Concept of Dharma — the proud heritage of Indian and Hindu legal jurisprudence.

Indian legal jurisprudence has a long history traceable to the Vedas and Upanishads, and was expanded further in the Epics, Puranas and Smritis from time to time. It has held Indian / Hindu society together for more than 4000 years, in spite of various life-threatening challenges from time to time. An example of the highest noble thoughts expressed in our legal tradition can be seen in the following sentence from the Mahabharata.

Societies in ancient India were governed by moral law — Dharma. The Dharma Shastras — the ancient codes — conceptualized an inspiration towards justice.

“Dharma” is not amenable to precise definition. As Dr. Kane points out, Dharma defies all attempts at an exact rendering in any other language. The Mahabharata says “Dharma dharayanti praja” — i.e., Dharma is that which holds people together. That which sustains is Dharma. It embraces a variety of values and concepts.

With Dharma being the foundation of law and the dispensation of justice, the supremacy of law was firmly embedded in our system. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says:

We see in this the power of law, and that right is might — and not the other way round, which prevails in barbaric societies. This concept is the bedrock of modern constitutional democracy, where the State is as much bound by law as the citizen. We note that the above-quoted directive from the Upanishad ensured that the King too was bound by, and was under, the law. The King had no powers to legislate. The power to decide the complicated questions of law was recognized in the Parishad — an assembly of persons with prescribed qualifications.

This is unlike the West, where, till the evolution of the modern state after the Industrial Revolution, the King was considered as the fountainhead of all powers.

Dharma is said to be the fountainhead of the rule of law. We hear the earliest echoes of the Rule of Law in Empress Gandhari's words before the Mahabharata war: “May the righteous win.” In the Rajatarangini, there is an example of King Chandrapida of Kashmir in the 7th century AD, who forcibly paid suitable compensation to a cobbler for acquiring his hut for the construction of a temple, stating that the cobbler's hut is to him (the cobbler) the same as the palace is to the king.

The public law concepts that we cherish now were present, recognized and practiced in Hindu jurisprudence.

Though it is an ancient tradition, it is very much modern and relevant to the current era, and can offer immense wisdom to modern challenges arising out of modern technical and social advances. Hence it is a very valuable knowledge source which needs to be cherished and passed on to future generations.