Dharma, Nyāya, and Dialogue: Indian Knowledge Systems and Indigenous Approaches to Pluralism and Conflict Resolution

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-615-4_7How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Indian Knowledge Systems; Dharma; Nyāya; Pluralism; Conflict Resolution; Restorative Justice; Legal Pluralism

Abstract

In present times the common characteristics of modern societies include social fragmentation, identity-based wars and the loss of public trust in formal legal institutions. Prevailing judicial systems with their Western liberal traditions tend to emphasize codified law, adversarial procedures and institutional authority. While these elements remain key parts of the democratic governance they frequently reduce justice to the strict compliance of procedures. This paper revisits the Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) in an attempt to explore the indigenous approaches to justice and conflict resolution on the basis of the concepts of Dharma, Nyayya and dialogical engagement. Using qualitative textual and conceptual analysis, the study argues that classical Indian traditions conceptualize justice as restoration of balance, ethical accountability, and social harmony and not as merely formal correctness. Appealing to classical texts in conjoined with contemporary scholarship on restorative justice and legal pluralism, the paper shows the relevance of these frameworks in the case of plural societies. It concludes that dialogic, duty-centered and realising-based approaches to justice can strengthen existing practices in the field of governance and peace building.

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  - Neha Bhartiya
AU  - Hansa Choudhary
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/15
TI  - Dharma, Nyāya, and Dialogue: Indian Knowledge Systems and Indigenous Approaches to Pluralism and Conflict Resolution
BT  - Proceedings of the Anubhuti 4.0: Discourses in Indian Knowledge Systems – Pathways of Culture, Inclusion, and Sustainability (ICIKS 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 73
EP  - 87
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-615-4_7
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-615-4_7
ID  - Bhartiya2026
ER  -