Unlike most of the traditional Human Right Theories which claim that man is born

with certain 'natural', inalienable, universal rights which can be ascribed to him just
because he is a human being, this view maintains that man is born with certain Rinas
(debts) or obligations and qua man, it is his foremost Dharma (duty) that he
discharges these obligations with utmost care and perfection. Unless one does so, one
is not considered worthy of being called a human being. In other words, the very
essence and meaning of human existence consists in fulfillment of certain obligations paying off some basic debts he is born with. To do so he may need certain privileges or
facilities. He must be provided with these facilities. But he can possess these
'rightfully' , only if he uses them for discharging his obligations.
An elaborate theory of rina (debts) was developed in classical Hindu literature. These
rinas were classified into three categories - (a) Deva rina, (b) Pitri rina, and (c) Rishi
rina.
(a) Dev rina is our debt towards powers which control nature and its various
phenomena and which have endowed us with invaluable gifts of air, water, fire, food,
vegetation etc. (b)Pitri rina is our debt to our ancestors, parents and society as a
whole for giving us birth and providing conditions for our survival and development by
maintaining the institution of family. (c) Rishi rina is our indebtedness towards our
teachers, great Seers, sages, discoverers and inventors who have brought our
civilization and culture to this stage and have imparted knowledge and wisdom to the
whole humanity.
These three rinas are paid off by performing five kinds of Yajnas (sacrifices) namely,
(a) Deva Yajna, (b) Pitri Yajna, (c) Rishi Yajna, (d) Bhuta Yajna and (e) Nri Yajna. The
term Yajna is sometimes misunderstood to mean simply performance of certain rites in
which ablation of various kinds are offered to fire. But performance of this ritual is only
a symbolic gesture signifying the duty of every individual to offer a portion of his
possessions towards the whole i.e. the Universe. In true sense of the term, Deva Yajna
consists in showing our gratitude towards natural phenomena by contributing towards
its preservation, maintenance and growth and by abstaining from its unnecessary,
excessive exploitation. For this purpose, an elaborate system of do's and don'ts has
been prescribed in Hindu scriptures which takes care of every minute detail in this

respect, e.g. watering of certain plants every day, having reverence for some rivers and
mountains treating them as divine entities etc.
Pitri Yajna is performed by procreation and by contributing towards the maintenance
and well being of the family. We can express our gratitude towards our ancestors only
by parenting and affectionately nurturing the family lineage passed on to us by them.
Rishi Yajna is performed by imparting knowledge we have acquired from our teachers
to the younger generation and by paying our share in the growth and development of
our heritage and cultural tradition.
Bhuta Yajna consists in caring for the various species of creatures (visible or invisible)
surrounding us in this universe and in having friendly relations with them.
Nri Vajna or Manushya Yajna consists in sharing our possessions with fellow human
beings and one of its most popular form is Atithi-Satkar i.e. hospitality even to a
stranger. A person who happens to visit us without any previous acquaintance or notice
is called an Atithi and every Hindu is supposed to treat him as God and all facilities and
services offered to him are regarded as service to God.
The notion of the three rinas and five yajnas is integrally woven into the scheme
of four-fold purusharthas - the four basic goals / ends of all human endeavors. The
purusharthas recognized by Hindu tradition are :- (1) Artha the material well being
of man obtained through the attainment of wealth and worldly prosperity. (2) Kama
the attainment of pleasures related to the emotional and sensuous aspect of man's
being. (3) Dharma realization of the system of moral norms grounded in the
essence of human nature. (4)Moksha attainment of the transcendental state of
spiritual liberation. It is redemption not only from all sufferings but also from the
limitations of space and time2.
These four purusharthas are hierarchically ordered and Moksha is considered to be the
highest amongst them - the ultimate or supreme end of human existence. But from the
point of view of society and interpersonal relationships of its members, Dharma is
considered to be the central purushartha and is believed to provide the foundation for
building a system of obligations and rights.

Dharma: Etymologically, the term 'dharma' is derived from the root 'dhr' meaning to
uphold, to sustain, to nourish, to support. In this sense, dharma stands for principle of
cosmic order and moral harmony which sustains and supports the universe as one
unified orderly whole. It is the law of being by virtue of which a thing is what it is. It is
expression of the essential nature of each being and to maintain orderliness and
harmony in the universe each being must remain in conformity with its own dharma.
Inanimate objects and non-human creatures naturally follow their own dharma, the law
of their nature. But man as the unique possessor of free will is capable of defying it.
And therefore, in his case 'dharma' not only stands for "essence of his nature" but also
acquires a prescriptive connotation emphasizing its moral and obligatory aspect. In this
sense, dharma is conceived as the most fundamental moral norm grounded on the
essence of human nature, prescribing duties and obligations accordingly, so that justice,
order and righteousness can be maintained in the universe. Thus it is both the principle
of 'Reality' as well as 'Ideality'. It is also the commanding purushartha which is
supposed to regulate the pursuits of the other two purusharthas i.e. of artha and kama.
The Hindu tradition firmly believes that the economic and emotional. aspects of man's
being should necessarily be subordinated to the moral aspect and every human activity
must be under the control of dharma, the system of supreme moral obligations.
Different aspects of dharma are classified into two broad categories namely, (1)
Sadharana Dharma and (2) Svadharma. The latter is further divided into two (a) Varna
dharma and (b) Ashrama dharma. Apart from these, the notions of Apad dharma and
Yuga dharma are also present in the scriptures.
(1) Sadharana Dharma refers to those universal duties which are obligatory on all
human beings irrespective of various differences pertaining to their race, sex, colour,
religion, nationality, culture, profession and even physical and mental capacities. These
are eternal moral obligations of man qua man and their fulfillment alone distinguishes
man from animals. Often referred to as Manav-dharma (human duties) Sadharana
dharma includes a list of virtues such as honesty, love, forgiveness, charity, mercy, nonviolence, compassion, justice, purity of conduct, self-control, benevolence, simplicity,
begetting children and maintenance of dependants. But the essence of Sadharna
dharma is generally stated as "refrain from doing unto others what you will not have
done unto yourself."

(2) Svadharma literally means 'one's' own dharma (duty) which is essentially
correlated with svabhava (one's own specific nature). The inner correlation of svabhava
with svadharma is expressed in terms of the two aspects of svadharma, the social and
the individual, which are reflected respectively in varna-dharma and the ashramdharma. The former deals with the duties assigned according to man's class and
position in society which is determined by his character (guna) and .function (karma);
the latter deals with the duties relevant to different stages of man's life. (a) Varnadharma classifies human beings into four basic classes on the basis of the dominant
trait of their character and psycho-physical make up, and assigns different duties and
functions accordingly. The four classes are: Brahmins, the men of learning and
knowledge; Ksatriyas, the men of power, action and administration; Vaisyas, the men of
trade, commerce, technical ability and skilled craftsmanship; and Sudras, the men of
service and labour. This fourfold division of society bears a striking similarity with Platos
division of society into three classes in Republic.
The class identity in Indian tradition has played a vital role in determining the status of
man in social structure. These classes were initially determined on the basis of qualities,
functions and psychological make-up of man. But due to some vested interests, mainly
of upper classes, and in the absence of any objective mechanism to assign classes,
later on birth became the sole criterion for determining the class of a person. This gave
rise to the ill-famous caste system in India. In a way, caste system can be called a
deformed version of the class-system. But this caste identity plays a very significant
role in political and economic structure of even the present day Indian Society.
(b) Ashrama dharma: While varna-dharma emphasizes the social aspect of human
life, ashrama-dharma concentrates more specifically on the personal aspect of the
individual's development. It represents human life as consisting of four consecutive
stages, each of which is associated with specific ends, duties and rights. The term
'ashrama' comes from the root shrama' which means 'to exert energy or to toil'. The
four ashramas therefore are supposed to embody four gradual stages of life, each of
which involves unique efforts leading towards specific ends and all four of which are
ultimately directed towards the realization of moksha. If the varna can be said to
emphasize nature, the ashramas stress nurture.
The four ashramas are (a) Brahmcharya, the first stage of life, the period in which
body and mind are disciplined and trained under the guidance of learned teachers.

(b) Grihstha, the stage of householder where previous learning is utilized in the pursuit
of artha (economic desires) and kama (passions and emotive goals) and where all the
responsibilities related to the maintenance of the institution of family are to be
discharged. (c) Vanprastha, the stage characterized by gradual development of an
attitude of non-attachment and indifference towards materialistic desires. After fulfilling
all the responsibilities towards the family and other members of the society one
gradually starts withdrawing oneself from active social life, though one is supposed to
be always available for objective advice and guidance in matters of civic and social life.
(d) Sanyasa, the final stage of a man's life is characteristically marked by universal
love and compassion, complete overcoming of ego, strict observance of celibacy, perfect
self-control, disinterested service and a complete renouncing of all worldly possessions.
Thus the ashramas also advocate a functional division. These four functions in
chronological order are preparation, production, service and retirement i.e. the
complete renunciation of the worldly desires. Besides these, the notions of apaddharma and yug-dharma are also present in Hindu tradition. Apad-dharma maintains
that in the times of distress and unusual difficulties one must be allowed to deviate
from the regular course of dharma. Yug-dharma involves the notion of change
according to the requirements of the conditions of a particular age or time period.