The Concept Of Dharma In Medieval Hindu Legal Traditions With Thomas Aquinas Natural Law Philosophy

Master's Thesis from the year 2017 in the subject Law - Comparative Legal Systems, Comparative Law, , language: English, abstract: This study intends to be a comparative analysis between two legal tradition which grew up in two different civilizations. The concept of Dharma in Medieval Hindu legal philosophy and Thomas Aquinas’ Natural Law theory have been taken into the comparison in this research as two great legal traditions which grew in the same period of middle age. This research has examined the salient features of natural law ascribed by concept of Dharma in medieval Hindu jurisprudence and how natural law was perceived by Aquinas in his legal philosophy which was aptly described in his master work “ Summa Theologiae”. Apart from mere analyzing facts this study further examines the affinities that existed between concept of Dharma and Aquinas’ theory of Natural Law.

Dharma is ubiquitous in Indian Vedic/lndic/ Hindu philosophy. Dharma is law or moral law or law and morality or natural law by acceptance jusreceptum which is believed to have been ordained by Divine Author; it is not a law as we understand it today. We have so far believed the truth in the lie that the Western legal thought the only faviour for Indian legal perception forgetting that those Western scholars have had conceived their legal concepts as per their own systems requirement. Our Vedic/lndic/ Sastric ideas are hidden treasures of legal knowledge and provide deep as well as ample insights in a perfectly clear manner to unfold it and develop Indian Legal Theory on the legal cosmology for the futurology of legal concept conscientiously, obediently as a duty and an obligation.

Law is too often perceived solely as state-based rules and institutions that provide a rational alternative to religious rites and ancestral customs. The Spirit of Hindu Law uses the Hindu legal tradition as a heuristic tool to question this view and reveal the close linkage between law and religion. Emphasizing the household, the family, and everyday relationships as additional social locations of law, it contends that law itself can be understood as a theology of ordinary life. An introduction to traditional Hindu law and jurisprudence, this book is structured around key legal concepts such as the sources of law and authority, the laws of persons and things, procedure, punishment and legal practice. It combines investigation of key themes from Sanskrit legal texts with discussion of Hindu theology and ethics, as well as thorough examination of broader comparative issues in law and religion.

This introduction to Hindu law and jurisprudence questions the traditional perception of law, and reveals law's close linkage with religion. Emphasizing the household, the family, and everyday relationships as additional social locations of law, it contends that law itself can be understood as a theology of ordinary life.

"The fundamental importance of the concept of dharma for the Hindu tradition and any account of it is matched by the resistance of this concept to comprehensive definition and comprehensive monographic treatment.1 The term dharma has the widest scope of application covering all areas of human life. It is the concept the Hindus have used for centuries to articulate what is right, both true and proper, in every sphere to which they turned their minds - religious, philosophical, social, legal - the list is as endless as the propensity of the human mind to conceptualisation. Through the particular meaning it has in any given context dharma highlights the uniqueness of every moment of life, whereas through its operation across contexts it emphasizes the interconnectedness of life's particulars. The context sensitivity of dharma makes it necessary to contextualise any study of it. My treatment of it is not and cannot be comprehensive: the aim of the present work is to study the concept of dharma in its religio-philosophical dimension, tracing its development from the Vedas to the didactic passages of the Mahàbhàrata. I believe that studying dharma from the religio-philosophical perspective is a useful starting point: due to the pervasiveness of religious thought in the Hindu tradition the meanings dharma has in this sphere inform its use in other spheres. A competent examination of dharma in its religio-philosophical aspect can therefore chart the domain of dharma in broad outlines which can be subsequently filled in with more specific studies. In the religio-philosophical, as in any other of its semantic fields, the concept of dharma cannot be studied in isolation. As a master key to a large network of concepts and ideas, dharma opens a wide field of investigation. To account for the developments in the ideology of dharma one must look at all the significant religio-philosophical developments in the period under consideration. " - from the Introduction