CONCEPT OF DHARMA

INTRODUCTION:
In order to understand the concept of Dharma, we need to first know what that word
means. Although there is no literal translation of “Dharma” in English, many people
use it in different contexts. One of the most common meanings of Dharma is “duty”.
Depending on other contexts and religious connotations, Dharma often assumes
different meanings. For example, Buddhists refer to Dharma as a cosmic law, while
Jains and Sikhs use it to mean religious paths.

According to Hindu jurisprudence, Dharma means duty in various contexts. This

could mean either religious duties or even social, legal and spiritual duties. Some
people also use the word to mean righteousness, which gives it a moralistic
interpretation. In purely legal terms, some people refer to the concept of justice as
Dharma.Several ancient Hindu texts define Dharma and concepts like law, justice,
and religion interchangeably. Therefore, there appears to be no distinction between
Dharma and law in general. However, we must understand that Dharma has a
religious and moralistic basis as well.

Dharma is generally accepted to have been derived and supersede from the Vedic
concept of Rita, which literally meant, ’the straight line’. Rita refers to the Law of
Nature, it signifies moral laws, and based on righteousness. When something is
Rita it simply meant that thing is true, right and nothing more. Dharma evolved
side by side of Rita but eventually took over it as the old concept of Rita was not
able to cope and solve the issue emerging with increasing social complexities.
Dharma signifies Natural law.

Dharma, as stated by Justice M. Rama Jois is,

“Dharma is that which sustains and ensures progress and welfare of all in this
world and eternal bliss in the other world. The Dharma is promulgated in the
form of command”.

Mahabharata also contains a discussion on the issue of defining dharma. Dharma in

words of Madhavacharya is, “It is most difficult to define Dharma. Dharma has
been explained to be that which helps the upliftment of living beings. Therefore
that which ensures welfare (of living beings) is surely Dharma. The learned rishis
have declared that which sustains is Dharma.”
Dharma is anything that is right, just and moral. Dharma aims for the welfare of
state and mainly, its people.

SOURCES OF DHARMA
The earliest mention of “Dharma” occurs in Vedic texts like the Rig Veda to mean
the foundation of the universe. These religious texts claimed that God created life
using by inculcating principles of Dharma into all living creatures. Therefore,
salvation (or “moksha”) is the eternal Dharma for humans according to Hinduism.

Later Hindu texts like the Upanishads greatly refined the concept of Dharma and
made it more moralistic. Since this was the time period when nation-states started
evolving, Dharma attained a legalistic meaning. Hindu legal codes like Manusmriti
used Dharma to mean religious and legal duties of people. In other words, Dharma
became a prescriptive concept as it described what people should or should not do.
This interpretation of Dharma continued and its traces exist even in modern Hindu
laws.

Even Hindu epics like Ramayan and Mahabharata refer to Dharma. They say that
performing one’s Dharma is the ultimate aim of every individual. Since the main
function of a king is to uphold Dharma, these texts often refer to historical figures as
“Dharmaraja”.Thus, we can see that Dharma as a concept emerged and was refined
from many religious Hindu texts. Its meaning and scope expanded with time until it
came to be associated with the ideals of law and justice. This is exactly how we
understand Dharma today.

FUNCTIONING OF DHARMA

The supremacy of Dharma can be understood from a simple point that the King
was not above Dharma, he was governed by it, and if he didn’t than the
Dharmashastrakara give right to the public to revolt against such an unjust,
arbitrary and unrighteous king or government. The treaties of Manu, Kautilya and
others contains many rights and duties of both the king and the public, and even
recognised individual rights like right to private property, personal wealth etc.,
which were bound by the law for interest of society at large.
 ARTICLE 21- RIGHT TO LIFE AND THE CONCEPT OF
DHARMA

The article needs special mention as the Supreme Court has been interpreting this
article according to the cases and has widened the ambit many folds to cover right
to livelihood, life is more than mere animal existence, right to legal aid, Rights to
dignity of a convict and much more but does not include Right to die. Article 21 is
ever growing not bound by time and place. Like Dharma included every aspect and
facet of human life whether internal or external and provided a law to govern it and
safe-guard; the same is been done by Article 21 with the help of other fundamental
rights. Article 21 is large and wide and has a potential to confer every basic human
right that one needs to live a life of a dignified human.

EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPT OF DHARMA

The concept of dharma or simply dharma has been used by various courts in helping
them to arrive at decisions even by the Honorable Supreme Court in many cases. One
of the important cases is Shri A.S. Narayana Deekshitulu vs State Of Andhra
Pradesh & Ors, which elaborately discusses the questions related to Dharma, ‘what is
dharma?’, ‘Is Dharma same as Religion?’  And every answered each and every doubt.
Dharma as said above is distinct from religion. Dharma even regulates the law today,
by means of morality in and outside the courts as in the Secretary, Ministry Of
Information & Broadcasting v. Cricket Association of Bengal & ANR.
In Dattatraya Govind Mahajan vs. State of Maharashtra, the court talks about the
Dharma of the Constitution, and the karma of adjudication. Dharma thought to be an
orthodox area is used in the cases much unorthodox prime facie such as rights to
transgenders.

Dharma is been used by the courts as prestigious as Constitutional benches and used
in place and equivalent of duty and truth and even the flag contains the dharma chakra
of Ashoka. The courts have interpreted articles 25 and 26, in line with Dharma, they
have said when the articles are read and religion means Dharma that is co-existence
with welfare of others, not an orthodox view. The concept of dharma as said earlier is
fully explored in Narayana Deekshitulu vs State Of Andhra Pradesh & Ors, there is
a comparison between the constitutional laws and Raja Dharma, the definition of
dharma is tried to be clarified by using different verses from everywhere, ‘Dharma in
context of Rajya only means law’ and Dharma is secular or maybe the most secular.
The same view is held until now, by all the courts and is not disputed that Dharma is
an eternal bliss, which has seen many par and parcels of human life, mortals, but
remained immortal.
 CONCEPT OF DHARMA WITH CURRENT LEGAL RIGHTS
AND DUTIES
Dharma signifies regularity of order universally accepted, it includes religion, duty,
and inseperable of a quality or an order, whereas present day law is based on reasons
and does include religious aspects. Dharma is duty based concept, however the
present law focuses on rights rather than duties.

Dharma in itself included morals, ethics and righteous conduct of a man but the
present system does not recognises the moral or ethical values and rather than conduct
or motive, it now focuses on the act and the consequences. Dharma pre-supposes a
supernatural and binds together by the fear of the same supernatural but on the other
hand the law is based on reasonableness and binds through legal sanctions given by
courts (human). Law in modern sense is confined to rights, legal duties etc. And not
with righteous conduct and hence, is particular in nature whereas Dharma is all
pervasive and universal. The law pre-supposes man’s idea of ‘what ought to be’ and is
based on reasonableness.

The concept of welfare state, which is the nature of state today, is found to have roots
in Dharma. The Human Rights and fundamental rights have spurred from Dharma and
Rigveda clearly shows ample evidence.

RELATIONSHIP OF INDIAN LAWS AND JURISPRUDENCE

WITH DHARMA

For any government to have a strong base and support the main condition is that it
should have been formed legally and in a just and fair manner. Social justice and
justice under law should go hand in hand. And for attaining the justice according to
the reasonable man, appropriate laws which the society willingly accepted were to
be made.
In earlier times of the established India, people of the society accepted dharma to
be the laws to be followed. The shastras, smritis were included according to the
Dharma and also the justice is also equated with the Dharma under the Indian
Laws.

Dharma establishes the foundation of multiple affairs of the society. The principles
of Dharma together with the Dharma constitute rules for working of the society. In
ancient India, the kings had to perform their duty which was mentioned in the
Dharma Shastras and the Dharma Rajya means the rule of law and this forms the
base for the Indian Jurisprudence. In Indian society Dharma also means law and
morality and no society can survive without these two elements and as the society
evolves, the law also evolve dynamically and therefore there is need and
development of Jurisprudence. It also talks about the Danda, (which is punishment)
also important to be studies under the philosophy of law and jurisprudence.

DHARMA AND DEVELOPMENT OF JURISPRUDENCE

The development of the legal theories and the jurisprudence is based on much of
the ancient Hindu ideologists. In the ancient India, the concept of law or according
to the Hindu thinkers, the concept of the Dharma was stimulated from the Vedas.
There are many other sources that inspired Dharma like shastras, smritis and all
these sources of Dharma or law are taken as various indices of the Hindu
Jurisprudence.

Precolonial period:

In the pre-colonial traditional India it was observed that the functioning of the legal
process was as millennia but in this period there were very less writers who were
aware and studied and wrote about the Dharma. In this period the Manu and
Kautilya, the law compilers brought the notion of the dharma to be usual and
general and with less complexities and ambiguities. And with the help of Dharma
they devised social and moral systems for different groups.

Medieval period:

In this medieval period of India the concept of Dharma remained same and also
was connected with the Courts of law especially the Supreme Court of India. It was
also established that Raj dharma and constitutional laws are to be distinguished and
compared. Dharma has been used by the courts in amplifying and giving decisions
on the cases presented in front of them. Also the Supreme Court also has the
phrase Yato dharma tato jaya meaning where there is Dharma , there is victory in
its logo expressing the importance of Dharma in the law and therefore in the study
and development of law i.e. jurisprudence.
Recent period:

The concept of Dharma has been evolved and used by the Supreme Court and High
Courts and subordinate court to solve and interpret a number of cases. Supreme
Court discusses the questions on Dharma and also elaborates on the Dharma of the
Constitution.

CONCLUSION
Dharma and law as seen above may seem to be in contrast, but the ideology behind
them is same. At large, law is a part of Dharma without disharmony and they
constitute single integrated whole. Dharma on one hand is taken to be religious, but it
is not so and the same has been approved by the Honorable Supreme Court in many
cases as pointed in above sections. Dharma has been and is guiding our conduct,
morals and laws in varying degree. One may not find any relation between the two on
the face but on a deep analysis both are interrelated integrated whole.

‘Dharma’ is one of the many sources of modern law and is shaping society. Hence, it
can be said that ‘dharma’ and law are closely related and interwoven. Dharma by
passing the test of time has shown its eternal character. As Dharma include every
aspect and facets of lives of humans, Article 21 of the Constitution giving the Right to
life and personal liberty also along with the other fundamental rights helps the
Constitution to cover all the facets of human rights.

Article 21 has been interpreted most widely and dynamically by the jury. Also there
are so many cases which depict the inter connectivity between the Articles of the
Indian Constitution such as Article 14, Article 19 and the main foundation of Article
21. Therefore it can be concluded that Dharma is the foundation and a strong pillar for
making of laws and therefore developing the jurisprudence in India and also
advancement in the jurisprudence and the subject of law.