Ethical Foundations of Governance in Classical Indian Texts: A Comparative Study of Kamandaki and Swami Vedanta Desika

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-615-4_25How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Dharma; Governance; Nitisara; Swami Vedanta Desika; Political ethics; Classical Indian Philosophy

Abstract

The Bhagavad Gita establishes that fulfilling one’s responsibilities without attachment to results constitutes dharma for any individual. This concept of dharma, encompassing proper conduct, right action, duty, and ethical thinking, forms the foundational basis for the governance of any land. This paper undertakes a comparative analysis of Kamandakiya Nitisara and selected works of Swami Vedanta Desika, specifically Rahasya Traya Sara and Paramartha Stuti, to examine how each text constructs parallel frameworks between individual morality and systems of political authority. The analysis focuses on prescriptions, exemplars, and institutional norms present in both corpora. In the Nitisara, dharma manifests as public duty, delineating the obligations of kings, ministers, and administrators, while providing guidelines for strategy, counsel, and the maintenance of social order, including the moral boundaries of coercion and deceit in administrative practice. According to Swami Vedanta Desika, dharma represents a systematic philosophical framework that reconceptualises obligation through the lenses of personal responsibility, epistemic integrity, and moral education appropriate for office-holders and civic agents. By contrasting Swami Desika’s normative analyses with Nitisara’s procedural ethics, this paper maps a complementary architecture in which one text emphasizes institutional roles and stability-promoting expedients. The other highlights the moral dispositions and philosophical justifications that legitimate authority. The conclusion demonstrates how these classical prescriptions for dharma can enrich contemporary governance theory and offers implications for current discussions in political ethics, particularly regarding questions of responsibility, moral leadership, and the ethical architecture of institutions.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Saraswathy Muralidharan
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/15
TI  - Ethical Foundations of Governance in Classical Indian Texts: A Comparative Study of Kamandaki and Swami Vedanta Desika
BT  - Proceedings of the Anubhuti 4.0: Discourses in Indian Knowledge Systems – Pathways of Culture, Inclusion, and Sustainability (ICIKS 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 355
EP  - 371
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-615-4_25
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-615-4_25
ID  - Muralidharan2026
ER  -