The document discusses the Indian concept of justice through the lens of Dharma. It explains that Dharma encompasses moral, social, and political ideals and preceded the concept of law. Dharma seeks to regulate all human activities and was a duty-based system where everyone owed duties to society. The concept of Dharma is closely related to justice, as Dharma taken to its logical conclusion results in justice. Dharma has influenced the modern Indian concepts of justice, law, and the constitution. It remains an important guiding principle that upholds righteousness, truth, and social order.

1. Indian Concept of Justice : Dharma as Law & Justice
By
Subhajit Behera (1785013)
Birsa Besra (1785016)
LL.M. (Batch 2017)

2. WHAT IS JUSTICE?
Justice is not merely right determination and adjudication of disputes and enforcement of Law, but is so comprehensive in its
meaning and import that it takes with in its ambit the whole of political, social, juristic and moral idealism.
Different Jurists and philosophers have seen in the concept of justice their own ideal:
H.L.A Hart: Justice is moral rightness, just, rational, fair, equality, and varies from place to place, time to time, and person to
person.
Plato: Justice as a virtue which occurs within the state. He considered that justice as a political virtue.
Salmond: Law is the body of principles recognized and applied by the states in the administration of justice.
Rosco Pound: Law is the body of principles recognized or enforced by public and regular court in the administration justice.
Aristotle: Justice in its general meaning is ‘righteousness’. In its particular meaning it means proper or equitable distribution of
the goods of existence, correction of wrongs and exchange of goods. It has thus distributive, corrective and commutative
functions.
Hence Justice has got a multidimensional meaning which has to be understood in different senses. This presentation seeks to
examine justice and its relation with the ancient concept of ‘Dharma’

3. THE CONCEPT OF DHARMA:
 Human life as per Indian context consists of 4 essential virtues namely – Dharma ( Righteousness), Artha( Wealth),
Kama(Desires) & Moksha(Salvation) which were propounded by ancient philosophers and thinkers 5000 years ago. The concept
of Dharma is the most essential of all because it is the guiding standard for realizing Artha and Kama.
 Dharma originates from the Vedas and is a time immemorial concept. It preceded Ritas and took over them because the Ritas
were not able to cope up with the increasing complexities of the society. Literally, it means something which sustains or
upholds. It is equivalent to the Greek word ‘ethos’. It is the Indian version of Natural Law .
 It sought to regulate all human activities whether social or individual, moral or metaphysical, rational or mystic, mundane or
spiritual. It was a duty based legal system that is ‘every member of the society owed a duty towards other members of the
society’ the same view is endorsed by Duguit who opined that the only duty a man possesses is the right to do his duty’
 The supremacy of Dharma can be understood from a simple point that King was not above Dharma, he was governed by it & if
he did not conform to it then the Dharamashastrakara gave right to public to revolt against such unjust, arbitrary & unrighteous
king or government.
 There is a “Dharma Chakra logo” in the building of Supreme Court. Its design is reproduced from the wheel that appears on the
abacus of the Sarnath Lion capital of Ashoka which have 32 spokes. The inscription in Sanskrit “yatodharmastato jayah” that
means Truth alone I uphold and wheel of righteousness, goodness, equity and encompassing truth.

4. VARIOUS MEANINGS OF DHARMA:
 Dharma means morally proper, ethical duty, religious virtue, ideal, absolute truth, universal law or principle, divine justice,
conventional code of customs and traditions.
 Mahabharata describes it as been obtained for the advancement and growth of all creatures for restricting creatures from injuring
one another & to uphold all creatures. It is not a simple & unitary but manifold & complex and relates to the behavior of the State
its subjects, castes, families, groups & various social orders of life, charity, expediency, salvations, duties of man & woman &
duties of human being in general but in essence the Indian thinking about Dharma may be expressed as in the belief in the
conservation of moral values.
 Dharma in other words presupposes, an eternal moral order based on cosmic archetypal ideation which persists immutability
which is utterly independent of and indifferent to merely human preferences, conveniences & manipulation.
 The Indian view of dharma is of a very high order which strikes a golden mean between 2 extremes of ‘Pravaritti’& ‘Nivriti’.
Pravaritti means action with motive & intention for realizing one’s desires and Nivriti means renunciation or Sanyasa thereby
giving up every worldly thing & live a life of a recluse.
 The renowned Indian-American Hindu activist Rajiv Malhotra in his article “Dharma is not the same as Religion” interpreted, the
word “dharma” has multiple meanings depending on the context in which it is used. These include: conduct, duty, right, justice,
virtue, morality, religion, religious merit, good work according to a right or rule, etc. Dharma provides the principles for the
harmonious fulfilment of all aspects of life, namely, the acquisition of wealth and power (artha), fulfilment of desires (kama), and
liberation (moksha). Religion, then, is only one subset of dharma’s scope.
 The Atharva Veda signifies Dharma symbolically as “Prithivim Dharmana Dhritam” which amplifies the thought that “this
world is upheld by Dharma”.
 In his speech to the Constituent Assembly, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan said: "We have held that the ultimate sovereignty rests with the
moral law, with the conscience of humanity. People, as well as kings, are subordinate to that Dharma, righteousness is the king of
kings. It is the ruler of both the rulers and the people themselves. It is the sovereignty of law which we have asserted".

5. HOW IS DHARMA RELATED TO JUSTICE?
 In India justice has been extolled as the very embodiment of God itself whose sole mission is to uphold justice, truth & righteousness.
In this universe truth alone is God. Dharma lies in truth. According to Gita right performance of one’s duties guarentees justice or
Dharma. In dharma Sastras, Smrities and Arthasastra, the concept of justice, law and religion were not distinguished and invariably
justice was equated to dharma and vice-versa.
 The term dharma is interchangeably used according to context for virtue, justice and law. So dharma is a moral part of judge’s nature.
Allen observes: “Justice does not consist in merely doing what is just, it consists in a certain moral disposition or state of character.” In
Manu, justice is inherent in the idea of morality of the judge. Justice is the only friend who follows one even after death, everything else
perishing with the body. Justice as a virtue of the judges has been attributed Eternal divine character. It is the highest type of virtue
which cannot be subordinated to anything in this world.
 Manu uses the word dharma for justice. That what is virtuous is dharma and in the administration of justice it is the dharma or duty of a
judge to be just. When dharma (norms of law) is applied to a fact situation, justice results. Truth is revealed, truth is dharma and dharma
is truth. It is a fact situation which gives rise to the demand of justice.
 Swami Ranganathanandaji in his commentary on Gita: "A society is progressive where law and justice coincide.Wherever there is
dharma, law becomes coincidental with justice. Wherever there is no dharma, law goes its own way and justice goes its own separate
way".

6. RELATION BETWEEN LAW & DHARMA:
 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 is taken to be religious. 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.
 It has been emphasized that those who exercise political power must wear the hand glove of dharma and
'principles of dharma governs every sphere of activity including governance of the country. The duty of the king
was clearly defined in Dharma Shastras and for violation, the king becomes unfit to rule. King respected by the
people only if he acted according to law (dharma). Rules of dharma not alterable according to whim and fancy of
the king and it were essential that the exercise of political power must be in conformity. with dharma-an essential
aspect of governance.
 Dharma, thus is synonymous with 'the rule of law', the basic foundation of our Constitution. This matchless
position of the dharma, the rule of law in the governess of the nation, prompted the Supreme Court to declare that
'Dharma is that which upholds, nourishes or supports the stability of the society, maintains social order and
secures the general well-being and progress of mankind".

7. CONSTITUTION & DHARMA:
 After Islamic and British rules India became a country of several religions . Though the basic concept of Dharma is reflected in our constitution in
form of the inherent rights called the ‘Fundamental Rights’ but the religious diversity changed the perception of people towards Dharma.
 The highest ideal of Dharma in form of morality is reflected in the Preamble of the constitution which identifies India as a “Secular Country”,
also Secularism has been held as part of basic structure of the constitution in the case of S.R Bommai v. Union of India.
 In India there is a freedom of religion in several forms which are defined under Article 25-30 of its constitution. The most important feature of
this is that it provides the freedom not only to the individual but also to the groups.
 Article 15(1) of the constitution of India prevents to state from discriminating anybody on the ground of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth
. It was also ordered by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Nain Sukh Das vs. State of U.P held that the constitutional mandate to the state not to
discriminate on the ground of religion extends to political as well as other rights.
 Supreme Court elaborately discusses the questions related to Dharma and with reference to the significance it talks about the Dharma of the
Constitution and the karma of the adjudicationand it also stated that the court.Article 21 of the Indian constitution is ever growing. Like Dharma
includes every aspect and facet of human life whether internal or external and provides a law to govern it and safeguard and the same is being
done by Article 21 with the help of the other Fundamental Rights. Article 21 is basically to prevent encroachment upon personal liberty and
deprivation of life except according to procedure established by law. The scope of Article 21 was a bit narrow till 50s but now the present scenario
of our constitutional and parliamentary status reveals the wider scope of Article 21 and its applicability.Article 21 of our Constitution was
interpreted most dynamically by the Judiciary. The Supreme Court opined upon the inter-connections between Article 14 (Equality), Article 19
(Freedom) and Article 21. The spirit of man is at the root of Article 21.

8. PERSONAL LAWS & DHARMA:
 Personal laws were first framed during the British Raj, mainly for Hindu and Muslim citizens. As
Dharma was interpreted in different way and with different ideologies in various religions, the customs,
social practices, life style of people were changed.
 Hindu law started to been codified according to the changes in outlook and lifestyles, as it was realized
that ancient way should yield to realistic approach of life. And For Islam believers Muslim law started to
been codified. However major portion of Muslim Personal Law is still governed by their personal law
which is largely a reflection of Koranic principles.
 The Codifications were based on the customs and practices of people and the justice.
 Marriage, Guardianship, Adaptation, Succession, Maintenance were the main grounds emphasized.
These were regulated by principles of morality & fairness and through codification the immoral customs
were either replaced or modified with the advent of modern society. Muslim law being an exception.

9. DHARMA & UNIFORM CIVIL CODE:
 It was decided to add the implementation of a uniform civil code in Article 44 of the Directive
principles of the Constitution specifying, "The State shall endeavour to secure for citizens a uniform
civil code throughout the territory of India.“
 Uniform civil code is the proposal to replace the personal laws based on the scriptures and customs of
each major religious community in India with a common set governing every citizen. These laws are
distinguished from public law and cover marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption and maintenance.
 Goa has a common family law, thus being the only Indian state to have a uniform civil code. The
Special Marriage Act, 1954 permits any citizen to have a civil marriage outside the realm of any
specific religious personal law.
 It became one of the most controversial topics in contemporary politics during the Mohd. Ahmed
Khan vs. Shah Bano Begum and Ors in 1985. The debate then focused on the Muslim Personal
Law, which is partially based on the Sharia law and remains unreformed since 1937, permitting
unilateral divorce and polygamy in the country.

10. DHARMA and SECULARISM:
 “Sarva Dharma Sambhava, which literally means that all Dharmas (truths) are equal to or harmonious
with each other”. In recent times this statement has been taken as meaning “all religions are the same” –
that all religions are merely different paths to God or the same spiritual goal.
 As we all know India is a secular country. That means there is no official religion of India and it also
respects all the religion which are in its territory. In the landmark judgment of S.R. Bommai vs. Union of
India, the Supreme Court also held that secularism is a part of the basic structure of the polity.
 The expression “Socialist Secular" was inserted in the preamble by the Constitution (42nd Amendment)
Act, 1976. The object of inserting this expression was to spell out expressly the high ideas of socialism
and secularism and the integrity of the Nation. In short, the object of the Government, in making this
amendment was to make explicit what was already provided in the Constitution.

11. 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 the constitute single integrated whole. Dharma on one hand is taken
to be religious in recent society but in reality Dharma is duty and moral conscience. The Hon’ble Supreme Court
in many cases defined Dharma and its relation with morality and Indian Secularism. Dharma has been and is
guiding our conduct, moralities 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. May be the perception of people is
changed now regarding dharma but objective of dharma is still same. Only path became different. When
Dharma loses its identity or become diversified, justice serves Nyaya to protect the Dharma. In today's world it
can be said that we are facing problem like forceful conversion, terrorism, riots etc. only because of dharma but
the truth is these problems are being faced because we already have forgotten the real meaning of Dharma. But
it is also truth that still morality, duty, rule of law are first priority of human being to create a civilized society
which shows that dharma shaped in recent system of governance in a implied manner. ‘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 needs to be enforced through law and ensure political & social justice to all.