Aspects of Hindu Morality

The present work seeks to critically study Hindu ethics from an entirely new perspective. It makes two significant observations at the outset: First that Hindu ‘religio-culture’ being a comprehensive whole, it is impossible to properly understand and evaluate its morality without a prior understanding of its religio philosophical beliefs and values, and second that Hinduism being a highly complex and multifaceted phenomenon, comprising several heterogeneous religio-philosophical beliefs and valuational approaches, the usual historical method needs to be supplemented by a fresh analytical and to a certain extent phenomenological approach. The author seeks to understand Hindu morality in the context of the entire Hindu ‘religion-culture’. At the same time, in order to better understand the complexity and richness of Hindu thought and practice, she analytically divides Hinduism into several religio-moral traditions. This realistic recognition of the diversity of Hinduism is compatible with an equal recognition of the underlying unity of its ethos. The author further emphasizes the immense adaptability of Hinduism and puts forth a strong case for a reformulation of Hindu philosophy of morals which would synthesize various elements of Hindu thought and practice, so as to make its ethics more self-consistent and relevant for modern times.