Hindu Traditions: The Vedic Concept
In the Vedic period, equality of all human beings was reiterated with no one being
superior or inferior. This can be better illustrated by citing the example of Valmiki and Vyasa,
who belonged to the fourth and second Varna respectively. These two were the authors of the two
great epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, who are regarded as the greatest poets, writers
and philosophers of the country and held in the highest esteem to this day by all. Regarding the status of women in ancient India, it must be stated that they enjoyed equal status. Prof. P.V. Kane
refers to specific hymns in Rigveda as composed by women, and cites Bhadarnayak Upanishad to
show that women actively participated in philosophical discourses. Women were not
discriminated in the field of education; they studied along with male students. Women sages and
teachers were also not uncommon in ancient India.
During the sutra period (800 B.C. to 400 B.C.) women recited Vedic mantras routinely. But in
later period their position became that of dependence on men. Women were not considered fit to
study the Vedas and rituals for girls were performed without the recitation of Vedic mantras.
However, family rituals required their equal participation with men. During the early Vedic
period women played an important role in religion and society. Both men and women were
educated equally in religion and academia; women performed religious sacrifices alongside men,
and women also received the sacred Hindu thread that is given today only to males. The
Haritasmriti recounts the existence of a group of women called brahmavacinis (a Sanskrit term
meaning speakers and revealers of Brahman) who remained unmarried and devoted their lives to
Hindu religious study during this early Vedic period. A clear distinction in Vedic language is
made between acarya (a female teacher) and acaryani (a teacher’s wife) and upadhyaya (a female
preceptor) and upadhyayani (a preceptor’s wife) clearly showing that women in fact carried out
religious education of others and were communicators as well as students of sacred Hindu
scripture.
Hindu gods and goddesses personify manifestations of Hindu religious concepts and nature.
Interestingly, Hindu goddesses, rather than gods, are most often used to represent abstract
fundamental principles such as power, strength, education, and wealth as well as important
natural phenomena such as the mountains, the dawn, the earth, and the rivers. For example,
Hinduism personifies divine strength and power in the form of a female figure referred to as
Shakti, Saraswati, the Goddess of Learning, Music and Fine Arts, is portrayed as a female in
Hindu texts and paintings. Likewise, Lakshmi is the Goddess of Wealth, a female personification.
Parvati, the mountain goddess, is the consort to Shiva, one of the most important Hindu gods.
The Goddess of Dawn is Usha, the Goddess of Rivers is Ganga, and the Goddess of Earth is
Prithvi – all female personifications of incredibly important aspects of nature on which humanity depends. Vedic literature clearly exhibits the high respect given to women. Romesh C. Dutt wrote
in The Civilization of India: ‘Women were held in higher respect in India than in other ancient
countries, and the Epics and old literature of India assign a higher position to them than the epics
and literature of ancient Greece.
Hindu women enjoyed some rights of property from the Vedic Age, took share in social and
religious rights, and were sometimes distinguished by their learning. The absolute seclusion of
women in India was unknown in ancient times’. Following the growth and increasing rigidity of
caste system in India, the earlier values of human dignity, equality of all men, and equal status of
women, the ideal of universal brotherhood were allowed to press into oblivion. The introduction
of the concept of untouchability gave a big blow to the concept of human rights. In the words of
Barnett R. Rubin, “untouchability is probably the biggest obstacle to human rights…, which while
outlawed, is still widely practiced and relegates a whole section of the community to ‘unclean’
status”
Post-Vedic Notion
Contrary to the Buddhist and Vedic traditions, the Hindu religious and law books hardly had any
concept of rights, as its Varnadharma (i.e. the Caste system) had established unequal privileges or
rights. The Dharma prescribed the duties of the four social orders, namely, duties of citizenship,
the duties peculiar to one’s caste, the eternal family duties, and the duties of those persons who
follow the scriptures other than the Vedas, (i.e. Pashandas). It also laid down the household
duties, the duties of wives, the duties of kings, the duties of men and women. The idea of rights is
not directly visible in the Hindu culture. However, the holy books and political treatises provided
many general and moral exhortations concerning rights and duties. One of the Chapters in the
Gita is dedicated to Karmayoga, i.e., the Yoga of Works, which ‘expounds the necessity for the
performance of work [duty: that which ought to be done] without any selfish attachment to
results, with a view to securing the welfare of the world...’ If inter-individual and social relations
are expressed in terms of a comprehensive web of duties, rights cease to be privileges to be
specifically claimed, but a condition that would promote human, and hence social, welfare.
Therefore, Kautilya prescribed not powers, but ‘duties of a king’. One of the duties of the king
was: ‘When in court he shall never cause his petitioners to wait at the door.’ One of the ground rules for the king was: ‘In the happiness of his subjects lies his happiness; in their welfare, his
welfare; whatever pleases himself he shall not consider as good, but whatever pleases his subjects
he shall consider as good’ (Kautilya, 1901, pp.38-39). And, ‘Harmlessness, truthfulness, purity,
freedom from spite, abstinence from cruelty, and forgiveness are duties common to all’
In Kautilya’s book, the idea of a welfare state is repeated with great force. He enjoins that the
king must provide for the orphans, the aged, the helpless and the afflicted. Helpless women must
be provided subsistence by the state when they are pregnant. The king is also required to construct
dams, rivers, and road, to maintain forests, and provide help and superintendence to places of
pilgrimage. He is also to supervise the reservoirs constructed by cooperative enterprises of the
people and to ensure that those who do not work do not gain for them. The king must protect
agriculturists from molestation and other kinds of oppression, forced labour and oppressive taxes
During famines, the king is asked to help the people by providing seed and provision. He
declares, ‘A wise king can make the poor and miserable elements of his society happy and
prosperous, but a wicked king will surely destroy the most prosperous of loyal elements of his
kingdom’. As an exponent of real politik, Kautilya accepts the importance of keeping people
happy. He adds, ‘When people are impoverished, they become greedy, when they are greedy, they
become disaffected, they voluntarily go to the side of the enemy and destroy their own master”.
He further adds, hence no king should give room to such causes as would bring about
impoverishment, greed or disaffection among his people’. Notwithstanding the duty-based
approach to rights prevailing in Hinduism, and the Varnadharma (caste system), certain universal
principles propounded in Bhagvad Gita and Upanishads represent human rights values. An
important axiom of Hinduism states that God is omnipresent and immanent in all that exists in the
universe. Thus, according to Hinduism, this universal spirit or soul (Brahman) manifests itself in
all human beings and indeed pervades all creation, as the very first verse of the Isa Upanishad
declares: ‘God covers all that moves in the Universe’ .
What follows from this fundamental belief in the omnipotent presence of God is pertinent for our
discussion of international human rights. As a first corollary, Hinduism firmly believes in
universal brotherhood. Since God permeates every being, there is unity and equality in diversity,
The early Hindu teachings, before the introduction of stratified caste system, reiterate the human
goal of the realisation of the Divine in everything, which means unity of all faiths. This means not
only freedom from any hatred or malice to other human beings, but also an affirmative duty and
obligation to serve God’s creation if one is to reach the highest level of spiritual attainment in
being identified with the Divinity. The well-known Hindu saying, ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (All
humanity is one family)’, aptly captures this sentiment. The Second corollary is in Hinduism’s
belief in oneness of all religions and hence its advocacy of the rejoicing in difference.
It is true that the caste system with different rights / duties to people of different castes and lower
status to women and sudras was legalised by Manu; he had some positive laws for women, as he
writes: ‘where women are honoured, there the very Gods are pleased, but where they are
dishonoured no sacred rite even could yield rewards’.
These universal ethical principles of Hinduism are reiterated by Indian scholar in UNESCO
Conference. In 1947, UNESCO organised an international conference on the eve of the adoption
of the UDHR in which eminent scholars from different religions, cultures, sociolegal
systems across continents were invited to participate. These scholars were given a questionnaire
to prepare their papers. From India S.V. Puntambekar, a political scientist, was to speak on
‘Hindu Concept of Human Rights’. As he was aware of the universal principles of Hinduism and
Buddhism, he wrote in his paper that Hinduism offered important ‘spiritual aims and values for
mankind’. ‘Both Manu and Buddha’, he claimed, ‘propounded a code as it were of ten essential
human freedoms and controls or virtues of good life’. They are not only basic, but also
comprehensive in their scope than those mentioned by any other modern thinker. They emphasize
five freedoms or social assurances and five individual possessions or virtues. The five social
freedoms included:
freedom from violence (Ahimsa),
freedom from want (Asteya),
freedom from exploitation (Aparigraha),
freedom from violation or dishonour (Avyabhichara), and
freedom from early death and disease (Armritatva and Arogya)’.
The five individual possessions or virtues are:
absence of intolerance (Akrodha),
compassion (Bhutadaya, Adroha),
knowledge (Jnana, Vidya),
freedom of thought and conscience (Satya, Suntra), and
freedom from fear, frustration and despair (Pravrtti, Abhaya, Dhrti)’
Buddhism
Buddhism forms an important part of non-Brahmin or non-Sanskritic traditions that stood up for
the downtrodden in society. Buddha himself debunked the Brahmanical claims to any spiritual
superiority on the basis of birth. During the Buddhist period, interest in man, in his image, and
man's affairs on this earth, unlike interest in gods and goddesses and god ie in heaven after death,
this earth being a vale of tears, became the primary concern of thoughtful men and women
.Buddha rejected the caste system for it was based upon inequality and treated some individuals
as morally superior purely on grounds of birth. The basic tenets of Buddhism are non-violence,
non hatred, and friendliness to all. Emperor Ashoka who became a devoted follower of Buddha
took to the non-violent and humanist philosophy of Buddhism. Also, he became a great champion
of freedom and tolerance. He pleaded for universal tolerance. One of the most significant
contributions of Buddhism was the introduction and spread of secular education--education for
all. Organised universities came to be established under the direct influence of Buddhism. Buddha
rejected the infallibility of the Vedas as well as Brahman, without which no opposition to
Brahmin-upanishidic domination was possible. His Nirvana was to be attained in this very world,
and it could be secured by anyone, should he or she follow the right conduct. He came out
strongly against evils like Brahmanical rituals and rites involving animal sacrifices on the grounds
of non-violence and compassion to all beings. The important philosophical contribution made by
Buddhism is the story The Buddha and the Swan it should inspire any human right activist . It
says Do not spill blood. Do not destroy life. Respect your elders and do not oppress your slaves.
Do not live in so much of a luxury that you lose fellow feelings with your friends and nature. At
the same time do not unnecessarily punish your body by not eating and over-exertion. Follow the
middle path.
Jainism
Along with Buddhism, Jainism constituted another parallel non-Sanskrit tradition that carried
forward this compassion for all human beings. It acknowledged an existence of rights not onlyof
the downtrodden but also plants and animals. Every,creature has life and they are all similar in
their sensitivity to pain and pleasure. Jainism defined 'sin' as a violence to, and encroachment on,
others' right to life. This may have been the first time in human history that a right to life was laid
down as a human right. Likewise, a violation of this right by someone else was considered
violence and indeed a sin. What is important is that Jainism extended this right not only to all
individuals but also to animals and indeed to all living species.
Ashoka No discussion of human rights and their roots in Indian tradition.can be complete without
a reference to King Ashoka. His significant contribution lay in translating the philosophy of
tolerance into an attitude to be adopted by all. Ashoka is perhaps the first ruler who developed a
totally anti-war perspective. Wars have been fought between rulers throughout history, and
generally glorified by the victors. Ashoka stands out in history as someone who gave up not only
war but also the attitude of war. He equated war not with triumph and glory but with misery and
human sufferings. Ashoka looked at war not from the perspective of the victor but the vanquished
and showed a keen sensitivity towards the all round destruction and suffering brought about by
war.
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