Law & Dharmashastra

Law is the study of the principles, rules, institutions, and practices through which societies establish justice, regulate conduct, resolve disputes, protect rights, and maintain social order. It examines the relationship between law, authority, institutions, individuals, communities, and the state, while considering how legal systems evolve in response to changing social conditions. An Indic approach to Law further explores Dharma, Nyaya, Vyavahara, Rajadharma, Dandaniti, Smriti traditions, and customary practices, asking how Bharatiya traditions understood justice, duty, rights, obligations, dispute resolution, punishment, and the relationship between law and the ethical order of society.

Interrogating Law

1. What exactly are we teaching as “Law” today? Syllabus and analysis of school-level legal/civic education, LLB, LLM and major law curricula

2. Whose theories are we using to understand law? Indian Jurisprudential Theories, Western Jurisprudential Theories

3. Whose jurists and legal thinkers are we reading? Indian Jurists and Legal Thinkers, Western Jurists and Legal Thinkers

4. What are the sources of our legal knowledge? Indian Sources of Legal Knowledge, Western Sources of Legal Knowledge

5. What legal traditions are we studying? Indian Legal Traditions, Western Legal Traditions

6. What legal experiences are we studying? Indian Cases, Indian Dispute-Resolution Traditions, Western Cases, Western Legal Experiences

7. How has law actually been interpreted and applied? Indian Judicial Decisions, Commentarial Traditions, Legal Digests, Customary Law, Institutional Practice

Decolonizing Law

Indian Primary Sources of Dharmashastra

Indian Primary Sources of Dharmashastra

What happens when a civilisation begins asking a deceptively simple question: How should human beings…
September 7, 2026
The Dharmaśāstric Tradition: Sources

The Dharmaśāstric Tradition: Sources

Most of the people think that Dharmashatric tradition is only confined to smritis and most…
September 1, 2026
Law and Society

Law and Society

Beyond the Written Constitution What if the law of a society is larger than the…
August 12, 2026

Dharmashastric Drishti

The Dharmaśāstra Tradition: Part V: The Nibandhas and Digests

The Dharmaśāstra Tradition: Part V: The Nibandhas and Digests

Part V: The Nibandhas and Digests — The Great Compilation of the Dharmaśāstric Tradition  …
August 26, 2026
The Dharmaśāstra Tradition: Part IV: The Commentarial Age

The Dharmaśāstra Tradition: Part IV: The Commentarial Age

Part IV: The Commentarial Age — When Interpreting Dharma Became a Civilizational Intellectual Tradition  …
August 26, 2026
The Dharmaśāstra Tradition: Part III: The Smṛtis — Manu and the Expanding World of Dharmaśāstra

The Dharmaśāstra Tradition: Part III: The Smṛtis — Manu and the Expanding World of Dharmaśāstra

Part III: The Smṛtis — Manu and the Expanding World of Dharmaśāstra   The Dharmasūtras…
August 26, 2026