however, are not equally signifi cant for everybody in terms of Jain doctrine. The fact that the activities of as falling under one of these four headings does not mean that each of these activities is equally valuable for the summum bonum the of Jainism, namely, liberation, at least for Jain ascetics. For laypeople, a of human are to not factual said describe activity summary purus?rthas only but also a normative summary of a balanced religious life. Hemacandra creates a for Jain ascetics according to the benefits they hierarchy of the purus?rthas human life can be described provide for ultimate liberation. theological text, only actions because it leads ascetic practice, can be called the highest (agrani) purus?rtha to ultimate bliss (param?nanda).14 This assertion, however, does not negate are accepted in Jain texts as both descriptive and the fact that the purus?rthas theological categories. Like the Jains, Buddhist authors also share a common sense of the factual or In the end, as we would expect from a Jain connected with liberation itself, presumably strict

basis of the purus?rtha typology but differ in their interpreta anthropological tion of what normative significance, if any, the typology should have. As with in Jain texts, Buddhist allusions to the trivarga references to the purus?rthas appear most commonly as a literary trope about the basic activities of humanity. Hindu examine didactic literature from these two traditions, and from the tradition for that matter, we find little or no distinction in terms of how or the trivarga. the Jain and Buddhist texts make reference to the purus?rthas If we

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Being Hindu or Being Human: A Reappraisal References

of the Purus?rthas

I 9

to the purus?rthas in didactic texts occur primarily in connection the lives and dilemmas of princes and kings. So frequent is the connection of the purus?rthas with the courtly and royal life that one could argue that the referred primarily to the lives and actions of royalty and only purus?rthas with secondarily to others. Some short examples from ?rya Sura's J?takam?l?, a text that teaches moral lessons by recounting the former lives of the Buddha, will establish the pattern of reference found in Sanskrit didactic literature. In the J?takam?l?, are mentioned the purus?rthas in two ways, affirmatively and critically, that is, in a manner that is from the Buddhist immoral implicitly the In a affirmative the sense, either narrator, character, or the perspective. Buddha as the proper activities of life. In one himself praises the purus?rthas description of the Buddha as king of the Sibis. the author, ?rya &?ra, writes: "He happily combined within himself the whole gamut of qualities necessary for the three pursuits of life (trivarg?nugun?). They shone out harmoniously, their brilliant effect unspoiled by any shock of incompatibility" (Khoroche 1989: 10). In another story concerning the Buddha's controlled passion for Unm?da the minister addresses the Buddha: yantt, the wife of his minister Abhip?raga, to thanks "My lord, your tireless attendance on the elders, your authoritative learning, and your intellectual acuity, and also your surpassing knowledge of the three objects of life (trivargavidy?), the truth lies within you as in Brhaspati" 1989: as the Kuru king, Sutasoma, in the the Buddha (Khoroche 94). Similarly, story of the cannibal knowledge pursue the three objects of life (trivargam?rgam) along a path free from beset sins. in strict conformity with the sacred precepts and ting They behave surmount the difficulties of life with ease" (Khoroche 1989: 228).15 In each case, we notice the laconic manner are in which the purus?rthas mentioned. The references appear to be stylistic tropes for describing proper kingly activities and the benefits thereby accrued. No elaborate discussion of the is found; no explanation of what they are or how they relate to each purus?rthas other. Moreover, this kind of reference to the purus?rthas to is not exclusive Buddhist texts, and similar examples are easily found in Hindu and Jain didactic texts such as the Pa?catantra 1997: 188 under "aims (see the index to Olivelle of life") and the Pari?istaparvan of Hemacandra's Trisastisal?kapurusacaritra 165). The three traditions seem to share a common sense of the as the spheres of human activity as they are observed in actual life, purus?rthas especially in the lives of householders and royalty. Also in the J?takam?l?, critical references to the purus?rthas begin to provide a distinctive sense of the normative Buddhist of these human significance activities. In a tale of the Buddha as a merchant, cannot bear Mara the demon (Fynes 1998: states: "The riches contained in sacred Kalm?sap?da are a clear means to success, and those who take heed of them

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and so appears to the Buddha in the form of god. As he says, M?ra the Buddha from his generous gift-giving, "Material wealth is the prerequisite for pursuing the three objects of life. Do away with wealth and how can you avoid doing away with virtue too?" 1.7.6). The Buddha, of course, does not (Khoroche 1989: 23; cf. Arthas?stra the Buddha's generosity tries to dissuade heed M?ra's a Pratyekabuddha. In other the Buddha's mind poison (Khoroche disproven crosses a flaming hell to give alms to evil counsel and miraculously it is stories, conniving ministers who attempt to and pleasure above virtue by elevating wealth 1989: 154-55, 229; cf. Johnston 1992: 134), only to be rebuked or

by the Buddha's subsequent actions. Regardless of the circumstance, to however, the tales of the J?takam?l? freely use the rhetoric of the purus?rthas refer discuss the impeccable character of the Buddha and his actions. These ences critical of the purus?rthas suggest that from the Buddhist perspective the and the enjoyment of pleasure should never supersede performance of virtue, even though people actually practice all three. is found in of the purus?rthas A more pointed Buddhist understanding acquisition of wealth

a biographical Buddhacarita, poem on the Buddha. After the A?vaghosa's Buddha leaves the royal palace of his childhood and rebuffs the emissaries of his father who try to convince him to return to his family and royal duties, the the king Srenya who also Buddha journeys to R?jagrha where he encounters tries to convince the Buddha to return home, ?renya's argument is based in part in life. on an appeal to the Buddha to consider the importance of the purus?rthas The argument, which goes as follows: Choose devote therefore is reminiscent of arguments found in some Hindu texts,

one or other of these alternatives,

yourself to dharma, wealth and pleasure; three objects in the world out of passion, men go to ruin in the next world as well as in this. For if the entire goal is desired, you must give up that and that pleasure which is obtained by suppressing dharma and wealth, and pleasure, and dharma is obtained by overpowering wealth which that dharma which is obtained by the cessation of wealth and pleasure. Therefore by pursuit of the triple end of life make this beauty of yours bear fruit; for they say that the complete attainment of dharma, wealth and pleasure is for mankind 1936: 145). the complete object of the individual (Johnston

and in all propriety these for by confusing

in a balanced view of the purus?rthas In this passage, Sre?ya countenances the other in importance. Such a balance, which none of the three outweighs and K?mas?tra, texts such as theManusmrti reminiscent of arguments in Hindu

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Being Hindu or Being Human: A Reappraisal

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/Il

the "complete object of the individual." to harangue Sreijya, The Buddha, however, is not convinced and proceeds first by declaring his path to be a better dharma and second by demonstrating the evils of the passions (k?ma). After describing at length the transience and constitutes impermanence of the pleasures to be gained from worldly desires,16 the Buddha makes his summary statement on the trivarga: "But as for what you said tome, O king, about the pursuit of the three objects of life in their entirety, that they are the supreme end of man, my doctrine on this point is that they are calamity too; for the three objects are transitory and fail also to satisfy" (Johnston 1936: 161). In the story, the Buddha is trying to leave behind his old life, the sheltered life of a prince. Symbolically, therefore, the doctrinal rejection of the purus?rthas parallels his rejection of the sacrifices, marital duties, royal duties, military duties, and other responsibilities of kingly life. a theologically viable state Despite the Buddha's rejection of the trivarga as to ment of what humans should do, there is nothing suggest that the categories do not describe what people actually do. Indeed, the text seems ambivalent about the purus?rthas, for example, in the description of the idyllic life of the palace in which the Buddha grows up: "None pursued love for sensual pleasure (k?ma); none withheld wealth (artha) from others to gratify his own desires; none practiced religion (dharma) for the sake of riches; none did hurt on the plea of religion" (Johnston 1936: 22). In this depiction, as in ?renya's argument, the ideal life of a kingdom and its subjects is based on a balance of the activities of the trivarga. Normal life, as opposed to the special life of an ascetic renouncer, seems to depend on these three kinds of activity. of desire plays such a founda?oaal Given that the extinguishing it is not surprising to find the Buddha vehemently Buddhist philosophy, role in

reject that as a it Nor is of life. desire surprising particularly (k?ma) proper activity ing of the the form is, in the purus?rthas, he also dismisses (that trivarga notably some in as normative categories because they not including moksalnirvana), or pleasures. Like the Jains and ultimate sense lead to fleeting achievements the Buddhists understood theological recognized reasonable or philosophical the categories the purus?rthas within the framework of their all three traditions also commitments. Nevertheless, the trivarga, as a of the purus?rthas, especially

Hindus,

in an anthropological summary of the range of human activities as for Jains and Hindus, this factual or observational sense. For Buddhists, did not automatically of the purus?rthas imply a normative acceptance their theology or as consonant with acceptance of the categories completely for laypeople, or those not ready for the difficult philosophy. Nevertheless, pursuit of liberation alone, the purus?rthas all the classical Indie religious traditions. were accepted as normative aims by

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examples from Jain and Buddhist texts are not intended as a complete statement of how the purus?rthas are conceptualized in these traditions. Rather, they are meant to show that the core of the purus?rtha concept lies in its being a factual description of what human beings do. Moreover, both Jain and Buddhist sources accept the trivarga, or three-fold as not of the purus?rthas, typology only factual but also as normative demonstrate, however, tion of the last purus?rtha, for lay people. The same examples also that each tradition offered its own normative interpreta

These

liberation. How and why people should pursue this ultimate goal differs in each tradition. Unlike for lay people, the trivarga is not a suitable end goal for ascetic or monastic practitioners. The real point of dispute in the theological discourses of classical India concerns liberation and the kind activity necessary to attain it. these Jain and Buddhist examples, we can see the problem with saying that the purus?rthas are Hindu concepts. Such a characterization does not allow for Jain and Buddhist understandings of the purus?rthas. A broader under From

of ascetic or monastic

allows us to see that they were part of the common standing of the purus?rthas intellectual discourse of classical and medieval Lidia. And, similar to the diver gent uses of words such as karma in South Asian religions, different traditions both within Hinduism and outside of it formulated different understandings of believe the same terminology. By asking what is common to these understandings, I we glean a better sense of the semantic the of and purus?rthas history their appropriation or manifestation in various schools of Indie thought. In the next section, I will show that Hindu texts also share the common notion of the purus?rthas as the realms of human action. More importantly, I will

as normative categories was not suggest that the acceptance of the purus?rthas as straightforward as some scholars would lead us to believe. The differing Hindu conceptions of the normative implications of the purus?rthas, therefore, will mirror some of the hesitancies acceptance of the regarding the wholesale purus?rthas in Buddhist and Jain texts.

THE PURUS?RTHAS AS A COLLECTIVITY IN HINDU LITERATURE

as a collectivity, The purus?rthas as either trivarga or caturvarga, are never discussed at length in Hindu texts.17 Given the frequent characterizations of the as the "essential structure" or "foundation" of classical group of purus?rthas Hinduism, the lack of systematic explanation of the group in the textual tradition of Hinduism is very surprising. To be clear, references to the purus?rthas as a

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of the Purus?rthas

I 13

group are not rare at all. In fact, such references show up in a wide variety of textual sources ranging from religious texts to legal texts to epic stories to didactic and philosophical literature. Indeed, the ubiquity of references to the or to purus?rthas suggests the importance of these concepts trivargalcaturvarga at some level. The question is in what way are the concepts purus?rtha and trivargalcaturvarga important in Hindu texts? Do the concepts represent, as Flood (2000: 11) has argued, a self-conscious reflection of the Hindu tradition or are upon itself they, as I argue, part of the Indie tradition's contemplation of the nature of humanity? The first Br?hmanical remarkable and other Hindu fact is the brevity of references to these concepts in as a texts. Short references to the three group

recur without much elaboration or commentary at all. By contrast, the individual each have a vast corpus of literature and interpretation devoted to purus?rthas them. Therefore, we must conclude in the first place that Hindu texts for the most part presupposed the connections between the purus?rthas while being concerned with the individual aims themselves. The emphasis obsessively appears to be not in the unique Hindu formulation of the group but in the unique, formulation and exposition of the individual parts. especially the Br?hmanical, From the perspective of the classical Hindu tradition, the parts were more the than whole. important If we try to survey discussions of the purus?rthas in Hindu texts, we imme run a into are numerous references but few diately problem in which there to the purus?rthas exhaustive list of references would be but verses or a would than few contain few discussions extremely long longer sentences. In order to understand the purus?rthas as a collectivity, therefore, I to on focus some prominent Sanskrit texts that in my opinion fairly propose represent the general notions surrounding the purus?rthas. We might expect the technical genres dedicated to each of the individual contain full purus?rthas?that is, the sastras on dharma, artha, and k?ma?to descriptions of the purus?rthas discussed fits into the overall as a group and of bow the particular purus?rtha we only find short and scheme. Unfortunately, elaborations. An

fairly uninformative verses. For example, the well-known Manusmrti contains six references18 to the as a group, but only two say anything about the relationship purus?rthas between them. Manusmrti 2.224 states: "Some say virtue and wealth are conducive to welfare; others say pleasure and wealth; others, virtue alone; still others say wealth alone is conducive to welfare in this world at least, but the established teaching is that the triple path is the best."19 This verse provides some insight into the various opinions about the significance of the purus?rthas as known to the author of the Manusmrti, even though any relative priority of

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the purus?rthas the verse

is ultimately unclear from this verse. In addition, the context of is interesting because it is found in the instructions given to a student

regarding his special rules of conduct but appears to be more universal in scope. The previous verse (2.223) reads: "If he sees a woman or a low-born man doing something conducive to welfare, he should do all of that diligently, or anything else he is fond of." The text here seems to be indicating the people from whom and the behavior whether education from which it is "conducive and maturation learn, the basic criterion being to welfare" (sreyas). In other words, part of a student's as a person is to learn to balance the activities defined a student should discusses the connection of the purus?rthas as

by the trivarga. The other verse inManu which

a group makes clear that a hierarchy exists in the importance of each purus?rtha. Manusmrti 12.38 declares: "It is said that pleasure is characterized by darkness and among these, and wealth by vigor. Virtue is characterized by goodness, each latter one is better than the former."20 In this verse, dharma is declared to be better than artha which is better than k?ma. Taken with affirms the earlier verse the manner) on the elaborating the present from Manu, connection of the three purus?rthas nature of the connection verse merely (in an declarative

present argument, are described in the Dharmas?stra which the purus?rthas are propounded held the purus?rthas notion that widely

in a hierarchy without For the or the judgment criteria for hierarchization. the brevity with it suffices to note that both verses exemplify

literature. Indeed, the and inculcated most

is specious. Even the commentaries on such verses forcibly in the Dharma??stras are some of most uninspired and laconic to be found in the dharma tradition (see Mandlik 1992). Turning to the Arthas?stra, India, we again find relatively there are nine references the classic few verses treatise on kingship on the purus?rthas. and statecraft in

to at least two of the purus?rthas,

By my count, four of which refer to

but only two of which discuss the internal relationships of all three purus?rthas the group.21 The most relevant and interesting reference comes at Arthas?stra
1.7.3-7:

He

should enjoy sensual pleasures without contravening his spiritual good and material well-being; he should not deprive himself of pleasures. Or, (he should devote himself) equally to the three goals of life which are bound up with one another. For, any one of (the three, viz.,) spiritual good, material

and sensual pleasures, (if) excessively indulged in, does harm to well-being alone is supreme," itself as well as to the other two. "Material well-being sensual say Kautilya. For, spiritual good and pleasures depend on material well-being (Kangle 1963:15).22

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of the Purus?rthas

I 15

The

for this quotation is the education of a king and the appropriate of that king (contrasted, for example, with the training of a student as the Arthas?stra above). As in the Manusmrti, presents a variety of prevailing about the relative opinions importance of the purus?rthas but ultimately declares wealth to be the most important. The reason for this declaration is not stated in activities the text, but subsequent interpreters in the Hindu tradition take the passage to that without a minimal amount of material wealth, one could not perform

mean

rituals, clothe oneself, eat, or even live. Such an interpretation, interestingly, converts this human aim into a human need, a basic necessity, and suggests the possibility that the other purus?rthas may also be considered as essential to extrapolate from this passage an idea of the purus?rthas as fundamental human needs, inherent and necessary the of we do not find in the Arthas?stra human is a sustained life. What parts discussion of the meaning, or of the collective function internal relationships, idea of the purus?rthas. elements of human life. It seems reasonable In the second chapter of the first book of the K?mas?tra of V?tys?yana, we find one of the longer discussions of the purus?rthas in classical Sanskrit litera ture. The principal theme of this discussion and, one could argue, for the text as a whole is the justification and exposition of a science of pleasure (k?ma) with particular reference to the cultured, urban man (n?garaka, "the man-about town"). Throughout the text, the implicit context is the education of a n?garaka. its counterparts in Dharmas?stra Unlike and Arthas?stra texts, the K?mas?tra its terms of the in existence (1.2.18-19) trivarga and claims explicitly justifies that the realm of pleasure requires conscious, cultured regulation just as virtue and wealth. Ultimately, the K?mas?tra envisions the cultured, sophisticated as a balance pursuit of the three purus?rthas: "A man who serves power, pleasure, and religion in this way wins endless happiness this world and the next" (Doniger and Kakar 2002:13). life and

that has no thorns in

After rejecting the potential objections by scholars (?c?rya) to a treatise on pleasure, V?tsy?yana presents the arguments of three other interlocutors who is not a may also object on the grounds that one or other of the purus?rthas aim of life. of the demonstrates proper dharma, artha, V?tsy?yana importance and k?ma against the straw-man arguments of, respectively, atheistic material ists (lauk?yatika), the pessimistic fatalists (k?lak?rinika), and the power-crazed somewhat than V?tys?yana's opportunists (arthacintaka).23 More interesting unfair characterizations of his theoretical opponents' positions is the conclusion that a balanced pursuit of the three purus?rthas is necessary for a truly fulfilled human life. As the commentator Yasodhara states, unbalanced approaches to life that reject one or more of the purus?rthas "win a happiness that does have thorns, because each of the these three groups lacks one of the three aims of

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life" (Doniger and Kakar 2002: 12). By putting such an argument at the beginning of his text, V?tsy?yana attempts to fit his work on pleasure into a larger vision of the fundamental pursuits of humanity. His justification assumes a shared notion in his potential audience that the as a collectivity, purus?rthas especially as trivarga, represent the realms of activity that make a human life most fulfilling, cultured, and civilized. Pleasure for is an integral V?tsy?yana of human a as and the part existence, group provide a totalizing24 purus?rthas sense. In fact, more than most encapsulation of human being in an ontological valorizes the trivarga as an onto tradition, V?tsy?yana that has normative logical reality implications (Doniger and Kakar 2002: xvii). The normative force of V?tsy?yana's description of the trivarga, however, is not limited to Hindus in any conceivable way but rather to males in general who seek to become, through the practice of the trivarga, cultured, sophisticated gentlemen. Like the dharma and artha texts, therefore, the K?mas?tra appar ently thinks of itself primarily as a tool of discipline (sastra)25 for the training of the uneducated in general. One interesting similarity between each of the three ?astra traditions related to the individual purus?rthas is the recognition of divergences regarding which should take precedence in the group. In each of the examples purus?rtha of the above, variant opinions were given about the prevailing conceptions at the own more before is author's the authoritative time, trivarga opinion given. Such divergences suggest that, even within the sastra literature, "which of the purus?rthas is variable to some extent" (Flood 2000: predominates, 17-18). In most Hindu texts, it is fair to say that dharma is given more weight than the other two purus?rthas and tends to provide the boundaries for the 2.13, 4.176; Lingat 1973: practice of the other two (for example, Manusmrti none of the early sastra texts 1927: 57-58). Moreover, 156; Radhakrishnan as a moksa but fourth when moksa is added,26 it is often incorporate purus?rtha, held to transcend the other three, sometimes to the point of making the original trivarga irrelevant.27 The point here is that there is no single Hindu view of the purus?rthas in the sastra texts, nor even considerable agreement on what the or of normative the should be. The fact theological significance purus?rthas that sastra texts always seem tomention the trivarga while focusing on only one of the purus?rthas stems from the encompassing reach of the trivarga as a authors in the Hindu

human

totalizing symbol of the good life, especially for kings and householders. The various sastras often frame their contributions as part of this grand scheme but never contemplate the significance of the whole. Even outside the sastra texts, references to and discussions of the purus?rthas focus not on the group but on the individual aim* themselves and do not elabo rate on the normative import of the concept in an identifiably Hindu manner.

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One

comes from the Purus?rtha of this phenomenon examples a of stories from massive collection (Chandrasekharan 1955), various Pura?as and the Mah?bh?rata attributed to the famed commentator is divided into four parts, each correspond S?yapa. The Purus?rthasudh?nidhi are intended to The stories collected ing to one of the four purus?rthas. sudh?nidhi exemplify aspects of the individual purus?rthas. there is no substantive discussion of the entire work, Throughout the the relationship between

of best

however, individual especially dedicated

aims. Despite the rhetoric of balance surrounding the purus?rthas, in contemporary readings of the concept, each of the excerpts is to just one of the aims. The contents, as expected, deal with

and moral fables about the virtue of wise choices and the evil of mythological ignorant choices. Moreover, being compiled primarily from excerpts from the the Purus?rthasudh?nidhi Pur?nas, fairly represents the way in which the are literature as well. On the whole, purus?rthas presented in this voluminous the purpose of the collected tales in the Purus?rthasudh?nidhi seems to be to demonstrate the necessity of practicing each of the purus?rthas properly at the time and seem to call for contexts or Different circumstances appropriate place. an active response of the dharma, artha, or k?ma variety. The purus?rthas as a collectivity get lost behind the singularly appropriate pursuit of one aim in the literature, we get a similar impression of the vagaries of the purus?rthas. The Tirukkural is surrounding the collective conceptions divided into three sections certainly the most famous text that is explicitly to the purus?rthas, or "things known in Tamil as urutiporul, corresponding as (porul) which provide a firm support (uruti) [for the world]."28 However, Normal Cutler (1992: 552) points out, the traditional divisions of the Tirukkural into atom (dharma), porul (artha), and irjpam (k?ma) ate clearly a later addition for the relationship of the verses under each heading to the topic is often unclear. The medieval interpreters of Tirukkural, most notably Parim?lajakar, framed Tiruvalluvar's aphorisms in terms of urutiporul but took for nature the and internal granted composition of this collective concept. In fact, the fourfold urutiporul became a trope of medieval Tamil poetics in which and understood all literary texts were enjoined to frame their content under these categories 1974: 129). Despite the fairly common use of this framework, (Zvelebil there is no systematic explication of the relationship of the three however, As with Sanskritic the Tamil instances of the purus?rthas categories. usages, seem to be used primarily as a totalizing frame for the good life of a house holder, a way of saying that all activities and endeavors are covered by a given work. Also like most Sanskritic references to the trivarga, amm (dharma) is said to be the most important of the purus?rthas because it "produces results appropriate context. If we turn to Tamil

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the Tirukkural that pertain to all three realms" (Cutler 1992: 556). Ultimately, of the concept of theorizations and its commentaries confirm both the vague concerns trivarga and the fact the corresponding collective concept urutiporul the epics (Krishan 1989) or from the poetic and dramatic k?vya texts (Ivaturi 1989), but are not well as a collectivity remains the same: the purus?rthas the message to seems be the in the Hindu tradition and theorized accepted axiomatic group a cultured man a cally as a statement of what makes a human being human, or cultured man, but not what makes In summary, symbolic Buddhist in Hindu a Hindu a Hindu. as are best conceived texts trivarga and caturvarga are as in human activities, they just epitomes of the spectrum of and Jain texts. Grand instances of the trivargalcaturvarga being the "firm supports" of human life, not of a distinctively Hindu life. texts could be adduced here, from Other instances from Hindu

used as headings for a work or parts of a work (for example, Tiruvalluvar's and Hem?dri's Tirukkural, Bhoja's Erdg?raprak?sa, Caturvargacint?mani, work that the are intended to convey the idea Say ana* s Purus?rthasudh?nidhi) the form in covers every aspect of life. The purus?rthas summary represent however, give conceptualizations, totality of human life. Such universalizing a scope so wide that its significance suffers from its abstract the purus?rthas in the quality. To combat the impracticality of such a broad abstraction, interest of nature the detail in centers on precise great purus?rthas explaining principally or or no is little There each member of the trivargalcaturvarga. philosophical The concept is the on of reflection the trivargalcaturvarga. meaning theological rhetorical in nature. It acts as a stereotyped frame for discourse fundamentally about human pursuits, both in Hindu and non-Hindu texts. Any substance it has may be found in the examinations of its parts, that is, the members of its group (varga).

CONCLUSIONS

in both early and later formulations, apply universally29 to all The purus?rthas, human beings, not just to Hindus. These "human activities" are what distinguish do not distin humans ontologically from other living things. The purus?rthas from all humans but rather from Hindus other non-Hindus collectively guish the of three-fold the formulation In other words, non-humans. (trivarga) and four-fold are not a self (caturvarga) typologies of these "human activities" internal Hindu assessment of what makes Hindus distinctive. They conscious, In this of what makes humans distinctive. are, instead, an Indie assessment

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of the Purus?rthas

I 19

sense, although the purus?rthas are connected to Hindu theology and may justly be considered part of Hindu thought, the categories extended broadly to the whole of Indian philosophy and must be considered part of Jain and Buddhist tell us how to be human, not how to be Hindu, thought as well. The purus?rthas and they do so from an Indie, not a Hindu ethos. From the Indie perspective, there is no question but that all humans pursue one or more of the three or four purus?rthas during their lifetime. Being human, we will success, social and personal gratification, material as the primary or some of combination these religious duty, spiritual liberation, or activities are not mutually exclusive goals of our lives. The purus?rthas inevitably choose

The

and may be pursued simultaneously, sequentially, or, theoretically, in isolation. three-fold and four-fold typologies of the purus?rthas are best seen as the

to define what it means traditions struggling products of Indie intellectual to be human. In this way, the categories of the purus?rthas resemble modern and to terms the distinctive used describe anthropological sociological analytic behavior, structures, and institutions of human beings or philosophical musings on capacities such as reason, most prominent language, and consciousness?the Western candidates for a distinguishing trait of humanity. From an outsider perspective, the Hindu-ness of the purus?rthas derives from the distinctive in some Hindu accepted Buddhist understanding of the normative character of the categories found texts. That some texts in the Hindu tradition, broadly speaking,

the entire group of the purus?rthas as normative categories while some and Jain texts did not is the only very weak basis on which we speak of the "aims of humanity** as Hindu. From the insider perspective of Hinduism, however, the purus?rthas were never intended to constitute a distinctive set of religious

categories that separated one religious group from another. In fact the was true. The internal Hindu and Indie perspectives on the purus?rthas opposite declared the categories to be a distinctive description of what it means to be whole. that emanates from the Indie tradition as a universalizing move In this sense, dharma and moksa, or sometimes the purus?rthas as a were most as or often the distinguishing activities described group, pursuits of human beings, that is, what separates mankind from other animals. are today usually discussed as part of the "Hinduism is The purus?rthas human?a not all about mysticism of modern and world-denying behavior" apologetics and scholarly writing 1997: 124-25). While (for example, Tripathi this characterization is accurate in general and acts as an important corrective to overly spiritual understandings the of Hinduism and India, it obfuscates tradition's use of the purus?rthas to analyze what humans do in fact and, in should not be seen in any clear sense

Hindu

some cases, should do to be truly human. The purus?rthas as exclusively part of the Hindu tradition, nor as defining

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/ Donald R. Davis,

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what

the core of the purus?rtha concept is an anthropological about the fundamental activities of human generalization core is shared by all Indie intellectual traditions. Surrounding this beings?this core concept are a variety of that theological interpretations of the purus?rthas argue variously for a balance, for different precedences, or even for a rejection of the purus?rthas, especially the trivarga, for certain kinds of religious life. It is at this theological level that the different religious traditions of India diverge in their understandings even the differences of the purus?rthas. in Ultimately, theological understanding do not demarcate a specifically Hindu concept of the

itmeans

or meant

to be a Hindu. At

purus?rthas. Instead, what appears much more prominently in the typically brief to references the trivarga or caturvarga in Indie texts is a sense that humans are delineate the beings with goals (arthin) and that the three or four purus?rthas goals and activities that define their humanity.

Notes Jim Egge, Jim Fitzgerald, Richard Lariviere, Patrick Olivelle, Mary Rader, Bruce Sullivan, and the journals' anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions on previous drafts of this article. 2. In this argument, one is reminded of recent critiques of the fact/value distinction view 1998 and Putnam 2002, among others. Such critiques by Habermas the separation of an act or a fact from the value implicit in its performance or existence as in the understanding and analytically misguided philosophically of moral choice. 3. Compare classification also Raghavan who shows that in the Srdg?raprak?sa, "Bhoja's of his Srdg?ra into Dharma-srdg?ra, and K?ma Artha-snjg?ra, the activities themselves of man in the ?rdg?ra, and Moksa-srdg?ra...meant direction of their four Purus?rthas" (1978:461). 4. On the general phenomenon of categorizations of three being expanded into of four (the "three plus one" notion) in early Indian thought, see categorizations Smith 1994: 14-16.1 have not, however, been able to find a study Organ 1973; of the three-to-four phenomenon in the specific case of purus?rthas. It is clear that the three-fold conception the is to four-fold prior (trivarga) historically conception constitutes (caturvarga), and I argue below that the addition of moksa to the list a "theologizing" move with respect to the general notion of trivarga, a move that takes the notion of trivarga into the fundamentally anthropological realm of theological discourse. Flood argues that "moksa has developed outside the context of Brahminical social values....The of the assimilation by Brahminism caturvarga the Sramanic ideology is an indication of moksa" of (2000: 1. I wish to thank John Cort,

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of the Purus?rthas

I 21

The material presented in this essay suggests that the reverse was also true, namely, that Sramana traditions utilized and accepted the trivarga concept as well, and that there is no clear evidence suggesting anything exclusively or Hindu about either trivarga or caturvarga, Br?hmanical perhaps a further case pointing to a strong shared intellectual discourse in classical India, regard less of putative religious affiliation. 22-23). 5. On classification 6. All German indicated. 7. A possible exception here is the ethnographic work of Madan (1987) who frames some parts of his study of the householder ideology among Kashmiri in terms of the purus?rthas. The most common term for this ideology, panditas seem rare however, is bhattil, and the panditas' references to the purus?rthas and tangential. 8. The three traditions compared in this section, namely, Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism, each have their own internal differences and separate histories as living traditions and as academic them as whole "entities." Comparing therefore, can be problematic. The following discussion describes each broad tradition's position on the purus?rthas in a general manner without much reference to specific schools of thought or subtraditions. I believe each traditions, fairly represents the respective traditions. Indeed, I am arguing that they are all somewhat similar and draw on a common intellectual stock, but it is possible that there were (minor) differences in the conceptualizations of the within each tradition. purus?rthas 9. Again, Flood that a confluence Brahminical argues that the addition of moksa to the trivarga "suggests of different value systems has occurred. Put simply, a worldview in which the highest values are ritual and social respon characterization in general in ancient Hindu and Sanskrit translations thought, see Smith 1994. are my own unless otherwise

in sibility, pleasure, wealth and worldly success, has incorporated a worldview which liberation and the transcending of the social world takes precedence" (2000: remainder to Flood's argument, as described in the 21). My only qualification of this section, is to suggest that the label "Br?hmanical" may be

use of the trivarga in Buddhist inappropriate given the rather comfortable and Jain texts as well. "Indie" may be a better choice. Intellectual debate in theological circles in classical India seems to center on the nature of liberation and (moksa, nirvana) and not on the commonly accepted (for householders) commonly
10. rsibhih.

rejected (for ascetics)

3.4-5: *yam purus?rtho

idea of the trivarga.

c?rthas ca k?mas ca moksai tatra ceti maha caturbhedah. trivargam s?p?yam

Jn?n?rnava

"dharmas uddistas

janmaj?tadkad?sitam.
11. Yogas?stra

jn?tv? tattvavidah s?ks?d yatante moksas?dhane."

15: "caturvarge *granir mokso yogas tasya ca k?ranam.

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ratnatrayam ca sah" j??nasr?dd?nac?ritrar?p?m 12. Yogas?stra 52: "anyony?pratibandhena trivargam api s?dhayan." from the Jain tradition are 13. Several other references to the purus?rthas conveniently collected siddh?nta ko?a (Vami Tradition Hemacandra Dundas (Embree in the encyclopedia of Jain literature called the Jainendra 1972). Other examples can be found in Sources of Indian of 1988: 81, 88) and in the Trisastiial?kapurusacaritra practice and its connection to liberation, see

(Johnson 1937: 3-5). 14. On Jain attitudes to ascetic

1992: 140-43. For two scriptural examples from the Uttar?dhyayana between ordinary the differences s?tra and the S?trakrt?dgas?tra describing works and ascetic practice, see Jacobi 1995:142-49,297-301. 15. The Sanskrit text of the J?takam?l? can be easily found in Kern 1891. 16. Interestingly, the Buddha never rejects dharma or artha in the text. On as the foundation of a dharma, he offers his own teaching and understanding that goes beyond profound dharma he says nothing. curiously, 17. Some may protest that Mah?bh?rata the Vedic heaven. About artha,

more

devotes 48 verses, a (12.161) to a debate about trivarga among the P?ndava reasonably long discussion, 2004 for a this debate (see Fitzgerald brothers and Vidura. Nevertheless, to is most limited like discussions of arguments for the translation), trivarga, relative priority of one or the other purus?rtha as preeminent. Vidura advocates dharma; Arjuna, artha; Nakula and Sahadeva, too, artha, though with slightly different logic; Bh?ma, k?ma; and, in the final and generally accepted statement on the matter, Yudhisthira argues for moksa, though without explicitly claiming the it as part of a caturvarga categorization. The debate presumes in advance worth of the trivarga as a group and, ultimately, concludes that moksa ismore itself is important than these three anyway. The framework of the trivarga or aims being assumed, not debated. There is no question of other activities potentially more primary concern 18. References Manusmrti references The important and no justification for the collective concept. is the individual purus?rthas, not their nature as a collectivity. as a group or to trivarga are found in to the purus?rthas

and 12.38. A few additional 7.27, 7.151-52, 2.13, 2.224, 4.175-76, but can also be found in theManusmrti, to two of the purus?rthas sreyah k?marthau tv artham

they do not differ in substance from the six cited here. 19. M?navadharmas?stra 2.224: "dharm?rth?v ucyate
dharma eva ca. artha eveha v? sreyas trivarga iti tu sthitih."

20. M?navadharmas?stra
ucyate. sattvasya

12.38: "tamaso

laksanam

k?mo rajasas

laksanamdharmahiresthyames?myathottaram"

21. Five
1.2.9,

references
5.3.2,

to the dharma
5.4.6-11, and

and artha alone are found in Arthas?stra

8.3.50. Four references to trivarga or all

1.17.45-47,

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are found in Arthas?stra three of the purus?rthas 1.4.11, 1.7.3-7, 9.7.81, and 15.1.20, with the last being an exact quotation of 1.7.3. k?mam seveta, na nihsukhah 22. Arthas?stra 1.7.3-7: "dharm?rthavirodhena eko hy aty?sevito dharm?rtha sy?t. samam v? trivargam anyony?nubaddham. k?m?n?m ?tm?nam itarau ca pidayati. arthaiva pradh?neti kautilyah. artha m?lau hi dharmak?m?v iti." 23. Interestingly, each of the straw-man arguments is introduced in the same way: the negating particle na, followed by the purus?rtha being rejected in the accusative plural, and finally the verb caret, that is, one should not do/perform this purus?rtha (na dharm?ms caret, n?rth?ms caret, and na k?m?ms caret). The use of the plural and the verb caret are activities above that the purus?rthas upheld. 24. In the introduction and Kakar write: here seems to bolster to be performed, the argument not values to be

to their recent translation of the K?mas?tra, Doniger is one of several "This basic trinity [of the purus?rthas]

important triads in Hinduism, whose role in Hindu intellectual history demon strates that 'three' became a kind of shorthand for 'lots and lots'; these threes multiform, multi-whatever-you-like represented the multivalent, multifaceted, nature of the real phenomenal world" (2000: xiii). Thus, groups of three symbolize a totality, the whole of knowledge, of social identities, life-stages, and so on. Such groupings are intellectual, even academic, classifications. and Olivelle (2005). 25. On the notion of sastra, see Pollock (1985,1989) derives only from those specific 26. The "Hindu-ness" of the purus?rthas In this of the group that deviated from common understandings. an Hindu to in the original trivarga sense, the addition of moksa identifiably sense constituted the first step toward a distinctive Hindu theological conception of the purus?rthas. Even this step, however, only distinguishes Hindus so far as In both Buddhists and Jains use the concept moksa with their own meanings. formulations other words, the distinction of traditions seems not to be in the understandings of the group but in the interpretation of the individual purus?rthas themselves. 27. See, for example, Sadkara's declaration at Git?bh?sya 4.21 (Warrier 1983) that "dharmo 'pi mumuksor anistar?pam kilbisam eva bandh?p?dakatv?t" (for an undesirable form, one who desires liberation even dharma is defilement, because it too produces bondage]" suggests that Sadkara views moksa as the only truly important aim of life, even though he does not frame his argument in terms of the purus?rthas explicitly. 28. This translation of porul (Cutler 1992: 550) as "things" only hints at the range of this word which also includes essence, object, reality, and so on. Almost certainly, porul is a translation for Sanskrit doctrine, subject, artha as porul is used both at end of the compound term urutiporul and as the broad semantic

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24

/ Donald R. Davis,

Jr.

name for the second member

of this categorization, just as in Sanskrit. 29. One possible objection here is that many references to the purus?rthas implicitly fall under descriptions of the proper life of noble or ?rya people, as never seem to be opposed to barbarians or mlecchas. Though the purus?rthas explicitly limited to ?ryas in the texts, it is possible that "universal humanity" of the purus?rthas was, in some cases, predicated first upon being born into this class of people, that is, in the ?rya land of northern India. My general sense, however, is that purusa and ?rya are not synonyms and that, therefore, these activities are common to all human beings in a truly universal sense.

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DONALD

R. DAVIS, JRM is Assistant Professor of Languages and Cultures of Asia at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. <drdavis@wisc.edu>

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