Dharma and Law

Gobinda Chandra Mandal

Associate Professor of Law
University of Dhaka
▪ The laws of Bangladesh admit the operation of personal Laws to
determine the rights and obligations of citizens;
▪ Personal laws are the traditional laws, sometimes called the laws of
the religion;
▪ These are subject to the exception that any part of that law may be
modified or abolished by statute.
▪ Hindus are governed by the Hindu law, and Muslims and Christians
are governed by their respective personal laws;
▪ Buddhists in Bangladesh have no personal law of their own. They are
governed by Hindu law.
▪ The study of any developed legal system requires:
• A critical and analytical examination of its fundamental elements and
conceptions;
• The practical and concrete details, which go to make the contents or body of that
law; and
• Consideration of the line of development it has pursued over time.

• Law does not derive its sanction from any temporal power; the sanction is
contained in itself.

• “Since law is the King of Kings, far more powerful and rigid than they,
nothing can be mightier than the law by whose aid, as by that of the
highest monarch, even the weak may prevail over the strong…”
Shatapatha Brahmana , XIV, 4.2.26
• The sources from which knowledge of Hindu law is to be derived are
the indices of Dharma.

• Therefore, law, as understood by the Hindus, is a branch of Dharma.

• According to Manu - the Veda, the Smriti, the approved usage, and
what is agreeable to good conscience are the highest authority on
dharma or law.
• Dharma is a key concept with multiple meanings.

• There is no direct single-word translation for dharma in the Western

languages.

• Commonly translated as "righteousness", "merit" or "religious and

moral duties" governing individual conduct. Also it is translated as
“religion,” “law,” “order,” “duty” or “ethics.”
▪ The word dharma has roots in the Sanskrit dhri-, which means “to
uphold, support, bear.”

▪ Dharma holds one from falling down. Therefore, it takes the meaning
of "what is established or firm", and hence "law".

▪ Derived from an older Vedic Sanskrit n-stem dharman (ধর্ম্মন)-, with a

literal meaning of "bearer, supporter“.
▪ In the Rigveda, “dhárman” came with a range of meanings
encompassing "something established or firm"

▪ Figuratively, it means "sustainer" and "supporter".

▪ Semantically similar to the Greek “themis” which means fixed decree,

statute, or law.
▪ In Atharvaveda, the stem is thematic: Dharma (ধর্ম্ম/ ধর্ম).

▪ In Prakrit and Pāli: Dhamma (ধর্ম্).

▪ In some contemporary Indian languages and dialects: Dharm (ধরর্).

Dharma is one of the four
components of Purusartha

Dharma Artha

Moksa Kama
▪ Dharma signifies behaviours that are considered to be in accord with
Ṛta (ঋত).

▪ Rta means order, rule; truth.

▪ Rta is the order that makes life and universe possible.
▪ Ṛta in Vedas is the truth and cosmic principle which regulates and
coordinates the operation of the universe and everything within it.
▪ Dharma is a manifestation of Ṛta.

▪ Dharma includes duties, rights, laws, conduct, virtues and "right way
of living".
Dharma in other Indian religions
• In Buddhism, dharma means "cosmic law and order”.

• Dharma in Jainism refers to the body of doctrine pertaining to the

purification and moral transformation.

• In Sikhism, dharma means the path of righteousness.

Translations of the term
▪ In the 3rd century BCE the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka translated
dharma into Greek and Aramaic.

▪ In the Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription and the Kandahar Greek

Edicts he used-
▪ Greek word eusebeia (εὐσέβεια) meaning piety, spiritual maturity, or
godliness.
▪ Aramaic word ( ‫ קשיטא‬quest ; truth, rectitude).
▪ Western scholars faced exceptional difficulties translating “Dharma”
in their languages.

▪ Karl Friedrich Geldner in his translation of the Rig-Veda employs 20

different translations for dharma, including meanings such as "law",
"order", "duty", "custom", "quality", and "model", among others.
Monier-Williams on “Dharma”
Established Steadfast Decree Statute Nature
Law Practice Custom Duty Character
Right Justice Virtue Morality Quality
Ethics Religion Religious Merit Good Works Property

▪ Each of these definitions is incomplete.

▪ The combination of these translations does not convey the total
sense of the word.
▪ “Dharma” has become a widely accepted loanword in English.
• Dharma commonly means "right way of living" and "path of
rightness“.
• The meaning depends on the context.
• The idea of Dharma developed through history.
• In the earliest texts- dharma meant cosmic law, the rules that created
the universe from chaos, as well as rituals;
• In the later Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas and the Epics, the meaning
became refined, richer, and more complex and diversified.
• Dharma designates human behaviours considered necessary for order
of things in the universe, principles that prevent chaos, behaviours
and action necessary to all life in nature, society, family as well as at
the individual level.

• Dharma encompasses ideas such as duty, rights, character, vocation,

religion, customs and all behaviour considered appropriate, correct or
morally upright.
• The antonym of dharma is adharma (অধর্ম) meaning that which is "not
dharma“- against nature, immoral, unethical, wrong or unlawful.
Rigveda
• Brahman (ব্রহ্মণ) created the universe from chaos, they hold (dhar-) the
earth and sun and stars apart, they support (dhar-) the sky away and
distinct from earth, and they stabilise (dhar-) the quaking mountains
and plains.

• The gods then deliver and hold order from disorder, harmony from
chaos, stability from instability– actions recited in the Veda with the
root of word dharma.
Atharvaveda
• The word “dharma” takes expanded meaning as a cosmic principle
and appears in verses independent of gods.
• It evolves into a concept, that has a dynamic functional sense.
• It becomes the cosmic law that links cause and effect through a
subject.
• Dharma also takes a ritual meaning.
• The ritual is connected to the cosmic, and "dharmani" is equated to
ceremonial devotion to the principles that gods used to create order
from disorder, the world from chaos.
• Past the ritual and cosmic sense of dharma that link the current world
to mythical universe, the concept extends to ethical-social sense that
links human beings to each other and to other life forms.
• It is here that dharma as a concept of law emerges in Hinduism.
• Dharma is an organising principle that applies to human beings in
solitude, in their interaction with human beings and nature, as well as
between inanimate objects, to all of cosmos and its parts.
• It refers to the order and customs which make life and universe
possible, and includes behaviours, rituals, rules that govern society,
and ethics.
• In Hinduism “dharma” includes the religious duties, moral rights and
duties of each individual, as well as behaviours that enable social
order, right conduct, and those that are virtuous.
• All existing beings must accept and respect “dharma” to sustain
harmony and order in the world.
• It is neither the act nor the result, but the natural laws that guide the
act and create the result to prevent chaos in the world.
• It is innate characteristic, that makes the being what it is.
• Dharma is the need for, the effect of and essence of service and
interconnectedness of all life.
• Dharma holds and provides support to the social construct.
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
• Nothing is higher than dharma. The weak overcomes the stronger by
dharma, as over a king. Truly that dharma is the Truth (Satya);
Therefore, when a man speaks the Truth, they say, "He speaks the
Dharma"; and if he speaks Dharma, they say, "He speaks the Truth!"
For both are one.
 Vatsyayana (বাৎস্যায়ন) explained dharma by
contrasting it with adharma.
▪ Adharma of body:
• himsa (হ িংস্া)(violence);
• Steya স্ত্যযয়) (steal, theft); and
• pratisiddha maithuna (প্রহতহস্দ্ধ মর্থু ন) (sexual indulgence with someone other
than one's partner)
▪ Dharma of body:
• dana (দান) (charity),
• Paritrana (পহরত্রাণ) (succor of the distressed) and
• paricarana (পহরচারণ) (rendering service to others)
▪ Adharma from words:
• Mithya(হর্থযা) (falsehood);
• Parusa(পারুষ) (caustic talk);
• sucana (স্ূ চনা)(calumny) and
• asambaddha (অস্ম্বদ্ধ)(absurd talk)
▪ Dharma from words:
• satya (স্তয) (truth and facts);
• hitavacana (হ তবচন)(talking with good intention);
• Priyavacana (হপ্রয়বচন) (gentle, kind talk); and
• Svadhyaya (স্বাধযায়) (self-study)
▪ Adharma of mind:
• Paradroha (পরদ্রা ) (ill will to anyone);
• paradravyabhipsa (পররবযহিপ্সা) (covetousness);
• nastikya (নাহযক্য)(denial of the existence of morals and religiosity).
▪ Dharma of mind:
• daya (দয়া)(compassion);
• Asprha (অস্পৃ া) (disinterestedness); and
• sraddha (শ্রদ্ধা) (faith in others).
• No particular activities done at certain times and certain places,
Dharma is what centres, upholds, and makes meaningful all activities.

• Its ancient framework is the law of the Smritis.

• The Smritis are institutes, which enounce rules of dharma.

Traditional definition of dharma
“(Dharma is)- what is followed by those learned in the Vedas and what
is approved by the conscience of the virtuous who are exempt from
hatred and inordinate affection”.
-Manusmiriti

▪ Medhatithi explains Dharma as a duty- ‘Dharmashabdah Kartavyata

vachanah’ (ধর্মশব্দঃ ক্তম বযত বচনঃ)
Various aspects of dharma
▪ Sanatana dharma (স্নাতন ধর্ম- the eternal and unchanging principals of
dharma.
▪ Varṇasrama dharma (বণমাশ্রর্ ধর্ম)- one's duty at specific stages of life or
inherent duties.
▪ Savdharma (স্বধর্ম)- one's own individual or personal duty.
▪ Apaddharma(আপদ্ধর্ম)- dharma prescribed at the time of adversities.
▪ Sadharana dharma (স্াধারণ ধর্ম)- moral duties irrespective of the stages
of life.
▪ Yuga dharma (যু গ ধর্ম)- dharma which is valid for a yuga, and may
change at the conclusion of its time.