Kāmandaka
Kāmandaka
Kāmandaka is a ṛshi who appears in Chapter 89 of the Śānti Parva of the Mahābhārata. He teaches the trivarga, the three aims of life: dharma (right conduct), artha (wealth and power) and kāma (desire and enjoyment). He explains how they fit together. His listener is King Āṅgarishṭha, who wanted to know how a king can follow all three without letting one destroy the others. The later tradition also names Kāmandaka as the author of the Kāmandakīya Nītisāra, a text on nītiśāstra (the science of government).
The teaching on the trivarga
Dharma, artha and kāma are the three purushārthas (aims of human life) in the life of the household and the world. They can pull against one another. The pursuit of artha may break dharma. The wish for kāma may harm artha. Strict dharma may forbid a profitable act. A king feels this most, because he must look after all three all the time.
Kāmandaka answers in three parts.
Dharma is the base
Dharma is not just one aim among three. It is the base on which the other two must stand. Wealth built on adharma (wrong conduct) is not steady and in the end falls. Kāma that breaks dharma brings sorrow, not pleasure. When the three are put in the right order with dharma ruling, they fit together.
The three help each other
When a king gets his wealth in keeping with dharma, he builds trust, a rightful rule and lasting prosperity. This prosperity in turn supports the rightful enjoyment of kāma. Rightly ordered, the three do not pull apart. They help one another.
What follows from the wrong order
If a king puts kāma first, he spends both dharma and artha on his desires, and in the end he uses up both. If he puts artha first, he may give up dharma for gain, and a gain won at the cost of dharma carries the seed of its own loss. Only the order with dharma first keeps all three together.
The Kāmandakīya Nītisāra
The later tradition credits Kāmandaka with the Kāmandakīya Nītisāra. It is a full text on nītiśāstra and draws much from the Arthaśāstra of Kauṭilya. It is counted among the chief texts of nītiśāstra. It covers the qualities of a king, the art of counsel, the care of ministers, dealings with other kingdoms, and the six policies (shāḍguṇya).
Kāmandaka’s place as a teacher in the Śānti Parva puts him among the royal teachers who stand behind the nītiśāstra books.
Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa
Śrī Kṛshṇa tells Uddhava that because the natures of people are many, and their understandings are bewildered by his māyā, they speak of śreyas (the highest good) in many ways. He lists their views in order: for the Mīmāṃsakas it is dharma; for the masters of poetics, kīrti (fame); for Vātsyāyana, kāma; for the yogīs, satya, restraint of the senses and the mind, and the yamas and niyamas; for the experts in rāja-nīti (the science of kingship) such as Kāmandaka, wealth is the purushārtha; for the Cārvākas, enjoying pleasures; and for the Paurāṇikas, tapas, dāna and vratas. The fruits of all these means begin at one time and end at another and end in sorrow, Śrī Kṛshṇa says; to one who has offered his mind to him, Brahmānanda comes from him, the Ātmā.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 14
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Rājadharmānuśāsana Parva, Chapter 89
- Kāmandakīya Nītisāra
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 14