The construction of a Hindu theology of liberation may well begin
with the four goals (purusharthas) that are identified traditionally as
required for and as constituting a fulfilled human life.4 Several coincide
with Rawls’s provisions. The four ends, already discussed briefly,
are artha (wealth, power, success, social prestige), kama (pleasure),
dharma (virtue, duty), and moksha (liberation). It is clear from the first
goal that the Hindu tradition is not antimaterialistic. In the Ramacaritamanasa,
a sixteenth-century Hindu vernacular poetic reworking of
the story of Rama by Tulasidasa, a disciple asks his teacher, “What is
the greatest human suffering?” “There is no suffering in the world as
great as poverty,” replies his teacher without hesitation (1991:784).5
The Hindu tradition has never glorified involuntary poverty. Tulasidasa
refers to his ideal society as ramrajya (the kingdom of Rama/
God) and imagines it to be one that is free from suffering occasioned
by poverty. His vision is concrete and material as well as spiritual.
“There was no premature death or suffering of any kind; everyone
enjoyed beauty and health. No one was poor, sorrowful or in want; no