Legal Systems Vedic Concept of Law and Jurisprudence Jurisprudence धरमशसर is philosophy behind how human beings interact with each other how they should deal within a society in a nation and in a world as whole As cited in one of the mantra of the Rigveda ॐ सगचछधव सवदधव स व मनस जनतम समन मनतर समत समन समन मन सहचततमषम समन व आकत समन हदयन व समनमसत व मन यथ व ससहसत Rigveda1019123 May you all live in harmony speak in one voice and let your minds be in harmony May our purpose be the same may we all be of one mind In order for such unity to form I offer a common prayer May our intentions and aspirations be alike so that a common objective unifies us all This Rigvedic mantra emphasises the unity of minds to create healthy powerful organizations for prosperity and happiness of all and to promote fellow feelings and righteousness This is the basis of all human rights All are equal and share universal brotherhood for overall development of the society Without distinction of superior and inferior we are all brothers growing up together for common prosperity Concept which is emphasised here is of mutual assistance and cooperation for the development of the society Much later it was declared by the French at the end of the French Revolution and reiterated in their constitution We borrowed from them and integrated in our Constitution under Article 14 Dharma has many meanings for an Indian It can be duty religion responsibility attribute conman thread of practice act etc of an individual with respect to the fellow citizen society and nation Mahabharata describes the social aspect of dharma in the following words धरणदधरममतयह धरम धरयत परज यसयदधरणसयकत स धरम इत नशचय 8211 Mahabharata 6958Karna Parva That which binds the society together is dharma Similar interpretations are also available in the other religion like Buddhism Jainism Islam Christianity Judaism etc Moral standards and its practice is the ultimate aim which needs to be inculcated These religious traditions help in developing moral imperative on universal sense of obligation towards human crime and establishing ingredient essential for any or all practices of human rights Shastras emphasises on the duty of the individuals Our scriptures never talks of the rights Unfortunately we are practicing the rules of a rightsbased society in a society which is by nature a dutybased The concept of justice and human rights existed from the times human beings evolve Although the terminologies used for denoting the same changed from place to place and time to time values represented by them have remained the same from vedic times till today They were the part of the scriptural duty and made authoritative once introduced by the rulers and kings Cardinal principles and available values underlying them remain the same throughout the history of the humankind The Universal Deceleration of Human Rights the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights other international instruments and even the Indian Constitution evidence the same values articulated in the language specific to the constructs of time and place Part 3 and 4 of the Indian Constitution brings these values which are relevant to all humankind spanning the time and culture Part 4A indicates some of them as duty also It is significant to mention the persistence of dutybased society that permeated the human rights since the Vedic period till the British period in India Thus one can not accept the baseless criticism that the concept of Human Rights was not existed in India till the British gave us It is necessary to introspect and critically evaluate our rich ancient heritage accept which conforms the constitutional values of todays and rejects those which condemn them derived from the presentation made by Justice B N Srikrishna at Allahabad on 19032016 Audio Visual Links Justice B N Shrikrishna Justice M K Sharma Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose Justice B S Chauhan Justice D M Dharmadhikari Shri Baldev Atreya Prof Haridatt Sharma Dr Gyani Dhanuk Chand Vanamamali Dr T D Muralidharan Links वद म वधवयवसथड सनदरनरयण झ