Ancient Hindu Jurisprudence Relating to Human Rights as a Form of Socio- Economic Rights and its Relevance in the Modern International Legal Regime

The trace of Hindu civilization can be found in and around 3300 BCE from the Indus valley civilization; where from the historical archeological discoveries, it is found that everybody were living in a social-economic and political harmony with each other and the society operating in a structural basis through the interdependency onto one another. In this context, ‘gyan’ i.e. knowledge plays a vital role in order to raise the questions of right and wrong and right and duty. Vedas being the fundamental source of knowledge, contains all the matters relating existence of life on the earth. The knowledge was inclusive in nature which not only talked about the human beings but also about the harmony between them and the tangible and intangible phenomenon of the nature. According to the ancient Hindu philosophy, all the living creatures have rights irrespective of their being sentient or insentient and it is the humans who have the utmost duty to procure justice for all. The term Human Rights, though, is of later origin but still the root of it can be found even in this ancient philosophy. The present paper intends to highlight that arena of the Hindu legal jurisprudence and identify the traces of the Human Rights under the ancient Hindu jurisprudence.