Visions of Good Life and Leisure in Ancient India: Evidence from Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa

Abstract

Quality of life is a broad or umbrella concept (Rojas, The measurement of quality of life: Conceptualization comes first. A four-qualities-of-life conceptual framework and an illustration to Latin America, 7, 2009; Susniene and Jurkauskas, Inzinerine Ekonomika Eng Econ 3:58, 2009). As such, articulating a universally accepted definition is not an easy task. Although the tendency has been to privilege measurable criteria in contemporary contexts, the necessity of gaining a deeper theoretical and historical understanding cannot be overlooked. The study of original texts from ancient cultures may prove to be illuminating, in that they may give access to visions of the good life in different historical periods and cultural settings, deepening our understanding. In this context, more and more authors are taking into consideration the influence of culture upon the meaning we usually ascribe to a good life and a good society (Christopher, J Couns Dev 77:141–152, 1999; Skevington, Qual Life Res 11:135–144, 2002). Others have tried to extend the reflection to key historical sources, tracing the development of the very ideas of happiness, well-being, etc. Yet, studies of such a kind mostly limit themselves to the history of Western thought. The approaches based on non-Western cultures are still rare (Iwasaki 2007, 233–235). Taking into consideration all this, in this paper I explore the specific case of the ancient Indian culture in all its social complexity, i.e. beyond the stereotyped vision of India as a pre-eminently spiritual culture, and therefore beyond the tendency to see its main contribution to the debate on quality of life also as a spiritual one. Ancient Indian advanced a number of ideas on what a good life should be like and be composed of.