Buddhist thought on Dhamma facilitates emancipation of
political action. Explain.
Dhamma- Indian concept of morality and virtue
Duty based theories are always deontological
Discuss political action - by nature, a political animal,
established by Aristotle who is regarded as father of political
science. Since man is by nature, a political animal, we cannot
conceive a good life that is a life of virtue for humans in the
absence of state to quote Aristotle, state come into existence for
the sake of life and continues for the sake of good life.
Wheather East or West political scholar, since the age
of classical antiquity have dealt on this foundational question ,
what leads to a good political action because of its impact on the
life of individuals. If in ancient Greece plato talks about the
philosopher, king, and Aristotle “Polity”, in the east in India, we
see 2 major traditions in ancient philosophy
A- Hindu tradition
B- Buddhi tradition
While we Bhiku Parekh makes a classification he acknowledges
that they are not entirely extent, traditions, there is more of a
continuity that change
We can understand Buddhism as ”Protestantism as a East”
It is the Brahmanical tradition or Buddhist tradition the
architect tonic principle of Indian way of life is
Dharma(Sanskrit) and Dhamma (Prakrit) the term Dharma/
Dhamma is equivalent to the western concept of justice morality,
or virtue
The Buddhist concept of Dharma like Brahminical concept is a
in”Deontological view on morality” it means like Immanuel
Kants categorical imperatives, they are nonnegotiable it means
they have to be observed in all circumstances
The violation of which can lead to Arajakata.
The attainment of which leads to moksha in Hinduism and
Nirvana in Buddhism if we compare the concept of Dharma and
dhamma, buddhist tradition is rationalist tradition in
comparison to Hinduism, which is more metaphysical
Like Aristotle, virtual ethics, Buddha proposes eight fold path.
This eight fold path is to be followed by both king and the
common man. Also, Buddha eight fold path lead to purification
of soul and enlightenment of human mind, which leads to
“mindfulness. Mindfulness is a characteristic of a virtuous
man, a necessary condition to live in peace and harmony, with
others a comparable concept with platos philosopher king, where
reason, controls appetite and courage and leads to peace,
harmony, and excellence
Buddha is not a political philosopher in traditional sense it. His
ideas provide useful guidance to the king, unlike Brahminical
tradition represented by Manu and Kautilya, which believes
that Dand is essential to maintain dharma as both of them,
assume that human nature is corruptable Buddha likes
Socrates rely more on morality, development of character,
mindfulness, rather than coercion
Thus, Buddhist thought finds emancipation of political action
in morality, that is Dhamma, which itself is a as a concept of
action that is virtue ethics.
2 Sri Aurobindo’s idea of Swaraj has deep significance in this
Indian, social, cultural and political history. Analyse (2023)
Swaraj has been the major slogan of freedom movement in India.
It can be termed as Indian version of liberty. The Indian version
of liberty that is Swaraj is less about external constrains. It is
more about taking internal Constance over our passion and desire
It can be understood primarily as a “emancipation”
Aurobindos concept of Swaraj- the concept of Swaraj in modern
India has kept on evolving. If for early nationalist Swaraj was
attainment of dominion status and self government, under
Aurobindo Ghosh we see Spiritualisation of the idea, he was the
first person to talk about Poorna Swaraj, though it became the
goal of Indian national Congress in 1929 with the
pronouncement of Poorna Swaraj by Nehru
Aurobindo, who is known as prophet of Indian nationalism was
fully convinced that foreign rule cannot be a blessing in
disguise as it prevents the natural rise of nation
He kept on enriching in his idea of Swaraj, where Swaraj was not
just to be a freedom from foreign rule, but also freedom from
internal passions and desires. He threshed the Indian concept of
freedom in Mundak Upnishad where Swaraj means, liberation of
soul, For him, freedom means removing Tamas that is darkness
from our souls and moving towards enlightenment. He believed
that through the practice of yoga and Sadhana / Tap and Jap
A person can rid of tamas and can realised Sachidanand, his
ideas of freedom in form of liberation of the spirit and realisation
of integral human unity is closer to Hegels concept of freedom
and the realisation of universal spirit, his idea of Swaraj has been
dominating influence Gandhi’s concept of Swaraj
Clue:- Indian social culture and political history
India is one of the oldest surviving civilisational estate. There
has been enormous continuity in the Indian way of life like idea
of Dharma, the idea of Swaraj has also been integral view of
human life in India if Dharma directs to perform the duty and
to lead a life of virtue, Swaraj is a necessary compliment to the
idea of Dharma
The life. In India has reflected the deep influence of the idea of
Swaraj because Dharma is not possible in the absence of Swaraj.
Needless to say, Dharma is an architectonic principal of Indian
way of life.
Since the essence of Swaraj is control over person and desires we
see that such values are reflected in India’s deep, social, cultural,
and political history
The idea of Swaraj imbibed the value of conservatism against
humanism, which resulted into a society which has done the
least amount of violence on nature. The idea of Swaraj in Indian
text has not only taught to respect the dignity of other human
beings, but also dignity of animals/ Birds
It has made Indian civilisation tolerant civilisation, it has
enriched India’s culture, even it a form of composite culture
Perhaps India is a only country in the world where minorities
have not been prosecuted, whether we talk about Jews or Parsis
That is the reason Ghosh believe that rise of India isn’t just for
the benefit of Indians but it is for the benefit of humanity at
large different nations, of the world reflect different elements of
universal spirit if Greek civilisation represent the element of
beauty Roman reflects element of ethics and British reflects
element of passions. Also, India reflected the element of region
(VISHVAGURU)
He believed that universal spirit wants to give message to the
world through India, which it cannot give from the position of
slavery, hence, entire world should support India’s rise
Only Indian civilisation is capable of delivering the message of
cosmopolitanism, the idea of integral human unity
Not only this ideas have inspired freedom moment and India’s
social movements, but they continue to inspire the present
government advertising, the role of “VASUDHAIV
KUTUMBAKAM”
4- do you think that the Buddhist traditions have lent a greater
ethical foundation toancient Indian political thought? Give your
arguments, 2021.
The eternal question of the normative political philosophy in both
East West is the role of ethics in politics
If we look at the western philosophy in ancient Greece, scholars
like Plato, Socrates and Aristotle believed that politics and ethics
are inseparable, hence Aristotle categorised both politics and ethics
under promises, though in modern times, we see the western
tradition starting with Machiavelli began to Politics and ethics,
the two separate domains and politics, autonomous of all ethical
considerations
On the other hand, Indian tradition reflect the continuity between
politics and ethics, whether we talk about Dharma Shastras or
Danda shashtras we see we see the coexistence of Dharam and
Dand in Brahminical traditions as suggested by scholars like B
R MEHTA There is difference in western and Indian traditions if
West has seen things in dichotomy, Indians. See the things in
continuity. Indians do not separate individual and society,
nature and culture, politics and ethics.
Thus, if we talk about two major ancient Indian traditions of the
political thought that is Hinduism and Buddhism. We see that
the politics and ethics are coexistence. However, if we look at
Buddhist tradition. We find that it lends greater ethical
foundations to ancient Indian political thought
We can give following arguments in the support
1 it is a greater ethical tradition and foundations because Hindu
traditions is metaphysical, whereas Buddhist tradition is a
rationalist tradition
Considering the fact that Socrates who is known as father of
ethics in the west based ethics in human reasoning is found in
his
theory of knowledge and is belief in virtue as knowledge
2- if we interpret ethics in term of morality, then definitely
Buddhist tradition is on higher pedestal
If we look at Brahminical tradition, represented by Manu and
Kautilya they propose policy of Sham Dam Dand Bhed, more real
tradition closer to Machiavellian an consequentialist in
Orientation
On the other hand, Buddhist tradition is more of pragmaticism
based on middle path, emphasise on eight fold path, and
development of character
The difference is evident in the way they distinguish institution
of kingship
If KAUTILYAN tradition is a king, who should aim at becoming
Chakravarty Samrat by acquisition of land, Buddhist king is
the noblist of all who establish its empire, not by acquisition of
land but reigning on human mind
With respect to interstate relations, Buddhism lets greater ethical
foundations as it pronounced the ideal of Panchsheel
That is the moral code of conduct to be observed by the state,
different from real politic of Kautilya
It is more nationalist. It is more ethical, and that is why it opposes
irrational inhuman practice. Like caste system and patriarchy.
It is the moral strength of Buddhism that inspired Indian leaders
Like Ambedkar and Pandit Nehru, not only philosophical
foundations of Buddhism, have been given place in Indian
constitution, national symbols, but also in conduct of foreign
policy, it is for this reason. India’s applies to international politics
is known as a moral vision and came to be known as Indian
exceptionalism, domestic front but also, the constitutional vision
of egalitarian society abolishing, untouchability, and
inequalities to the influence
It’s the undeniable fact that India went for a very unique part in
both domestic and external affairs to realise its goal of creating a
society where justice, social and economic prevails, which is based
on values of fraternity and human dignity
5- veneration becomes devoid of arts and learning. It invites
poverty (Sir Sayyed Ahmed Khan). in light of this statement,
assess the role of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan as a reformer in modern
India 2021
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan is a controversial figure in modern
history because he is associated with the two nation theory
He’s also seen as a leader of a community, unlike the leaders,
Gandhi who have been treated as leader of nation That is
unifying force and building a multi religious and a multi class
multicast movement
Keeping aside the controversial part, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan
emerges as one of the prominent leaders of Indian renaissance
He deserves to be treated as part with Raja Ram Mohan Roy and
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
He has been educationist excellence and has dare to bring
modernisation in the Muslim society for which he came under
criticism from the orthodox section of Muslims through his
magazines Tahzeeb Ul Akhlaq he questioned the outdated
traditions. He realised that the Renis of Muslim possible only by
adopting the modern education.
He was an exponent of scientific learning and advocated that it is
wrong to think that there is any antithesis between Islam and
modern science he also brought scientific journals, established
societies for scientific research, and worked hard to lay down the
foundation of MAO which became Aligarh Muslim University
later on and his categorised as institution of eminence. He was
right when he held that if nation becomes diver of art and
learning, it will bring poverty. We can see that the biggest
poverty is the intellectual poverty. the reason behind the prosperity
of the west is, enlightenment promotion of scientific learning
Today, if India wants to be recognised as Vishwaguru and want
to take the advantage of its demographic dividend, Sir Syed
Ahmed Khan‘s teachings are relevant, not just for Muslims but
for the youth of nation, regardless of caste, colour and creed
undoubtedly, along with Maulana Azad, he happens to be the
tallest figure in India among Muslim leaders, and today it’s all
the more important the community six guidance from his great
performer and educationist
6- Explicate the ideological components of Gandhi 2020
Gandhi described himself as Man of action and he denied the
existence of anything like GandhISM
Gandhi described his philosophy as experiments with truth. In this
context, Gandhism comes closer to the Buddhist tradition or the
post modern tradition, the very reason to deny the existence of
Gandhism is Gandhi, deep faith in democracy and his deep
disliking against totalitarianism
Rightly regarded as father of nation, Gandhi is a true
ambassador of Indian tradition and way of life. The ideological
components of Gandhi’s thinking is drawn from India’s tradition
of nonviolence, unity, and diversity, pluralism, and toleration
The archechtonic principle of Gandhi has been ahimsa which term
was linked to his another foundational belief that is the
continuity of ends and means. Gandhi was a critic of
Machiavellianism and believe that politics without ethics is a sin.
Gandhi described Ahimsa as a creed that is his religion he
compared ahimsa with humanity and the only way to preserve of
humanity
His ideas of Satyagrah Swaraj are also based on his belief in
Ahimsa
Gandhi method of struggle by which India gained freedom makes
freedom movement, unique, moral struggle, unparallel in the
world in terms of participation of masses and the path of
nonviolence
It is belief in this principle, which made Gandhi a great model
Einstein was right when he held that Gandhi was a charisma and
coming generations will not even believe that such a man of flesh
and blood ever walked on this earth,though Gandhi never
acknowledged existence of Gandhism yet, according to Professor
Humayun Kabir, a large number of people who consider
themselves as Gandhian establish the existence of Gandhism
Gandhi’s life is comparable to Socrates who believe that it’s better
to sacrifice the life rather than sacrificing the values
Gandhi remained firm which respect to his beliefs and his life is a
message that how ideas take their concrete forms
7- comment on Ambedkar’s ideas of constitutionalism, 2020
Ambedkar is known as father of Indian constitution
There is a enormous influence of Ambedkar on Indian
constitution, being the chairperson of the drafting committee
Ambedkar a modernist educated western system, lawyer by
profession, it was very natural that he believed in
constitutionalism
By constitutionalism, he means rule of law, rule of law is a
principle which checks any arbitrary exercise of power?
For example, article 32 of Indian constitution which Ambedkar
considered as the heart and soul of part III is a very strong
statement to enforce the rule of law. It allows any person and not
just citizens to approach to the highest court and earliest
redressal of violation of its fundamental rights.
However, to understand Ambedkar’s idea of constitutionalism,
we have to refer to Ambedkar famous speech in the constituent
assembly, popularly known as grammar of anarchy, speech
In this speech, he gave the concept of constitutional morality
Constitutional morality, the essence of Ambedkar‘s
constitutionalism ambedkar held that no constitution is perfect.
The success and failure of the Constitution depends on the
constitutional morality by which he means that persons sitting
in the position of authority should follow the Constitution in
both letter and spirit. Ambedkar’s Idea of constitutional
morality is inspired by George grote idea, he directly refers to
Grotes idea in constituent assembly where he held that the
constitutional morality is supreme reverence for the
Constitution.
Ambedkar held that in India, democracy is the top soil and so
constitutional morality has to be carefully nurtured. There
should be no place for hero worship and non-constitutional or
extra constitutional methods like civil disobedience direct action
in independent India. He also wants that if we do not learn
from history very soon, we may repeat history. India has faced
for surfdumb for long. At the same time when Ambedkar
described about democracy, he took the holistic view and believed
that political democracy without social and economic is
contradiction. He also want that now there are no British to shift
the blame of our failures. Now we will be responsible for
ourselves, hence, for Ambedkar, the inauguration of the
Constitution, was less a movement of rejoice. It was more a
movement of critical introspection.
10- discuss Kautilya’s views on the elements of the state 2019
It’s an organic view of a state and organic view of state shows
interdependence
How king is at the centre, but the king alone cannot run the
state
11- Ambedkar idea on the annihilation of caste 2018
Annihilation Of caste is a essay by Ambedkar which was
originally a speech to be delivered at Jaat paat todak mandal
Here Ambedkar has made a very strong statement where he held
that in order to get rid of caste system, we have to put dynamite on
Vedas and Manusmriti
His understanding was based on his critical understanding of
Indian history in the past, also, there have been attempts to abolish
caste system, for example by bhakti movement and other socio
religious reform movements. These movements could not end the
caste system, which Ambedkar believed to be not just a division of
labour rather division of labourer
It not only discriminate against an individuals, but it is a
discrimination against the entire community. He described
Indian caste system as a tradition of increased reverence as we
move higher on the scale and more contempt. As we move down, he
believed that caste system is a basis of Brahminical vision of
society, he considered the text like vedas and manusmriti
providing ideological basis to casteism . he was critic of Gandhi as
Gandhi was justifying Varna system hence to annihilate caste he
suggest to put dynamite means rejection of social order based on
Dharma Shastra. He held that Hinduism is basically
Brahminism.
An ideology that establishes has a money of Brahmins at the
base of renal is endogamy and without challenging it, we cannot
end the caste
13-comment Gandhi’s view on state 2017
State represent and authority since men is by nature, social
animal, it cannot live in isolation, and when they come together,
there is a possibility of conflict because interest may collide, hence
and authority is required for conflict resolution within political
philosophy, There are different perspective of state. Theres
Hobbesian perspective, which is extremely statics and support
absolutely on the other abs spectrum exist an which considers state
as a unnecessary evil
And anarchist of different types, Gandhi is categorised as moral
anarchist who is influenced by Leo Tolstoy, he believed that there
is a kingdom of God within us that should be the guiding force.
Similarly Gandhi believed in the concept of Swaraj and the
concept of Swaraj is incompatible to the idea of any external
authority. He believed state to be a symbol of moral weakness of
men. Since we are unable to govern ourselves, we require an
external agent. He considered state as a sole machine, incompatible
with the idea of nonviolence, even the most minimal state will
require some instrument of correction
Gandhi gave the idea of Ram Rajya. That is his ideal state, which
is compatible with his idea of the Swaraj at the level of individual
Though concept of state may appear too Utopian and with the
danger of anarchy, but it is also a good guide for achieving
inclusive growth n sustainable development
it is to be seen in the context of his idea of gram Swaraj
considering India as a poor country India could not afford a
heavy bureaucratic machinery, and it was not possible to bring
development without the spirit of voluntary corporation
Looking at Gandhi, as a Utopian is a misleading of Gandhi, if
in fact, he emerges as one of the most pragmatic leader
Will worst with peculiarity of India after so many years, Indian
state, acknowledged the importance of Gandhi vision in the form
of 73rd amendment act.
25- comment on Marxist and radical humanist phases of M N
Roy’s thought. 2012.
M N Roy termed as a remarkable failure by Sudeepta Kaviraj
Perhaps one of the most learned personality in modern India, yet
he was a failure in politics. He can be termed as the sole political
philosopher is known for his philosophy of radical humanism.
Radical humanism is described by Roy as a philosophy of
freedom. Its ultimate aim is to create a Cosmopolitan union of
spiritually liberated person.
Roy Believe that neither liberalism nor fascism or Marxism
provides scope for freedom of man, if fascism puts man under the
collective ego of nation, Marxism put man under collective ego of
class. Parliamentary democracy doesn’t give enough scope for
exercise of freedom because it doesn’t give a school for the direct
participation(radical democracy.) the philosophy of radical
humanism is inspired by humanist tradition of Pythagoras, who
believed that men is measure of everything at the base of radical
humanism is human being in its radical sense. Hair radical
sense means original form(not as a member of any caste
community nation, but simply as a human) also inspired by the
enlightenment tradition which arranged superstition and
promoted the scientific spirit, Roy believed that promotion of
scientific learning that is intellectual revolution will liberate
humans from the fear of supernatural power. Radical humanism
is comparable to existence of Satra, both these philosopher were
initially Marxist, but later on realise that, Marxism may not be
as liberating as it should be
Radical humanism gives a view of society. Where social
principles are based on nature and these principles to be discovered
by science
Three integral components of philosophy are
1 freedom, which is the aim where man has to be liberated from
even the fear of supernatural power
2 ethics, the foundation of morality to be based on rationality
rather than metaphysics
3- reason by reason, he meant the development of cognitive
facilities which develops through men’s struggle for survival
Radical humanism is a grand idea to address the evils like
superstations and to bring Renaissance and enlightenment in a
highly traditional society. Perhaps the vision of radical
humanism has got reflection impart IV A of fundamental
duties, which talks about the importance of developing scientific
temper
