Dharma is the atman of India’s civilisational and cultural heritage – Sridhar Potaraju

It is quite heartening to see that our cultural diversity is being celebrated across the country without any guilt. The framers of our Constitution would have not even conceived that the people would take more than seven decades to get over the Stockholm syndrome and unwarranted guilt in celebrating their own cultural heritage. – Sridhar Potaraju

The founding fathers of the Constitution did not have any hesitation in accepting the civilisational and cultural heritage of the Bharatavarsha as is evident from the illustrations in the original Constitution, which symbolically depicted the journey of the people of this land with illustrations on the Vedic period and Epic period, i.e., Ramayana and Mahabharata. In fact, several of our institutions have their mottos derived from Indic literature such as Vedas, Itihasas and Upanishads.

International conventions have always acknowledged the importance of preserving and celebrating cultural heritage. In this regard, it is apt to quote Audrey Azoulay, the Director-General of UNESCO: “Cultural heritage is not only about the buildings and monuments of the past—it is also about the rich traditions that have been passed down the generations. As vehicles of identity and social cohesion, this intangible cultural heritage also needs to be protected and promoted.”

Eminent Indian Jurist, Nanabhoy Palkhivala, was known for his in-depth knowledge of Itihasas like Ramayana, Mahabharata as well as the Upanishads. In his convocation address delivered on January 15, 1972, at the University of Bangalore, he spoke about the great cultural heritage of our nation observed as follows, “In ancient India, kings and emperors thought it a privilege to sit at the feet of a man of learning. Intellectuals and men of knowledge were given the highest honour in society. King Janaka, himself a philosopher, journeyed on foot into the jungle to discourse with Yajnavalkya on high matters of state. In the eighth century, Sankaracharya travelled on foot from Kerala to Kashmir and from Dwarka in the west to Puri in the east. He could not have changed men’s minds and established centres of learning in the far-flung corners of India but for the great esteem and reverence which intellectuals enjoyed.”

“Education has been called the technique of transmitting civilisation. In order that it may transmit civilisation, it has to perform two major functions: it must enlighten the understanding, and it must enrich the character,” he said.

The status of learned men was always the highest in the social hierarchy as the Indic society always valued spiritual knowledge more than power or material wealth from times immemorial.

The inauguration of the New Parliament House has again brought to the limelight the civilisational and cultural heritage of India, which was eclipsed by ideological prejudices. The installation of the ‘danda’, as it is known in Sanskrit, known as ‘sengol’ in Tamil or ‘sceptre’ in English, in the newly built parliament building symbolises the transformation of a nation which was hesitant or reluctant to acknowledge its great cultural heritage. It shall be reminding the parliamentarians of Draupadi’s words in the Vana Parva of the Mahabharata, “rajanam dharmagoptaram dharmo raksati raksitah”, which means “king protects dharma and dharma protects those who protect it.”

As sengol has been referred to as the symbol of sovereign power with the duty to uphold dharma, I started looking up the concept of ‘sovereign power’ in our civilisational texts. In the process, I discovered an anecdote in the Shanti Parva of the Mahabharata.

After all the destructive war in Kurukshetra, Yudhisthira is installed as the king. He visits Bhishma who was injured in the war and was lying on a bed of arrows and receives instructions on the duties of a king, along with several other issues concerning material and spiritual matters. In reply to the query of Yudhisthira as to how did the concept of king/ruler/sovereign originate, Bhisma gives a discourse tracing the origins of sovereign power exercised by the kings.

It is said that in the Kritya Yuga, which is the first among the four yugas (viz. Krita, Treta, Dwapara and Kali), there was no concept of ruler and ruled. People would voluntarily adhere to their respective dharma or duties and be all righteous in their conduct. They would protect each other righteously, however with the passage of time, they found it was becoming difficult due to the deterioration in values in the society. It is said that moh, i.e., desire towards material things entered the hearts of the people. With the onset of desire, their perceptions were clouded and as a consequence, their virtue began to decline. As men’s perceptions were clouded and prone to materialistic pursuits, they became covetous and started eyeing what was not their own.

Having become covetous, men were afflicted with lust for what they did not possess. As a consequence of lust, men became angry and under the influence of anger, they lost sense of what ought to be said or done and what ought not to be said or done. Unrestrained sexual indulgence set in as a natural corollary, men began to utter whatever they chose. All distinctions between virtue and vice, food that is clean and unclean disappeared.

As righteousness had disappeared, the creator—Brahma—was approached to find a way of restoring order in his creation which had moved away from the path of dharma. It is then that Dandaniti, the original treatise of conduct, was composed by Brahma, comprising one lakh chapters which dealt with various subjects in detail. In a manner of saying, it could be called the original exhaustive guide for conducting all human affairs governing both material and spiritual pursuits.

With the passage of time, it is said that the divine Shiva abridged Dandaniti, from one lakh chapters to ten thousand, it was called Vaisalakasha. Indra received it and in the course of time, further abridged it to five thousand lessons and called it Vahudantaka. The treatise was further abridged by Brihaspati consisting of three thousand lessons and it was called Varhaspatya. Subsequently, the preceptor of Yoga viz. Kavi reduced it further into a work of a thousand lessons.

Bhishma narrates that science was abridged having regard to the decline in the life span of humans. He states that “In consequence of the might of his sceptre, the practise of morality and just behaviour became so visible on Earth.” The primary object of power and authority vested in the sovereign was to uphold dharma, as the custodian of power. The power to punish for breach of dharma was vested in the ruler coupled with a duty to uphold dharma. The symbol of the said power to uphold dharma is danda (or sengol or sceptre), which represents the authority of the ruler, recognised and respected by the subjects.

The installation of the sceptre in the parliament has contributed to equally educating the literate and illiterate about the cultural significance of the same. The unknown history of Cholas who ruled a large extent of the sub-continent and Southeast Asia as a major naval power has now emerged into the limelight. It is quite heartening to see that our cultural diversity is being celebrated across the country without any guilt. The framers of our Constitution would have not even conceived that the people would take more than seven decades to get over the Stockholm syndrome and unwarranted guilt in celebrating their own cultural heritage.

The symbolism of placing the danda has, in fact, achieved in creating a great amount of awareness of our civilisational heritage amongst not only our countrymen but also among other nations. Further, it has brought the concept of dharma to the centre stage of Parliamentary democracy.

In Sanatana Dharma, there was no distinction between public and personal life, so far as adhering to one’s dharma was concerned. Simply put, a person was bound to follow his dharma at all times, harmonising any illusion of conflict in practising his dharma. For, people of this land always believed with faith that ‘Dharmo Raksati Raksitaha’.

› Sridhar Potaraju is an advocate in the Supreme Court of India and author of ‘Maxims from Mahabharata’.