Bibhuti Bhusan Nayak

Traditional: Indian Conception of Human Values Bibhuti Bhusan Nayak

Human values occupy a pivotal position in Indian socio-religious cultural tradition. The concept of purusartha has a very great significant in the vedantic setup . It has not been discussed in detail in Indian philosophical systems, though some thinkers interpret only moksa as the highest value of human life. It has been held that in the earliest age there were only acceptance of three-fold human values (purusarthas), i. e. dharma, artha and kama. But, moksa has been added later. The first three- fold human values are known as trivarga and after the addition of moksa, it is caturvarga. Some recent day philosophers like Hiriyanna, P. Nagaraj Rao , Radhakrishnan, Sunder Rajan and Rajendra Prasad have made attempts to present the concept of purusartha at the background of modern perspective, there by locating its relevance in the contemporary socio- cultural set up. Rajendra Prasad and Dayakrishna have rejected moksa as a purusartha. They hold that the category of moksa is added ab-extra. It is a dogma rather than a neat philosophical theory. In the present work, an attempt has been made to present a critical exposition of four human values.