PYQ Vault · Paper 1 · Indian Political Thought
Dharmashastra presents a duty-centric worldview for individuals and communities. Comment.
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Flow snapshot — how the answer moves
Intro routes
re dharma from root dhr, "to hold" → society held together by duties, not rights R2 duty-centric worldview → role + obligation as the axis → harmony through svadharma
Body flow
svadharma: varna + ashrama fix the duty → individual virtues (honesty, self-restraint, reverence for parents/teachers) → Basham: moral conduct and the individual's role in social order → duties extend outward (family, community, divine order, fellow humans) → Rajya-dharma: ruler as custodian, governance = responsibility not entitlement → morality the binding thread; ethical failure = adharma
Counter-view
Kothari: order secured but hierarchy hardened → Ambedkar: duties assigned by birth → caste + gender inequality
Conclusion routes
re! Kane's contextual reading: regulatory, even flexible, yet bound by status R2 duty linked power to protection, but turned role into rank
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
