The Dharma of our Ancients and the Modern Concept of the Rule of Law

The "Rule of Law" is the badge of a free people. The law seeks to bring about harmony and good fellowship based on justice in accordance with the moral and ethical sense of the community. In the modern State "Law" takes in, the entire body of principles in accordance with which justice is administered by the State; the objectives, the form and even the techniques are part of it.  Let us first consider what has been native to our soil, all through the millenia — DHARMA.  The Atharva Veda says :  Satyam brihad ritam ugram diksha tapo  brahma yajnah prithvim dharayanti"  (Truth, Eternal order that is great and stern, consecration, austerity, prayer and ritual—these uphold the earth—Ath. XII.1.1).  SATYA (truth) and RITA (eternal order, discipline of eternal law) are two basic terms of ethical value used in the Vedas. Rita was originally the order of natural events such as the orderly appearance of the Sun, moon and the stars, the succession of seasons, of the harvest of crops etc. But soon it came to mean not only the cosmic order but also the moral order and co-ordination between natural law and moral law. The Gods were extolled as the guardians of both, especially Varuna as the God of righteousness.  The Mahabharata, giving the root meaning of Dharma, says:  Because it upholds, it is called Dharma;  Dharma upholds the creation (Karnaparva 69-59)  The Buddha used the word "DHAMMA" signifying thereby the eternal moral principles, unconnected with the presence or absence of one's faith in any Divinity.  God is DHARMAN, the upholder of eternal statutes. The conception of God includes the principle of eternal law, moral and cosmic, and RITA, eternal order.  According to the Vedas, God is God because he upholds the eternal law and is not an arbitrary dictator doing good or evil according to His whim or wish. "Gods chant the song of "RITA" says the Veda. As, on the moral plane, Rita leads to the triumph of good over evil, so on the cosmic plane, it leads to triumph of light over darkness.  There was nothing higher than organised principles or sacred order. All were subject to the Rule of Law. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad proudly proclaims "Law is the King of Kings, far more powerful and rigid than they. Nothing can be mightier than law by whose aid, as that of the highest monarch, even the weak may prevail over the strong."  Legal order or human society was to be in line or tune with the Universal or cosmic order and in harmony with it. Vedic RITA was the reigning principle of the universe and also the divine ordering of earthly life.  "The belief that an absolute law is controlling human conduct is a part of the religious view of things and it would imply a single Universal Code." The word SANATANA DHARMA or eternal law, in Hindu thought, may be, taken to exactly describe such a Code.  "Dharma is the foundation which supports all the worlds" say the Vedas.  धर्मो विशवस्य जगतः प्रतिष्ठा !  "If we destroy Dharma it will, in turn, destroy us; let us always protect Dharma lest destroyed by us, it should destroy us.  धर्मो एव हतो हन्ति धर्मो रक्षति रक्षितः !  तस्मात् धर्मो न हन्तव्यः मानो धर्मो हतो अवधीत् !!  (Manu : Chap. VIII-15)  DHARMA according to our concept includes not merely law in the Austinian sense but also ethical, moral and spiritual values and that is why, Courts which administer DHARMA have been appropriately regarded, through the ages, as temples of justice in this country. Let me give you a story : It would appear that some one at a London Railway Station got into a taxi and asked the driver to take him to the Courts of Justice nearby and it seems the driver went round and round for a considerable time and when the passenger asked in exasperation what the matter was, the driver told him "Sir, I am in search of the Courts of justice but they are not to be found" and when the passenger got annoyed and pointed out the court buildings across, he simply answered "you mean the courts of law." The story may be apocryphal but brings forth forcibly the difference even in the West between the conception of law and justice. How much more so with our own ideas of DHARMA ?  Let us now turn to a declaration made thousands of years later. The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted, in December 1948, the Universal declaration of Human Bights, which considers it vital that Human Eights should be protected by the Rule of Law, if recourse is not to be had to rebellion, tyranny and oppression. The Rule of Law is conceived as a dynamic concept and embraces within itself as an integral part not only the recognition and effective protection of the civil and political rights of the individual in a free society, but also the establishment of social, economic, educational and cultural conditions under which he can attain his full dignity and legitimate aspirations. The Role of Law is of universal validity and obligation, as it impressed those institutions and principles of justice, which are considered minimal to the assurance of human rights and the dignity of man.  The conclusion of the Second Committee of the International Congress of Jurists, New Delhi. 1959, has admirably stated the position thus:  "The Rule of Law depends not only on the provisions of the adequate safeguards against abuse of the power of the executive, but also on the existence of effective government capable of maintaining law and order and of ensuring adequate social and economic conditions of life for the Society. The following propositions relating to the executive and the rule of law are accordingly formulated on the basis of certain conditions which are either satisfied, or in the case of newly independent countries still struggling with difficult economic and social problems are in the process of being satisfied. These conditions require the existence of an executive vested with sufficient power and resources to discharge its functions with efficiency and integrity. They require the existence of a legislature elected by democratic process, and not subject either in the manner of election or otherwise, to manipulation of the executive. They require the existence of an independent judiciary which will discharge its duties fearlessly. They finally call for the earnest endeavour of the Government to achieve such social and economic conditions within a society as will ensure a reasonable standard of economic security, social welfare and education for the mass of the people".  Our Constitution, as many others, has codified a Charter of Human Rights and called them Fundamental Rights but has, also, recently added-Part IVA-dealing with Fundamental Duties of Citizens. In addition, it has laid down the Directive Principles of State Policy, which are fundaments in the governance of the country and cast a duty on the State to apply these principles in making laws. Thus, we have in the Constitution, a Supreme law, a law of superior obligation to which the ordinary law must conform.  The preamble to our Constitution gives succinctly, the scope and purpose, our ideals and aspirations, to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens; JUSTICE, social, economic and political; LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; EQUALITY of status and opportunity and to promote among them all FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the nation.  The Constitution has aimed at a Welfare State and an egalitarian society. No one is to be denied the opportunity of the means to develop himself on the lines he plans, subject only to the limitations or controls prescribed in the interests of the State and Society.  There can be no doubt that it is the primary duty of any temporal Government to uphold the law. It is law that ensures protection of person and of property, and makes for order, peace and progress. The precondition of good society is, thus, a stable and efficient Government, protecting the innocent and punishing the guilty. RAJA NITIand DANDA-NITI go together. No State can afford to abjure legitimate action and punishment. Its function is to govern, and that, with timely action, firmness, fairness and justice. Supineness, inefficiency and neglect of duty are as bad as excessiveness, harshness and arbitrariness.  The Rule of Law and the maintenance of the fundamental principles of justice and the rights enshrined in the Constitution, therefore depend upon an adequate and lively recognition of the facts:  a mere declaration of a Bill of Rights, is no guarantee or protection against its being interfered with, the citizens as well as the State (in all its three branches, Legislative, Executive and Judicial) are subject to the Rule of Law, Loyalty to the Constitution and the Nation is the first duty of ALL concerned, the Judiciary should be guided by the Rule of Law and steadfastly and readily, protect and enforce it, without fear or favour and resist all encroachments on its independence, the enlightened public, especially the members of the professions, the Press, the elite land the educated and the makers and repositories of public opinion, should be ever ready, vigilant and strong, to assert the Rule of Law and the rights of the individual or other person affected. Above all be it remembered that Democracy can truly work only when there is a fairly well-matched and disciplined party system at work, loyal to the Constitution and to our heritage. Dr. Gajendragadkar has rightly said :  If public conscience is atrophied and intellectuals become inarticulate, then a stage is set for letting loose forces, which pose a danger to Democracy."  While eternal vigilance is the price of liberty and resistance to encroachments of power is essential to freedom, there is, at the same time, a corresponding duty cast on every citizen towards his fellowmen and the State, which should be voluntarily and readily undertaken and observed in practice. "Where there is respect for reason there is also respect for freedom". The Rule of Law helps to encourage "the spread of humanism in law based on the respects of human dignity in the context of social and economical justice". While each man is free to develop his personality to the full and the only duty which should restrict this freedom is that necessary, to enable every one else to do the same, no man can forget that individual freedom and social duty go together and the great heritage of freedom and liberty can only be under the Law and not independent of it or in derogation of it. A civilized society must maintain respect for the Law. No man, whatever his power position, pelf, poverty or pain, is or can be above it.  It is true, India is a Secular State. It only means that the State has equal respect for all religions and gives protection to each. But that does not mean there is no religion and in its name all moral, ethical and spiritual needs have to be neglected. Furthermore, there has been too much attention paid to rights without an adequate insistence on duties to ourselves, to the community at large and to the Nation itself. DHARMA is the binding force which holds society together like cement that holds together separate bricks in a building. The Mahayogi Sri Aurobindo says: "The DHAEMA, at once religious law of action and deepest law of our nature, is not, as in the Western idea, a creed, a cult, or ideal inspiring an ethical and social rule ; it is the right law of functioning our life in all its parts. The tendency of man to seek after a just and perfect law of his life finds its truth in and its justification in the DHARMA. Everything indeed has its Dharma, its law of life imposed on it by its nature, but for man the Dharma is the conscious imposition of a rule of ideal living on all its members."  The primary duty of Dharma is that it should subserve a spiritual purpose, and that it should enable every one to discipline himself and become a more perfect human being and member of Society. What is imperative is, for each one of us to restrict his or her physical and material needs and dependence on external aid, to the barest minimum and cultivate to the maximum, self reliance and self help, do an honest day's work, and strive earnestly to be good and to do good and live a simple and purposeful life, without greed, hate or anger, with faith in God and in oneself. Thus the DHARMA of our ancients is much wider in scope and much more purposeful than the modern concept of the Rule of Law. It pertains to the whole duty of man in the scheme of life, right conduct and ideal living. It is the first of the four Purusharthaa subject to which only wealth is to be acquired and desires are to be enjoyed. The essence of Dharma is its absolute objectivity. Man has to observe Dharma regardless and irrespective of bis rights and the duties of others to him.  It has been truly said that "a people flourish not because of a Constitution but because they are guided by DHARMA and help each other in co-operation" :  naiva rajyam narat aaseet  na dando nacha dandikaah  dharmeniva prajaah sarvaah  rakshitaasma parasparam.  In this task, the intelligent have a special duty. It is for our thinkers, writerst teachers, educated students, professional men, the knowing public and the press, as the keepers of the public conscience and makers of enlightened public opinion, to discharge this national duty, here and now. There can be no sitting on the fence or standing on the side lines. Successful people DO things ; others only talk about doing them.  It is for us, therefore, whatever our station or stage in life or society, not only to do our duty and work earnestly as true and patriotic citizens of our Motherland, but also to strive of our very best, every minute of our lives, to restore the supremacy of the Rule of Law and of Dharma in our national and personal behaviour and action. Let us not be content with mere lip service to our National Motto and National Anthem, The restoration of moral content and purity in every sphere of life — Government, public or private — is an urgent need of today. Thus only can we hope to preserve our Freedom and Liberty, the Unity and Integrity and Glory of our Country-India that is Bharat.

Author Name: T. V. Viswanatha Aiyar