Trivarga/Caturvarga

[Kenneth Zysk]

There is a work, Purusharthasudhanidhih, attributed to Sayana, edited by T. Chandraskharan, and published in Madras, 1955 (Madras Government Oriental Manuscripts Series, 39). It is a collection of passages referring to the four purusarthas. As far as I can see all of the passages come from the Mbh, Puranas, and later smrtis. If you have not already done so, you might take a look at this work.

Good luck,

K. Zysk
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Donald R. Davis, Jr. 
  To: INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk 
  Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2002 7:22 PM
  Subject: Trivarga/Caturvarga


  In preparing a survey paper on the purusarthas, I have come across two
  sticking points which I hope list members can clarify for me.

  1) I am looking to identify the earliest references to caturvarga in the
  sense of the four classic purusarthas (viz, dharma, artha, kama, moksa).  I
  have references to caturvarga from the later parts of the Mahabharata, at
  least one reference in the Raghuvamsa, and all over the puranas.  Before
  this, trivarga is the norm, e.g. Manu, Kautilya, etc.  Does anyone know of
  earlier references to caturvarga?

  2) Does the medieval (or early) philosophical literature make much of the
  purusarthas as a collectivity?  Mimamsa and Vedanta, as far as I can tell,
  do not.  Are there substantive discussions of the purusarthas as a group in
  other darsanas?

  Any help would be most appreciated.

  Best,

  Don Davis

  Dept of Asian Languages & Cultures
  University of Michigan