Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c9.s3.2

c9.s3.2

One of the questions taken up by some authors of Smṛti texts is about a person’s dependence on *daiva* (fate) and *puruṣakāra* (industriousness). Yājñavalkya refers to a few divergent views here — Daivavāda (fatalism), Svabhāvavāda (naturalism), Kālavāda (pessimism) and Puruṣakāravāda (activism). In his opinion, success in life depends on *daiva* and *puruṣakāra* both. Even *daiva* is created by a man by his industriousness of the past life. Just as a chariot will not move with one wheel only, the same way without industriousness, even the fate will not materialize.¹² Which is more powerful — a man’s industriousness or his fate — this question is discussed as a debatable issue by several authors and poets in Sanskrit literature.