Dharma

This article is about the concept found in Indian religions. For other uses, see Dharma (disambiguation).

"法" redirects here. For the concept found in Chinese philosophy, see Fa (philosophy).

Not to be confused with Dharna.

Dharma (/ˈdɑːrmə/;^[7] Sanskrit: धर्म, romanized: dharma, pronounced [dʱɐrmɐ] (listen); Pali: dhamma) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others.^[8] Although there is no direct single-word translation for dharma in European languages,^[9] it is commonly translated as "righteousness", "merit" or "religious and moral duties" governing individual conduct.^[10][11]

Dharma

Rituals and rites of passage^[1]

Yoga, personal behaviour^[2]

Virtues such as ahimsa (non-violence)^[3]

Law and justice^[4]

Sannyasa and stages of life^[5]

Duties, such as learning from teachers^[6]

In Hinduism, dharma is one of the four components of the Puruṣārtha, the aims of life, and signifies behaviours that are considered to be in accord with Ṛta, the order that makes life and universe possible.^{[12][note 1]} It includes duties, rights, laws, conduct, virtues and "right way of living".^[13] It had a transtemporal validity.^[14]

In Buddhism, dharma means "cosmic law and order",^[12][15] as expressed by the teachings of the Buddha.^[12][15] In Buddhist philosophy, dhamma/dharma is also the term for "phenomena".^{[16][note 2]}

Dharma in Jainism refers to the teachings of Tirthankara (Jina)^[12] and the body of doctrine pertaining to the purification and moral transformation of human beings.

In Sikhism, dharma means the path of righteousness and proper religious practice and one's own moral duties toward God.^[17]

The concept of dharma was already in use in the historical Vedic religion, and its meaning and conceptual scope have evolved over several millennia.^[18] The ancient Tamil moral text Tirukkuṟaḷ, despite being a collection of aphoristic teachings on dharma (aram), artha (porul), and kama (inpam),^{[19]: 453 [20]: 82} is completely and exclusively based on aṟam, the Tamil term for dharma.^[21]: 55 As with the other components of the Puruṣārtha, the concept of dharma is pan-Indian. The antonym of dharma is adharma.

Etymology

 

The Prakrit word "dha-ṃ-ma"/𑀥𑀁𑀫 (Sanskrit: Dharma धर्म) in the Brahmi script, as inscribed by Emperor Ashoka in his Edicts of Ashoka (3rd century BCE).

The word dharma has roots in the Sanskrit dhr-, which means to hold or to support, and is related to Latin firmus (firm, stable).^[22] From this, it takes the meaning of "what is established or firm", and hence "law". It is derived from an older Vedic Sanskrit n-stem dharman-, with a literal meaning of "bearer, supporter", in a religious sense conceived as an aspect of Rta.^[23]

In the Rigveda, the word appears as an n-stem, dhárman-, with a range of meanings encompassing "something established or firm" (in the literal sense of prods or poles). Figuratively, it means "sustainer" and "supporter" (of deities). It is semantically similar to the Greek themis ("fixed decree, statute, law").^[24]

In Classical Sanskrit, and in the Vedic Sanskrit of the Atharvaveda, the stem is thematic: dhárma- (Devanagari: धर्म). In Prakrit and Pali, it is rendered dhamma. In some contemporary Indian languages and dialects it alternatively occurs as dharm.

In the 3rd century BCE the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka translated dharma into Greek and Aramaic and he used the Greek word eusebeia (εὐσέβεια, piety, spiritual maturity, or godliness) in the Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription and the Kandahar Greek Edicts.^[25] In the Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription he used the Aramaic word קשיטא (qšyṭ’; truth, rectitude).^[26]

Definition

Dharma is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion.^[27] It has multiple meanings in Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism.^[8] It is difficult to provide a single concise definition for dharma, as the word has a long and varied history and straddles a complex set of meanings and interpretations.^[28] There is no equivalent single-word synonym for dharma in western languages.^[9]

There have been numerous, conflicting attempts to translate ancient Sanskrit literature with the word dharma into German, English and French. The concept, claims Paul Horsch,^[29] has caused exceptional difficulties for modern commentators and translators. For example, while Grassmann's^[30] translation of Rig-Veda identifies seven different meanings of dharma, Karl Friedrich Geldner in his translation of the Rig-Veda employs 20 different translations for dharma, including meanings such as "law", "order", "duty", "custom", "quality", and "model", among others.^[29] However, the word dharma has become a widely accepted loanword in English, and is included in all modern unabridged English dictionaries.

The root of the word dharma is "dhr̥", which means "to support, hold, or bear". It is the thing that regulates the course of change by not participating in change, but that principle which remains constant.^[31] Monier-Williams, the widely cited resource for definitions and explanation of Sanskrit words and concepts of Hinduism, offers^[32] numerous definitions of the word dharma, such as that which is established or firm, steadfast decree, statute, law, practice, custom, duty, right, justice, virtue, morality, ethics, religion, religious merit, good works, nature, character, quality, property. Yet, each of these definitions is incomplete, while the combination of these translations does not convey the total sense of the word. In common parlance, dharma means "right way of living" and "path of rightness".^[31] Dharma also has connotations of order, and when combined with the word sanatana, it can also be described as eternal truth.^[33]

The meaning of the word dharma depends on the context, and its meaning has evolved as ideas of Hinduism have developed through history. In the earliest texts and ancient myths of Hinduism, dharma meant cosmic law, the rules that created the universe from chaos, as well as rituals; in later Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas and the Epics, the meaning became refined, richer, and more complex, and the word was applied to diverse contexts.^[18] In certain contexts, dharma designates human behaviours considered necessary for order of things in the universe, principles that prevent chaos, behaviours and action necessary to all life in nature, society, family as well as at the individual level.^{[12][18][34][note 1]} Dharma encompasses ideas such as duty, rights, character, vocation, religion, customs and all behaviour considered appropriate, correct or morally upright.^[35] For further context, the word varnasramdharma is often used in its place, defined as dharma specifically related to the stage of life one is in.^[36]

The antonym of dharma is adharma (Sanskrit: अधर्म),^[37] meaning that which is "not dharma". As with dharma, the word adharma includes and implies many ideas; in common parlance, adharma means that which is against nature, immoral, unethical, wrong or unlawful.^[38]

In Buddhism, dharma incorporates the teachings and doctrines of the founder of Buddhism, the Buddha.

History

According to Pandurang Vaman Kane, author of the authoritative book History of Dharmaśāstra, the word dharma appears at least fifty-six times in the hymns of the Rigveda, as an adjective or noun. According to Paul Horsch,^[29] the word dharma has its origin in Vedic Hinduism. The hymns of the Rig Veda claim Brahman created the universe from chaos, they hold (dhar-) the earth and sun and stars apart, they support (dhar-) the sky away and distinct from earth, and they stabilise (dhar-) the quaking mountains and plains.^[29][39]

The gods, mainly Indra, then deliver and hold order from disorder, harmony from chaos, stability from instability – actions recited in the Veda with the root of word dharma.^[18] In hymns composed after the mythological verses, the word dharma takes expanded meaning as a cosmic principle and appears in verses independent of gods. It evolves into a concept, claims Paul Horsch,^[29] that has a dynamic functional sense in Atharvaveda for example, where it becomes the cosmic law that links cause and effect through a subject. Dharma, in these ancient texts, also takes a ritual meaning. The ritual is connected to the cosmic, and "dharmani" is equated to ceremonial devotion to the principles that gods used to create order from disorder, the world from chaos.^[40]

Past the ritual and cosmic sense of dharma that link the current world to mythical universe, the concept extends to an ethical-social sense that links human beings to each other and to other life forms. It is here that dharma as a concept of law emerges in Hinduism.^[41][42]

Dharma and related words are found in the oldest Vedic literature of Hinduism, in later Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, and the Epics; the word dharma also plays a central role in the literature of other Indian religions founded later, such as Buddhism and Jainism.^[18] According to Brereton,^[43] Dharman occurs 63 times in Rig-veda; in addition, words related to Dharman also appear in Rig-veda, for example once as dharmakrt, 6 times as satyadharman, and once as dharmavant, 4 times as dharman and twice as dhariman.^{[citation needed]}

Indo-European parallels for "dharma" are known, but the only Iranian equivalent is Old Persian darmān "remedy", the meaning of which is rather removed from Indo-Aryan dhárman, suggesting that the word "dharma" did not have a major role in the Indo-Iranian period, and was principally developed more recently under the Vedic tradition.^[43]

However, it is thought that the Daena of Zoroastrianism, also meaning the "eternal Law" or "religion", is related to Sanskrit "dharma".^[44]

Ideas in parts overlapping to Dharma are found in other ancient cultures: such as Chinese Tao, Egyptian Maat, Sumerian Me.^[31]

Eusebeia and dharma

For practising Buddhists, references to "dharma" (dhamma in Pali) particularly as "the dharma", generally means the teachings of the Buddha, commonly known throughout the East as Buddhadharma. It includes especially the discourses on the fundamental principles (such as the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path), as opposed to the parables and to the poems. The Buddha's teachings explain that in order to end suffering, dharma, or the right thoughts, understanding, actions and livelihood, should be cultivated.^[45]

The status of dharma is regarded variably by different Buddhist traditions. Some regard it as an ultimate truth, or as the fount of all things which lie beyond the "three realms" (Sanskrit: tridhatu) and the "wheel of becoming" (Sanskrit: bhavachakra). Others, who regard the Buddha as simply an enlightened human being, see the dharma as the essence of the "84,000 different aspects of the teaching" (Tibetan: chos-sgo brgyad-khri bzhi strong) that the Buddha gave to various types of people, based upon their individual propensities and capabilities.

Dharma refers not only to the sayings of the Buddha, but also to the later traditions of interpretation and addition that the various schools of Buddhism have developed to help explain and to expand upon the Buddha's teachings. For others still, they see the dharma as referring to the "truth", or the ultimate reality of "the way that things really are" (Tibetan: Chö).

The dharma is one of the Three Jewels of Buddhism in which practitioners of Buddhism seek refuge, or that upon which one relies for his or her lasting happiness. The Three Jewels of Buddhism are the Buddha, meaning the mind's perfection of enlightenment, the dharma, meaning the teachings and the methods of the Buddha, and the Sangha, meaning the community of practitioners who provide one another guidance and support.

Chan Buddhism

Dharma is employed in Chan Buddhism in a specific context in relation to transmission of authentic doctrine, understanding and bodhi; recognised in dharma transmission.

Theravada Buddhism

In Theravada Buddhism obtaining ultimate realisation of the dhamma is achieved in three phases; learning, practising and realising.^[46]

In Pali

1. Pariyatti – the learning of the theory of dharma as contained within the suttas of the Pali canon
2. Patipatti – putting the theory into practice and
3. Pativedha – when one penetrates the dharma or through experience realises the truth of it.^[46]

Jainism

Main article: Dharma (Jainism)

The word dharma in Jainism is found in all its key texts. It has a contextual meaning and refers to a number of ideas. In the broadest sense, it means the teachings of the Jinas,^[12] or teachings of any competing spiritual school,^[47] a supreme path,^[48] socio-religious duty,^[49] and that which is the highest mangala (holy).^[50]

The Tattvartha Sutra, a major Jain text, mentions daśa dharma (lit. 'ten dharmas') with referring to ten righteous virtues: forbearance, modesty, straightforwardness, purity, truthfulness, self-restraint, austerity, renunciation, non-attachment, and celibacy.^[51] Acārya Amṛtacandra, author of the Jain text, Puruṣārthasiddhyupāya writes:^[52]

A right believer should constantly meditate on virtues of dharma, like supreme modesty, in order to protect the Self from all contrary dispositions. He should also cover up the shortcomings of others.

— Puruṣārthasiddhyupāya (27)

Dharmāstikāya

Further information: Dravya

The term dharmāstikāya (Sanskrit: धर्मास्तिकाय) also has a specific ontological and soteriological meaning in Jainism, as a part of its theory of six dravya (substance or a reality). In the Jain tradition, existence consists of jīva (soul, ātman) and ajīva (non-soul, anātman), the latter consisting of five categories: inert non-sentient atomic matter (pudgalāstikāya), space (ākāśa), time (kāla), principle of motion (dharmāstikāya), and principle of rest (adharmāstikāya).^[53][54] The use of the term dharmāstikāya to mean motion and to refer to an ontological sub-category is peculiar to Jainism, and not found in the metaphysics of Buddhism and various schools of Hinduism.^[54]

Sikhism

Main article: Sikhism

 

Sikhism

For Sikhs, the word dharam (Punjabi: ਧਰਮ, romanized: dharam) means the path of righteousness and proper religious practice.^[17] Guru Granth Sahib connotes dharma as duty and moral values.^[55] The 3HO movement in Western culture, which has incorporated certain Sikh beliefs, defines Sikh Dharma broadly as all that constitutes religion, moral duty and way of life.^[56]

In South Indian literature

Several works of the Sangam and post-Sangam period, many of which are of Hindu or Jain origin, emphasizes on dharma. Most of these texts are based on aṟam, the Tamil term for dharma. The ancient Tamil moral text of the Tirukkuṟaḷ or Kural, a text probably of Jain or Hindu origin,^{[57][58][59][60][61]} despite being a collection of aphoristic teachings on dharma (aram), artha (porul), and kama (inpam),^{[19][20]: 82} is completely and exclusively based on aṟam.^[21] The Naladiyar, a Jain text of the post-Sangam period, follows a similar pattern as that of the Kural in emphasizing aṟam or dharma.^[61]: 70

Dharma in symbols

 

The wheel in the centre of India's flag symbolises dharma.

The importance of dharma to Indian civilization is illustrated by India's decision in 1947 to include the Ashoka Chakra, a depiction of the dharmachakra (the "wheel of dharma"), as the central motif on its flag.^[62]

See also

• Ayyavazhi
• Dhammapada
• Karma
• List of Hindu empires and dynasties

Notes

1. From the Oxford Dictionary of World Religions: "In Hinduism, dharma is a fundamental concept, referring to the order and custom which make life and a universe possible, and thus to the behaviours appropriate to the maintenance of that order."^[12]
2. David Kalupahana: "The old Indian term dharma was retained by the Buddha to refer to phenomena or things. However, he was always careful to define this dharma as "dependently arisen phenomena" (paticca-samuppanna-dhamma) ... In order to distinguish this notion of dhamma from the Indian conception where the term dharma meant reality (atman), in an ontological sense, the Buddha utilised the conception of result or consequence or fruit (attha, Sk. artha) to bring out the pragmatic meaning of dhamma."^[16]

References

Citations

1. Gavin Flood (1994), Hinduism, in Jean Holm, John Bowker (Editors) – Rites of Passages, ISBN 1-85567-102-6, Chapter 3; Quote – "Rites of passage are dharma in action."; "Rites of passage, a category of rituals,..."
2. see:
   • David Frawley (2009), Yoga and Ayurveda: Self-Healing and Self-Realization, ISBN 978-0-9149-5581-8; Quote – "Yoga is a dharmic approach to the spiritual life...";
   • Mark Harvey (1986), The Secular as Sacred?, Modern Asian Studies, 20(2), pp. 321–331.
3. see below:
   • J. A. B. van Buitenen (1957), "Dharma and Moksa", Philosophy East and West, 7(1/2), pp. 33–40;
   • James Fitzgerald (2004), "Dharma and its Translation in the Mahābhārata", Journal of Indian philosophy, 32(5), pp. 671–685; Quote – "virtues enter the general topic of dharma as 'common, or general, dharma', ..."
4. Bernard S. Jackson (1975), "From dharma to law", The American Journal of Comparative Law, Vol. 23, No. 3 (Summer, 1975), pp. 490–512.
5. Harold Coward (2004), "Hindu bioethics for the twenty-first century", JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 291(22), pp. 2759–2760; Quote – "Hindu stages of life approach (ashrama dharma)..."
6. see:
   • Austin Creel (1975), "The Reexamination of Dharma in Hindu Ethics", Philosophy East and West, 25(2), pp. 161–173; Quote – "Dharma pointed to duty, and specified duties..";
   • Gisela Trommsdorff (2012), Development of "agentic" regulation in cultural context: the role of self and world views, Child Development Perspectives, 6(1), pp. 19–26.; Quote – "Neglect of one's duties (dharma – sacred duties toward oneself, the family, the community, and humanity) is seen as an indicator of immaturity."
7. Wells, John C. (2008), Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.), Longman, ISBN 978-1-4058-8118-0
8. "Dharma". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2016-08-18.
9. See:
   • Ludo Rocher (2003), The Dharmasastra, Chapter 4, in Gavin Flood (Editor), The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism, ISBN 978-0-631-21535-6.
   • Alban G. Widgery, "The Principles of Hindu Ethics", International Journal of Ethics, Vol. 40, No. 2 (Jan. 1930), pp. 232–245.
10. Grimes 1996, p. 112.
11. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. (9 April 2019) "Dharma". Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed 14 September 2021.
12. "Dharma", The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions.
13. see: *"Dharma", The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Ed. (2013), Columbia University Press, Gale, ISBN 978-0-7876-5015-5; *Steven Rosen (2006), Essential Hinduism, Praeger, ISBN 0-275-99006-0, Chapter 3.
14. Kumar, Shailendra; Choudhury, Sanghamitra (2021-01-01). Meissner, Richard (ed.). "Ancient Vedic Literature and Human Rights: Resonances and Dissonances". Cogent Social Sciences. 7 (1): 1858562. doi:10.1080/23311886.2020.1858562. ISSN 2331-1886.
15. "dhamma", The New Concise Pali English Dictionary.
16. David Kalupahana. The Philosophy of the Middle Way. SUNY Press, 1986, pp. 15–16.
17. Rinehart, Robin (2014), in Pashaura Singh, Louis E. Fenech (Editors), The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies, ISBN 978-0-19-969930-8, Oxford University Press, pp. 138–139.
18. see:
    • English translated version by Jarrod Whitaker (2004): Horsch, Paul, "From Creation Myth to World Law: the Early History of Dharma", Journal of Indian Philosophy, December 2004, Volume 32, Issue 5–6, pp. 423–448; Original peer reviewed publication in German: Horsch, Paul, "Vom Schoepfungsmythos zum Weltgesetz", in Asiatische Studien: Zeitschrift der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Asiankunde, Volume 21 (Francke: 1967), pp. 31–61;
    • English translated version by Donald R. Davis (2006): Paul Hacker, "Dharma in Hinduism", Journal of Indian Philosophy, Volume 34, Issue 5, pp. 479–496; Original peer reviewed publication in German: Paul Hacker, "Dharma im Hinduismus" in Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft und Religionswissenschaft 49 (1965): pp. 93–106.
19. Blackburn, Stuart (April 2000). "Corruption and Redemption: The Legend of Valluvar and Tamil Literary History". Modern Asian Studies. Cambridge University Press. 34 (2): 453. doi:10.1017/S0026749X00003632. S2CID 144101632.
20. N. Sanjeevi (2006). First All India Tirukkural Seminar Papers (2nd ed.). Chennai: University of Madras.
21. N. Velusamy and Moses Michael Faraday (Eds.) (2017). Why Should Thirukkural Be Declared the National Book of India? (in Tamil and English) (First ed.). Chennai: Unique Media Integrators. p. 55. ISBN 978-93-85471-70-4.
22. Chambers Dictionary of Etymology, Barnhart, R. K., editor (1998).
23. Day 1982, pp. 42–45.
24. Brereton, Joel P. (December 2004). "Dhárman In The Rgveda". Journal of Indian Philosophy. 32 (5–6): 449–489. doi:10.1007/s10781-004-8631-8. ISSN 0022-1791. S2CID 170807380.
25. "How did the 'Ramayana' and 'Mahabharata' come to be (and what has 'dharma' got to do with it)?".
26. Hiltebeitel, Alf (2011). Dharma: Its Early History in Law, Religion, and Narrative. Oxford University Press, USA. pp. 36–37. ISBN 978-0-19-539423-8.
27. Dhand, Arti (17 December 2002). "The Dharma of Ethics, the Ethics of Dharma: Quizzing the Ideals of Hinduism". Journal of Religious Ethics. 30 (3): 351. doi:10.1111/1467-9795.00113. ISSN 1467-9795.
28. J. A. B. Van Buitenen, "Dharma and Moksa", Philosophy East and West, Volume 7, Number 1/2 (April–July 1957), p. 36.
29. Horsch, Paul, "From Creation Myth to World Law: the Early History of Dharma", Journal of Indian Philosophy, December 2004, Volume 32, Issue 5-6, pp. 423–448.
30. Hermann Grassmann, Worterbuch zum Rig-veda (German Edition), Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-81-208-1636-7
31. Steven Rosen (2006), Essential Hinduism, Praeger, ISBN 0-275-99006-0, pp. 34–45.
32. see:
    • "Dharma" Monier Monier-Williams, Monier Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (2008 revision), pp. 543–544;
    • Carl Cappeller (1999), Monier-Williams: A Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Etymological and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European Languages, Asian Educational Services, ISBN 978-81-206-0369-1, pp. 510–512.
33. Jacobs, Stephen (2010). Hinduism Today. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 57. ISBN 9780826440273.
34. see:
    • "...the order and custom which make life and a universe possible, and thus to the behaviours appropriate to the maintenance of that order". citation in The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
    • Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, 2007.
35. see:
    • Albrecht Wezler, "Dharma in the Veda and the Dharmaśāstras", Journal of Indian Philosophy, December 2004, Volume 32, Issue 5–6, pp. 629–654
    • Johannes Heesterman (1978). "Veda and Dharma", in W. D. O'Flaherty (Ed.), The Concept of Duty in South Asia, New Delhi: Vikas, ISBN 978-0-7286-0032-4, pp. 80–95
    • K. L. Seshagiri Rao (1997), "Practitioners of Hindu Law: Ancient and Modern", Fordham Law Review, Volume 66, pp. 1185–1199.
36. Jacobs, Stephen (2010). Hinduism Today. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 58. ISBN 9780826440273.
37. see
    • अधर्मा "adharma", Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Germany (2011)
    • adharma Monier Williams Sanskrit Dictionary, University of Koeln, Germany (2009).
38. see:
    • Gavin Flood (1998), "Making moral decisions", in Paul Bowen (Editor), Themes and issues in Hinduism, ISBN 978-0-304-33851-1, Chapter 2, pp. 30–54 and 151–152;
    • Coward, H. (2004), "Hindu bioethics for the twenty-first century", JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 291(22), pp. 2759–2760;
    • J. A. B. Van Buitenen, "Dharma and Moksa", Philosophy East and West, Volume 7, Number 1/2 (Apr. – Jul., 1957), p. 37.
39. RgVeda 6.70.1, 8.41.10, 10.44.8, for secondary source see Karl Friedrich Geldner, Der Rigveda in Auswahl (2 vols.), Stuttgart; and Harvard Oriental Series, 33–36, Bd. 1–3: 1951.
40. Paul Horsch, "From Creation Myth to World Law: the Early History of Dharma", Journal of Indian Philosophy, December 2004, Volume 32, Issue 5-6, pp. 430–431.
41. P. Thieme, Gedichte aus dem Rig-Veda, Reclam Universal-Bibliothek Nr. 8930, p. 52.
42. Paul Horsch, "From Creation Myth to World Law: the Early History of Dharma", Journal of Indian Philosophy, December 2004, Volume 32, Issue 5-6, pp. 430–432.
43. Joel Brereton (2004), "Dharman in the RgVeda", Journal of Indian Philosophy, Vol. 32, pp. 449–489. "There are Indo-European parallels to dhárman (cf. Wennerberg 1981: 95f.), but the only Iranian equivalent is Old Persian darmān, 'remedy', which has little bearing on Indo-Aryan dhárman. There is thus no evidence that IIr. *dharman was a significant culture word during the Indo-Iranian period." (p. 449) "The origin of the concept of dharman rests in its formation. It is a Vedic, rather than an Indo-Iranian word, and a more recent coinage than many other key religious terms of the Vedic tradition. Its meaning derives directly from dhr 'support, uphold, give foundation to' and therefore 'foundation' is a reasonable gloss in most of its attestations." (p. 485)
44. Morreall, John; Sonn, Tamara (2011). The Religion Toolkit: A Complete Guide to Religious Studies. John Wiley & Sons. p. 324. ISBN 978-1-4443-4371-7.
45. Jean Brown, Hannah (2019). Key Tenets of Classical Buddhist Dharma. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. p. 477.
46. What is the Triple Gem Dhamma: Good Dhamma is of three sorts. Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo (1994), p 33.
47. Cort, John E. (2001). Jains in the World: Religious Values and Ideology in India. Oxford University Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-0-19-803037-9.
48. Peter B. Clarke; Peter Beyer (2009). The World's Religions: Continuities and Transformations. Taylor & Francis. p. 325. ISBN 978-1-135-21100-4.
49. Brekke, Torkel (2002). Makers of Modern Indian Religion in the Late Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-19-925236-7.
50. Cort, John E. (2001). Jains in the World: Religious Values and Ideology in India. Oxford University Press. pp. 192–194. ISBN 978-0-19-803037-9.
51. Jain 2011, p. 128.
52. Jain 2012, p. 22.
53. Cort, John E. (1998). Open Boundaries: Jain Communities and Cultures in Indian History. State University of New York Press. pp. 10–11. ISBN 978-0-7914-3786-5.
54. Paul Dundas (2003). The Jains (2 ed.). Routledge. pp. 93–95. ISBN 978-0-415-26605-5.
55. W. Owen Cole (2014), in Pashaura Singh, Louis E. Fenech (Editors), The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies, ISBN 978-0-19-969930-8, Oxford University Press, pp. 254.
56. Verne Dusenbery (2014), in Pashaura Singh and Louis E. Fenech (Editors), The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies, ISBN 978-0-19-969930-8, Oxford University Press, pp. 560–568.
57. Kamil Zvelebil (1973). The Smile of Murugan: On Tamil Literature of South India. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 156–171. ISBN 90-04-03591-5. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
58. Mohan Lal (1992). Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Sasay to Zorgot. Sahitya Akademi. pp. 4333–4334, 4341–4342. ISBN 978-81-260-1221-3.
59. Kaushik Roy (2012). Hinduism and the Ethics of Warfare in South Asia: From Antiquity to the Present. Cambridge University Press. pp. 144–154. ISBN 978-1-107-01736-8.
60. Swamiji Iraianban (1997). Ambrosia of Thirukkural. Abhinav Publications. p. 13. ISBN 978-81-7017-346-5.
61. M. S. Purnalingam Pillai (2015). Tamil Literature. Chennai: International Institute of Tamil Studies. p. 75.
62. Narula, S. (2006), International Journal of Constitutional Law, 4(4), pp. 741–751.

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• Sanatana Dharma: an advanced text book of Hindu religion and Ethics. Central Hindu College, Benaras. 1904.
• Dasgupta, Surendranath (1955) [1949]. A History of Indian Philosophy: Indian Pluralism. Vol. IV. Cambridge University Press. pp. 2–11.
• Grimes, John A. (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. State University of New York Press. ISBN 0791430677.
• Day, Terence P. (1982), The Conception of Punishment in Early Indian Literature, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, ISBN 978-0-919812-15-4
• Murthy, K. Krishna. "Dharma – Its Etymology." The Tibet Journal, Vol. XXI, No. 1, Spring 1966, pp. 84–87.
• Olivelle, Patrick (2009). Dharma: Studies in Its Semantic, Cultural and Religious History. Delhi: MLBD. ISBN 978-81-208-3338-8.
• Conlon, Frank F. (1994). "Hindu revival and Indian womanhood: The image and status of women in the writings of Vishnubawa Brahamachari". South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies. 17 (2): 43–61. doi:10.1080/00856409408723205.
• Kumar, Shailendra; Choudhury, Sanghamitra (2020). "Ancient Vedic Literature and Human Rights: Resonances and Dissonances". Cogent Social Sciences. 7 (1). doi:10.1080/23311886.2020.1858562. S2CID 234164343.
• Fritzman, J.M. (2015). "The Bhagavadgītā, Sen, and Anderson". International Journal of the Philosophical Traditions of the East. 25 (4): 319–338. doi:10.1080/09552367.2015.1102693. S2CID 146705129.
• Jain, Vijay K. (2012), Acharya Amritchandra's Purushartha Siddhyupaya, Vikalp Printers, ISBN 978-81-903639-4-5
• Jain, Vijay K. (2011), Acharya Umasvami's Tattvārthsūtra, Vikalp Printers, ISBN 978-81-903639-2-1

External links

 

Wikiquote has quotations related to Dharma.

• Buddhism A-Z: "D" Entries
• Rajiv Malhotra, Dharma Is Not The Same As Religion (huffingtonpost.com)