Purusharthas

History glossary

Also called: Four aims of life, Four goals of life · Topic: Society in Early India: Kinship, Varna-Jati, Women · NCERT: Class 9, Ch 5 "State and Society up to 1000 CE"

Meaning

Purusharthas are the four aims of human life in early Indian thought: dharma (duty, right conduct), artha (wealth and worldly success), kama (desire and pleasure) and moksha (release from the cycle of rebirth). Artha and kama were allowed, but only within the limits of dharma. Moksha was the last and highest goal.

They matter because they set out the "good life" for a person of the upper varnas. Together with the four ashramas and the 16 samskaras, they helped keep family, caste and patriliny in place.

Explanation

Background: why the texts set "aims" of life

  • Brahmana authors wrote rule-books for society. These are the Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras, normative texts (texts that say how people should live).
  • These authors wanted to set a proper life path for men of the upper varnas, from birth to death.
  • The purusharthas answered one question: "What should a person aim for in life?"
  • The study note puts them in a life-frame with two other ideas:
  • Four ashramas: four stages of life for the upper varnas.
  • Shodasha samskaras: the 16 rites of passage, from before birth to after death.

The four aims, one by one

  • Dharma: duty and right conduct. This meant doing the duties of your varna, your stage of life and your family. It was the base of the other three aims.
  • Artha: wealth, property, livelihood and power. Earning and protecting wealth was a proper goal, especially for a householder.
  • Kama: desire and pleasure, including love and family life. Having children, and above all sons, came under this aim.
  • Moksha: release, meaning freedom from the cycle of birth and death. It was the final spiritual goal.
  • The rule that ties them together:
  • Wealth and pleasure were not seen as sinful.
  • But they had to be pursued within dharma, so wealth had to be earned in the right way and desire had to be met inside marriage.
  • Dharma, artha and kama together are often called the trivarga ("the group of three"). Moksha is usually treated as a separate, higher goal.

How it worked with the ashramas

  • The ashramas were the four stages of life: brahmacharya (student), grihastha (householder), vanaprastha (forest-dweller) and sannyasa (renouncer).
  • Each stage gave more weight to some aims than to others:
  • Student stage: learning dharma.
  • Householder stage: dharma, artha and kama together, meaning earning, marrying and raising sons.

  • Last stages: slowly turning towards moksha.

  • In this way, wealth and family life were placed inside a larger spiritual path.

Result: aims of life that supported patriliny

  • Sons were needed to fulfil the aims:
  • A son was needed to perform the rituals for his father.
  • So the householder's aims (dharma, kama) included having sons.

  • This is one more reason why sons were prized.

  • The wish for sons is old. A Rigveda marriage mantra asks that the bride have "fine sons". It was inserted c. 1000 BCE and is still used in Hindu marriages today.

  • Ideal, not always practice: like patriliny, the purusharthas are a textual ideal. Real people, and especially women and lower varnas, may not have lived by this neat plan.

Time, place and evidence

  • Period: These ideas were set out in Sanskrit normative texts of early India. The study note's period is c. 600 BCE to 600 CE, and the Class 9 frame runs up to 1000 CE. Exact dates of the texts are approximate.
  • Who it was meant for: men of the upper varnas, especially Brahmanas, Kshatriyas and wealthy householders.
  • How we know:
  • Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras, the Brahmanical rule-books. The best known is the Manusmriti, probably compiled between c. 200 BCE and 200 CE.
  • The Mahabharata, which discusses dharma at length and reinforced patrilineal values.

  • The Rigveda marriage mantra for "fine sons", which shows how old the wish for sons in the household is.

  • Caution for historians: these are prescriptions. They show what Brahmana authors wished for, not what everyone actually did.

Don't confuse with

  • Ashramas: the four stages of life (student, householder, forest-dweller, renouncer). The purusharthas are the four aims of life. Both have four parts, so questions often swap them.
  • Shodasha samskaras: the 16 rites of passage, not aims. Remember "4 ashramas, 4 purusharthas, 16 samskaras".
  • Trivarga: only three aims (dharma, artha, kama). Moksha is left out. The purusharthas are four.
  • Ashoka's dhamma: a code of moral conduct the Mauryan emperor spread among his people. It is not the same as dharma, the first purushartha in Brahmanical texts, which meant duty according to one's varna and stage of life.

Prelims Hooks

  • The four purusharthas are dharma, artha, kama, moksha. Of these, moksha is the final goal (release from rebirth).
  • Artha and kama were to be pursued within the bounds of dharma.
  • Number trap: 4 purusharthas, 4 ashramas, 16 (shodasha) samskaras.
  • Trivarga = dharma + artha + kama. It does not include moksha.
  • The main sources for these ideals are the Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras (e.g. the Manusmriti), which are normative Brahmanical texts.
  • The Rigveda marriage mantra for "fine sons" was inserted c. 1000 BCE and is still used in Hindu marriages.

Mains Points

  • A balanced view of life. The purusharthas did not reject wealth or pleasure. They accepted artha and kama as proper goals but placed them under dharma, with moksha as the final aim. This is a useful point on Indian heritage: the worldly and the spiritual were joined, not set against each other.
  • Ideals that kept social order going. The aims, stages and rites were set for the upper varnas and centred on the male householder.
  • Fulfilling them needed sons, for example to perform the father's rites.
  • So they supported patriliny, varna rules and control over women and marriage.

  • Use this to link kinship, varna-jati and gender in a GS-I answer.

  • Prescription, not description. Like patriliny, the purusharthas come from normative Brahmanical texts. They show an ideal set by a small, high-status group. Historians must check these texts against other evidence before treating them as a picture of how all people lived.

Related concepts

Read more

Sources

  1. 1Class 9, Ch 5 "State and Society up to 1000 CE" (primary)