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Hinduism and international humanitarian law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 April 2010

Manoj Kumar Sinha
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Abstract

This article examines the relationship between Hinduism and war and the extent to which the fundamental concepts of humanitarian law are recognized in Hinduism. After reviewing the sources of Hinduism, it considers the permissibility and types of war in ancient India, explores the rules of warfare and investigates whether war was a matter of course or regarded as a ruler's last choice. It then sets out the humanitarian principles that already applied at that time. Finally, it considers how far the concepts of Hinduism have helped in the development of international humanitarian law.

Type
Religion
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 87 , Issue 858: Religion , June 2005 , pp. 285 - 294
Copyright
Copyright © International Committee of the Red Cross 2005

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References

1 The Bhagavad Gita, quotation at <http://wrc.lingnet.org/hindueth.htm> (last visited 4 February 2005).

2 The humanitarian principles are largely articulated in The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 and the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their two Additional Protocols. For the texts see Handbook of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, ICRC, Geneva, 1994Google Scholar.

3 Sastry, K. R. R., “Hinduism and international law”, Recueil des Cours, 1966 (I), Vol. 117, pp. 507–614Google Scholar.

4 Ibid.

5 The Vedas, philosophical teachings written by ancient inhabitants of India, serve as the foundational texts of Hinduism.

6 The word Desa Dharma combines two words of Sanskrit, Desa, which means land, and Dharma, which means duty.

7 Chacko, C. J., “India's contribution to the field of international law concepts”, Recueil des Cours, 1958 (I), Vol. 93, pp. 121–221Google Scholar.

8 See generally, Penna, Lakshmikanth, “Traditional Asian approaches: An Indian view” Australian Yearbook of International Law, 1985, Vol. 9, pp. 168–206Google Scholar.

9 Ibid., pp. 176–181.

10 Ibid.

11 Subedi, Surya P., “The concept in Hinduism of just war”, Journal of Peace and Conflict Studies, 2003, Vol. 8, pp. 339–361Google Scholar.

12 Chacko, op. cit. (note 7), p. 124.

13 See in general Penna, op. cit. (note 8), pp.168–206.

14 The support for the principle of sarva dharma sambhava can be found particularly in the words of Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita: “Whosoever desires to worship whatever deity (using whatever name, form, and method) with faith, I make their faith steady in that very deity” Sarva Dharma Sambhava and Religious Freedoms, available at <http://www.globalengage.Org/issues/2002/ll/hinduism-2.htm> (last visited 6 February 2005).

15 Kane, Pandurang Varman, History of Dharmasastra, Poona, 1973, Vol. 3, p. 56Google Scholar.

16 Basham, A. L., The Wonder that was India, Grove Press, New York, 1954Google Scholar; Spear, Percival, A History of India, Penguin, London, 1956Google Scholar; Thapar, Romilla, A History of India, Penguin, London, 1966Google Scholar.

17 Sastry, op. cit. (note 3), pp. 566–70.

18 Ibid., pp. 507–10.

19 Ibid., p. 568.

20 Chacko, op. cit. (note 7), pp. 122–124.

21 V. Nagarajan, “Manusmriti as Socio-political Constitution”, available at <http://www.geocities.com/vnagarajana402/manusmrtil.htm> (last visited 2 March 2005).

22 Ibid.

23 Ibid.

24 Alexandrowich, C. H., “Kautilyan principles and the law of nations”, British Yearbook of International Law, 1965–66, Vol. 41, pp. 301–320Google Scholar.

25 Thapar, Romila, The Mauryas Revisited, K. P. Bagchi Company, Calcutta, 1987Google Scholar.

26 Ibid.

27 Draper, Gerald, “The contribution of the Emperor Asoka Maurya to the development of the humanitarian ideal in warfare” International Review of the Red Cross, No. 305, 1995, pp. 192–206CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Thapar, Romila, Asoka and the Decline of the Maurya, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1997Google Scholar.

28 Roger Boesche, Kautilya's Arthasastra on War and Diplomacy in Ancient India, available at <http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/journal-of-military-history> (last visited 1 March 2005).

29 Thapar, op. cit. (note 27).

30 Edicts available at <http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/ashoka.html> (last visited 17 February 2005).

31 Ibid.

32 Ibid.

33 Sastry, op. cit. (note 3), p. 530.

34 Ibid., p. 530.

35 Ibid., p. 132.

36 Chacko, op. cit. (note 7), p. 138.

37 Boesche, op. cit. (note 28)

38 V. Nagarajan, op. cit. (note 21).

39 Ibid.

40 Ibid.

41 Handbook, op. cit. (note 2), p. 223.

42 Ibid., p. 224.

43 Penna, op. cit. (note 8), pp. 180–191.

44 Ibid.

45 Ibid.

46 Chacko, op. cit. (note 7), pp. 126–128.

47 Penna, op. cit. (note 8), pp. 191–192.

48 Ibid.

49 Ibid.

50 Boesche, op. cit. (note 28).

51 Alexandrowich, op. cit. (note 24), pp. 301–320.

52 The word Aryans is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘arya’ which means noble. It is applied to foreigners who entered India through the north-west sometime between 1,500 and 1,200 BC <http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/2104/aryans.html> (last visited 5 March 2005).

53 Boesche, op. cit. (note 28).

54 Ibid.

55 Ibid.

56 Ibid.

57 Mani, V. S., “International humanitarian law: An Indo-Asian perspective”, International Review of the Red Cross, No. 841, 2001, pp. 59–76Google Scholar.