Hindu Administrative Institutions c6.s3.4

c6.s3.4

Dharma is the most important of this *trivarga*, says the *Bārhaspatya Nītisāra*.² The realization of this *trivarga* is said to lead on to the fourth *puruṣārtha*, namely, *mokṣa*. ‘Dharma has been a word to conjure with. It has been taught in all possible and imaginable ways—by express teaching, by commands, by stories, by literature and art, in temples, on the stage, and by the living examples of saints and avatars. It implies structure and function; it has reference to a type, and it is based on discipline; it is the meeting-point of the individual and of society, of religion and philosophy, of here and hereafter, of man and God. It is the cement of society, the bond of love, the means of attainment of God.’³