http://pothi.com/pothi/book/dr-ushakar-jha-dharma-path.
Dharma Path: Laws and Law seers of India
Late Dr. Ushakar
Jha
About the book
The book provides an overview of the Hindu Philosophy of
Dharma. The notion of Dharma is extraordinarily vast. It is best summarised as
the ruling force, the harmonising principle and the foundation of social order
in India. It has been conceptualised as a normative frame to conduct day to day
life. It is both the goal of life and the core value for organising one's
behaviour.
The book offers a synoptic view of the sacred literature
that constitutes the foundation of Dharma (or the law as we know it in the
contemporary context) and the seers who have shaped this corpus. The word
Dharma has passed through several transitions of meaning. The most prominent
among them comes in the form of privileges, duties and obligations of a man,
his standard of conduct as an individual belonging to a certain caste and as a
person at a particular stage of life. Dharma includes law and morals, service
and sacrifice to Gods, obedience to state, love towards family and the purity
of social life. It has been the crown of the social structure under divine
dispensation and is identical with the abstract principle of truth.
The book deals with various aspects of Dharma including its
meaning, foundational principles as well as goals, relationship between Dharma
and Dandaniti and the manner in which it worked in and through Vidyasthana
(abode of knowledge) and Dharmasthana (abode of Dharma).The second half of the
book catalogues a wide range of authorities and their works that have shaped
the tradition of knowledge on Dharma since the time of Vedas.
About the author
Dr. Ushakar Jha (13 April 1938-20 June 2006) was a Professor
of Political Science. Born and brought up in Sarisab Pahi, Bihar, he completed
his college and university education from Patna College and University. An
excellent teacher loved by his students and academic fraternity, he spent most
of his life in Chandradhari Mithila College and Lalit Narayan Mithila University,
Darbhanga. As a respected academician, administrator and a committed
intellectual, Dr. Ushakar Jha possessed catholic taste for reading books in
particular and also for his approach to life in general. He had traveled widely
and made presentations as well as chaired sessions at major academic platforms
in the field of Political Science which includes conferences of the
International Political Science Association held at Washington D.C. and Paris.
This book is a testimony of his wide intellectual canvas as well as his open
mind that neither hesitated to welcome ideas nor faltered even once to judge
them critically. Following his retirement he moved back to his village sarisab
Pahi where he died in 2006.
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