8 - Rule of Law and the Calling of Dharma: Colonial Encounters, Post-colonial Experiments and Beyond

Summary

Dharma really means something more than religion. it is from a root word which means to hold together; it is the inmost constitution of a thing, the law of its inner being. it is an ethical concept which includes the moral code, righteousness, and the whole range of man's duties and responsibilities.

—Jawaharlal nehru

[the modern legal system in the west] is a system which fits an egalitarian and individualistic society… It starts with individuals and is a manifestation of their own picture of the social order. The classical legal system of india substitutes the notion of authority for that of legality. the precepts of smruti are an authority because in them was seen the expression of a law… But it has no constraining power by itself. Society is thus organized on the model of itself.

—Robert Lingat, The Classical Law of India (1973, 258)

whatever might have been the emphasis of traditional indian culture, both equality and the individual are central concerns in the contemporary constitutional and legal systems; and it is impossible to understand what is happening in india today without taking into account Constitution, law, and politics.

—Andre Béteille, Society and Politics in India (1997, 218)

In the Indian epics, as in most pagan world views, no one is all perfect, not even the gods. Nor is anyone entirely evil; everyone is both flawed and has redeeming features. [For Radhabinod Pal, the only dissenting judge of the international tribunal judging Japanese war crimes, the] name of justice should not be allowed only for the prolongation of vindictive retaliation.

—Ashis Nandy, “The Other Within: The Strange Case of Radhabinod Pal's Judgment of Culpability” (1995, 53)