Purusartha
In Hinduism, the purusharthas are the canonical four ends or aims of human life.[1][2][3] These goals are, from lowest to highest:
- Kāma - sensual pleasure or love
- Artha - wealth
- Dharma - righteousness or morality
- Moksha - liberation from the cycle of reincarnation
Historically, the first three goals, dharma, artha and kama, were articulated first (Sanskrit: trivarga), and the fourth goal, moksha, later (Skt.: chaturvarga). In living tradition, the notion of the four purusharthas represents an holistic approach to the satisfaction of man's physical, emotional and spiritual needs.
There is a popular correspondence between the four purusharthas, the four stages of life (Skt.: āśrama: Brahmacharya [student life], Grihastha [household life], Vanaprastha [retired life] and Sannyasa [renunciation]) and the four primary castes or strata of society (Skt.: varna: Brahmana [priest/teacher], Kshatriya [warrior/politician], Vaishya [landowner/entrepreneur] and Shudra [servant/manual labourer]). This, however, has not been traced to any primary source in early Sanskrit literature.
Notes
- ↑ For dharma, artha, and kama as "brahmanic householder values" see: Flood (1996), p. 17.
- ↑ For the Dharma Śāstras as discussing the "four main goals of life" (dharma, artha, kāma, and moksha) see: Hopkins, p. 78.
- ↑ For definition of the term पुरुष-अर्थ (puruṣa-artha) as "any of the four principal objects of human life, i.e. धर्म, अर्थ, काम, and मोक्ष" see: Apte, p. 626, middle column, compound #1.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Apte, Vaman Shivram (1965). The Practical Sanskrit Dictionary. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. ISBN 81-208-0567-4. (fourth revised & enlarged edition).
- Flood, Gavin (1996). An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-43878-0.
- Hopkins, Thomas J. (1971). The Hindu Religious Tradition. Cambridge: Dickenson Publishing Company, Inc..
Further reading
- Anna Dallapiccola, Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend (ISBN 0-500-51088-1)
- Patrick Olivelle, The asrama system: the history and hermeneutics of a religious institution (New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993) (ISBN 0-19-508327-X)
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