The Concept of Dharma in Medieval Hindu Legal Traditions with Thomas Aquinas’ Natural Law Philosophy

Master’s Thesis from the year 2017 in the subject Law - Comparative Legal Systems, Comparative Law, language: English, abstract: This study intends to be a comparative analysis between two legal tradition which grew up in two different civilizations. The concept of Dharma in Medieval Hindu legal philosophy and Thomas Aquinas’ Natural Law theory have been taken into the comparison in this research as two great legal traditions which grew in the same period of middle age. This research has examined the salient features of natural law ascribed by concept of Dharma in medieval Hindu jurisprudence and how natural law was perceived by Aquinas in his legal philosophy which was aptly described in his master work
Summa Theologiae . Apart from mere analyzing facts this study further examines the affinities that existed between concept of Dharma and Aquinas’ theory of Natural Law.