According to the Hindu Jurisprudence, Dharma means the duties in many ways. Just like the sociological duties, legal duties or spiritual duties. Through this context, we can say that Dharma can be referred to as the concept of justice. The word ‘Dharma’ generally includes all kinds of rules, religious, moral, legal, physical, metaphysical or scientific, in the same way as the law does, in its widest sense. The word ‘Dharma’ is derived from the root ‘dhri’ (to hold, support or maintain) and it means law or duty, or the essential quality of persons or things. By the term ‘Dharma ‘ is understood the rules which govern the whole mankind

Dharma has been defined as “What is followed by those learned in the Vedas and what is approved by the conscience of the virtuous who are exempt from hatred and inordinate affections.” According to Mayne, Hindu Law is the Law of ‘Smiritis‘ as expounded in the Sanskrit Commentaries and Digests. which as modified and supplemented by custom, is administered by the courts.

Dharma is an omnibus concept with multiple shades of meaning. Dharma in ancient Hindu tradition was a system of injunctions and prohibitions in order to ensure the harmonious functioning of various elements in the life. Only Veda, Smriti and Shista-acara are sources of Dharma. Thus legal procedure with its manifold ramifications has been represented by the sages. The system of dharma asserts that all dharma are universally obligatory being absolute, unconditional and infallible.

The concept of Dharma as understood in its collective aspect is the foundation of all Hindu ideas of progress and social order, which have to be construed in the light of higher ends of man. Dharma can be categorized as Rajadharma as highest dharma for ruler and Ashrama and Varna dharma as highest for the ruled.

Sources of Dharma

As referred to in the  “Bhagwat Geeta”,  God creates a life using the principles of Dharma. They are patience, forgiveness, self-control, honesty, sanctity (cleanliness in the mind, body and soul), control of senses, reasons, knowledge, truthfulness and absence of anger. Accordingly, The salvation which means “Moksha” is the eternal Dharma for humans according to Hinduism.

Hindu epics like the Ramayana and Mahabharata also refers to Dharma. They say that executing one’s Dharma is the right aim of every individual. And also at that time, the king was known as Dharmaraj because the main motive of the king was to follow the path of Dharma.

Nature of Dharma

Despite the other schools of Jurisprudence, the Hindu Jurisprudence takes more care over the duties more than the rights. The nature of these Dharma changes from person to person. There are many duties of many people in this world like earlier, the king’s duty was to uphold the religious law and the other hand a farmer’s duty is to produce food, the doctor has to cure the people, the lawyers have to fight for justice. Being a highly religious concept in nature, Dharma is multi-faceted. It contains many laws and customs in a large range of subjects which is essential and needed to be followed by each and every person. For example, Manusmriti deals with religion, administration, economics, civil and criminal law, marriage, succession, etc.

Our laws have not been inherited from English legal system rather our texts. Since natural law guided the legal procedure and same is continuing without substantial change. The first five words –We, the people of India are descriptive of the consumers and creators of the values of the paramount law.This shows that our Constitution is based on Dharma which recognizes the people as end and law as means. The Apex Court was of the view in Aruna Roy And Others v. Union Of India And Others AIR 2002 SC 3176 that the essential aspect of our ancient thought concerning law was the clear recognition of the supremacy of dharma and the clear articulation of the status of ‘dharma’ which is somewhat akin to the modern concept of the rule of law, i.e. of all being sustained and regulated by it.