Re: dharam versus religion
Posted by Manjit_Ss on Wednesday, 3/02/2005 9:40 PM MST

What is the difference between Dharma and Religion! There was no word in Indian culture to express the meaning of the word 'religion' as it is understood in the west. In India the word 'dharam' (in Sanskrit dharma or dharm~h) was used to describe one's creed and to describe the duties, obligations and rituals that go with belonging to a creed. The meaning conveyed by the English word 'religion' is of wider scope than that of creed. When Islam came to India word 'mazhab' was introduced in India. Muslims often referred to Hindu Dharam as Hindu Mazhab.The word 'mazhab' translates into English exactly as religion. So dharma also became translated as 'religion'. All earlier polytheistic dharmas that were practiced in India would qualify as creeds. Hinduism of today is a slightly modified version of those. However, later religions such as Buddhism Jainism and much later Sikhism would qualify as 'religions' in their own right but Hinduism looked at them as Dharma of those people. Use of the word 'dharma' by Hindus to describe these religions had a very profound effect on these religions – first on Buddhism in India now on Sikhism. In fact, during the time when Buddhism disappeared from India, Budh Dharma was called the Dharma of Bodhis (Buddhists). The distinction between these two phrases is mentioned in the next paragraph. (This effectively created a new caste called bodhi, common people among whom merged mostly into the lower caste now known as Dalit, while the upper class Buddhists was absorbed into one of the higher castes of Hindus, and those who did not accept the choices given to the temporarily created Bodhi caste were killed) If one asks an Indian what his dharma is, he (or she) will answer it that he/she is a Hindu, a Muslim, a Christian or a Sikh. In this, he has interpreted the word 'Dharma' in the sense that of word ‘religion’. If you ask him what the 'DHARM of a HINDU’ is, he will most likely describe (his) caste or a cult within the religion and the duties and obligations that go with belonging to that caste or the cult. My Sanskrit teacher in grade eight and nine, a Pundit who was also a Sanskrit scholar and a religious scholar, told me this distinction. (Yes, I must admit that I lived in Hindi speaking area of India for two years covering the period of grades eight and nine. During that period I did aspired to be a great Sanskrit scholar. More about my experience as a great Sanskrit scholar, I shall narrate some other time) Now, if you had asked me what the ‘Dharma of a Sikh’ is, I would have started saying some thing like 'Vand Shakna' (sharing), meditating on Naam (meditating and contemplating on the attributes of the Creator), and always to remember God and to keep Him in mind, especially when about do some thing important. In answer to that question I would not have started to describe that Sikhism was started by Guru Nanak, that there is one Universal God, that our holy book is called Sri Guru Grunth Sahib or that the most famous Sikh gurdwara is Golden Temple and so on. I would have started to describe Sikhism, if you had asked me what Sikh Dharma (religion) is; but not when asked what the 'Dharam of a Sikh’ is. While writing the Indian Constitution, Sikh Dharma was interpreted as the 'Dharma of the Sikhs (‘NOT SIKH RELIGION’ - nor the RELIGION of the Sikh’. By interpreting it like that the Sikhs were described as being a group within Hindu religion – thus a new caste called the Sikhs was created within Hinduism. So with a stroke of the pen, now according to the Indian Constitution, Sikhs have a dharma just as Brahmins have one, Kshatryas have one, the Shudras have one, and the Buddhist of the old had one. By the stroke of pen the issues related to Sikhism have become the internal matters of Hinduism to be dealt within the Hindu religion as it deals with the issues of Brahmins, Shudras and the rest. However the Dharma of the Sikhs had never been mentioned in the Hindu texts; and the Constitution also forgot to describe what the Dharma of the Sikhs is. So one cannot contest any misinterpretation of it in the courts either.

	dharam versus religion... (Jasdev S Rai - 10.Feb.04)
	. . Re: dharam versus religio... (Param S Arora - 10.Feb.04)
	. . Re: dharam versus religio... (Jaspal Singh Sindhar - 12.Feb.04)
	. . Re: dharam versus religio... (Gurufateh Singh - 19.Feb.04)
	. . Re: dharam versus religio... (Jasdev S Rai - 11.Feb.04)
	. . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Karan Deep Sagri - 12.Feb.04)
	. . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Jasdev S Rai - 12.Feb.04)
	. . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Jasbir K Villaschi - 13.Feb.04)
	. . . . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Jasdev S Rai - 13.Feb.04)
	. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Jasbir K Villaschi - 13.Feb.04)
	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Serjinder Singh - 14.Feb.04)
	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Jasdev S Rai - 14.Feb.04)
	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Karan Deep Sagri - 14.Feb.04)
	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Jasdev S Rai - 15.Feb.04)
	. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Karan Deep Sagri - 13.Feb.04)
	. . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Chober Singh Sandhu - 1.Mar.05)
	. . Re: dharam versus religio... (Aneeta - 1.Mar.05)
	. . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Indy S Dhillon - 1.Mar.05)
	. . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Aneeta - 2.Mar.05)
	. . Re: dharam versus religio... (Manjit_Ss - 2.Mar.05)
	. . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Chober Singh Sandhu - 3.Mar.05)
	. . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Indy S Dhillon - 3.Mar.05)
	. . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Aneeta - 4.Mar.05)
	. . . . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Indy S Dhillon - 4.Mar.05)
	. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Aneeta - 5.Mar.05)
	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Indy S Dhillon - 5.Mar.05)
	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Aneeta - 7.Mar.05)
	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Jasdev S Rai - 11.Mar.05)
	. . Re: dharam versus religio... (Amarpalsinghxx - 6.Mar.05)

[Next Main Document]

by Date (Threaded) Expanded Collapsed by Date (Flat) by Category by Author