Hinduism, Human Rights and the Barbarian Mind
| Author | Trevor Redmond |
| Position | Senior Sophister Law Student, Trinity College, Dublin |
| Pages | 77-97 |
HINDUISM,
HUMAN
RIGHTS
AND
THE
BARBARIAN
MIND
TREVOR
REDMOND*
When
we
are
working,
they
ask
us
not
to
come
near
them.
We
cannot
enter
temples.
We
cannot
use
upper-caste
water
taps.
We
have
to
go
one
kilometer
away
to
get
water.
When
we
ask
for
our
rights
from
the government,
the
municipality officials
threaten
to
fire
us.
So
we
don't
say
anything.
This
is what
happens
to
people
who
demand
their
rights.
1
A
Seer
is he/Who
sees the immutable/In
the
body
of
all
mortals
And,
realising/That
the
same
Being/Equally
exists
everywhere,
2
He
attains
salvation.
Introduction
In an
insightful
article
entitled,
"Is
the
Idea
of
Human
Rights
Ineliminably
Religious?",
Perry
comes
to
the
conclusion
that the
only
intelligible
versions
of
the
conviction
that
human
life
is
sacred
are
religious.
In
doing
so
he
rejects
Dworkin's
argument
that
the
sanctity
of
human
life
can
be
based
on
a
"secular but
deep
philosophical belief'.
3
While
Perry himself
points
out
that
this
is
not
to
claim that
any
religious version
of
the
conviction
is
plausible,
for
the purposes
of
this
article
it
shall
be
presumed
that
human
life
is
sacred
and
that following
from
Perry's
conclusion,
religious
belief
plays
a
role
in
informing
that
conviction.
Given
its
sanctity, it
must
surely
follow
that
human
life
is
deserving
of
protection
and,
from
this,
that
some
form
of
'human
rights'
is
required
Senior
Sophister
Law
Student,
Trinity College, Dublin.
A
Dalit
manual
scavenger,
Ahmedabad,
Gujarat,
quoted
in
an
interview
on
23
July
1998
in
Human
Rights
Watch
Interview
(visited
10
February
2001).
2
Bhagvadgeeta,
ch.
XIII,
verses
27-28,
cited
in
Nanda,
"Hinduism
and Human
Rights",
in
Human
Rights
and
Humanitarian
Law:
The
Quest
for
Universality,
Warner
ed., (Nijhoff,
1997),
at 32.
3
"Is
the Idea
of
Human Rights Ineliminably Religious?"
in
Perry, The
Idea
of
Human
Rights:
Four
Inquiries
(Oxford
University
Press,
1998)
11.
©
Trevor
Redmond
and
Dublin University
Law
Society 2001
Hinduism,
Human
Rights
and
the
Barbarian
Mind
in
order
to
provide
it.
It
may
appear
as
somewhat
strange therefore that
in
two
of
the
best known
articles
on
Hinduism,
Mitra
and
Tharpar
deny
that
the
concept
of
human rights
exists
in
Hindu
India.
4
Perhaps
even stranger
is
the
fact
that,
at
the
same
time, Nanda
feels
able
to
argue
that
"Hinduism
and
the
modem development
of
international
human
rights
are
not
in
conflict;
instead they
reflect similar
values
and
are
aimed
at
promoting
human
dignity".
5
Similarly
Khushalani
is
confident
that
"Hindu civilization
had
a
well-developed
system
which
guaranteed both
civil
and
political
as
well
as
the
economic,
social
and
cultural
rights
of
the
human
being".
6
Arguably
what Mitra
and
Thapar
failed
to
appreciate
is
that, while
all
cultures
seek
to
preserve
the sanctity
of
life
through
some
concept
of
'human
rights',
not
all
cultures share
a
common
understanding
of
what
are
rights
or
indeed,
what
it
is
to be
human.
For
instance,
as
Stackhouse
suggests,
it
is
possible
to
assess
racism
as
a
sin
against God
and
humanity
"which
needs
correction
by
the
transformation
of
the
heart, reconciliation
through
the
church, and
voluntary
associational
action
to
bring
equalization
of
political,
economic,
and
educational
opportunity".
7
But equally,
it
is
possible
to
see
racism
as
a
distorted
form
of
the
inevitable,
natural
hierarchy
of
ethnic groupings
"to
be
corrected
by
the
closer
adherence
of
each
group
to
its
own
inner
being".
8
Similarly,
can
the
systematic
hunger
and
high
death-rate amongst
outcastes
constitute
murder
when
viewed
as
the
results
of
the
inevitable
and moral
laws
of
the
cosmos?
While
universalists
will
criticise
Hinduism
for
violating fundamental
guarantees
of
equality
and
freedom,
the
cultural-relativist
may
point
to
the
Hindu
concept
of
the
soul
and
the
consequent
belief
in
the
essential inequality
of
4
Donnelly,
Universal
Human
Rights
in
Theory
and
Practice
(Cornell
University
Press,
1989),
at
126.
Hindu
law
applies
to
about
450
million
people, about
400 million
of
which
live
in
India
where
they
comprise
80
per
cent
of
the
population. There
are
also minority
Hindu
communities
in
Pakistan, Burma,
Singapore,
Malaysia,
Tanzania, Uganda,
Kenya,
and
elsewhere.
Hindu
law
applies
to
all
persons
who
are
Hindus, irrespective
of
their
nationality
or
domicile.
As
Nanda
notes:
Although
ancient
Hindu
law
does
not
form
the
basis
for
the
modem
law
of
India
as
reflected
in
the
country's
constitution,
legislation,
and
judicial
decisions,
over
80
per
cent
of
India's
population
professes Hinduism
and hence
the
question
of
Hinduism
and
human rights
remains
of
vital
importance. Nanda,
"Hinduism and Human Rights",
loc.
cit.,
at
40.
See
also
Zweigert
and
Kotz, An
Introduction
to
Comparative
Law
(3 d
ed.,
Clarendon Press,
1998),
at 313.
5
Nanda,
"Hinduism
and
Human Rights",
loc.
cit.,
at 41.
"Today
the
people
of
India
claim
and
enjoy full
civil and
political
rights under
the
prevailing
legal
framework
of
rights
in
the
Republic
of
India."
Ibid.,
at
40.
6
Cited
in
Donnelly, op. cit.,
at
126.
7
Stackhouse,
Creeds,
Society
and
Human Rights:
A
Study
in
Three
Cultures
(Eerdmans
Publishing Company,
1984),
at 268.
8
Ibid.
2001]
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