How
about 'vidhi' as in 'vidhi-vyavastha'
(law and order)? Nice article
though. Very appropriate. - Arun
Mishra - Aug. 5, 2006
The
word Vidhi is already in use in
Indian subcontinent. This word vidhi
is already in the dictionary of
legal terms. The Ministry of law is
also called Vidhi Mantralaya beside
Kanoon Mantralaya. In the syllabus
for BPSC there is Vidhi also as a
subject in Hindi Medium for Law. The
examples in use are countless.
However, well written article
showing your concern. - Dr. V. K.
Singh, Chandigarh - Aug. 6, 2006
As
regards "kanoon" there is nothing
missing in it. Nayaya Shastra has
many things to say about "Kanoon".
Vidhan, Nyaya etc many words can be
found relating to kanoon. I have not
read the Nayaya Shastra so it would
be better to ask some Sanskrit
Scholar in Nayaya Shastra to give
the relevant words.
Vidhan is what I think to be the
right word. - Viresh Kashyap -
Aug. 6, 2006
Vishwakarmaji you are the most
creative writer on PD. Mishraji 'vidhi'
means process and not law. It's
ironic that we have a word 'vyavastha'
for order but we don't have a word
for law. Without law there can be no
order. - Ramsharan, Orlando,
Florida, USA - Aug. 6, 2006
I
don't think there is an exact Hindi
or Sanskrit equivalent for 'kanoon'.
Vidhan = Legislative as in Vidhan
Sabha = Legislative Assembly .
Nyaya = Justice
Vidhi = Procedure or process like 'khana
pakane ke vidhi' or 'pooja ki vidhi'.
I think Vidhi Mantralaya is not a
100% accurate translation (but the
closest) since we don't have an
exact word for 'kanoon'. - Rajesh
Sahu, Manchester, UK - Aug. 6, 2006
Interesting, before today I used to
think that Kanoon is a Hindi word. -
Nawin Kumar, New York City, USA -
Aug. 8, 2006
The
Hindi word for kanoon IS 'vidhi'.
Sure it also means 'process' as many
have pointed out but there are many
words that have more than one
meaning. (Sona = gold; sona = to
sleep), (well = fine; well = kuan)
otherwise why would they call it 'Vidhi
Vyavastha" (for law and order), or 'Vidhi
Mantralaya (for Ministry of Law)? -
Anil Kumar - Aug. 8, 2006
From time to time the central
government comes up with Hindi
translations for commonly used words
from other languages. Many times the
government tries to use
Hindi/Sanskrit words that are close
to the foreign words and many times
they even invent new words. For
example when computer was introduced
to India from the west, we coined
the word 'sanganak' for it.
Similarly when the government
realized that there was no word for
'kanoon' in Hindi they came up with
'vidhi'. But except for the academic
folks, government gazette,
publications and government offices
most of the people don't use the
word 'vidhi', instead we all use the
orginal word 'kanoon'. We use the
word 'kanoon mantri' and not 'vidhi
mantri'. There are so many Hindi
movies called 'Andha Kanoon', 'Kanoon
Apna Apna' etc. They are not called
'Andhi Vidhi', 'Vidhi Apni Apni'
etc. Most of us call a computer a
computer or PC and not 'sanganak'. -
Rajendra Kumar - Aug. 9, 2006
Interesting discussion! It needs
some analysis on the evolution of
Hindi as a language before we can
comment on it. Hindi and Urdu are
the standardized forms of
Hindustani. Linguistically, they are
the same language (other than the
script).
Here is a small dose of history.
Sanskrit was replaced by Prakrit
(including Pali) languages as the
official language under the
patronization of the Kshatriya kings
around 3rd century BC. Prakrit means
natural while Sanskrit means
constructed or “refined”. Prakrit
was considered illegitimate by the
orthodox Brahmins in ancient India.
In Sanskrit drama, kings speak in
Prakrit when addressing women or
servants, in contrast to the
Sanskrit used in reciting more
formal poetic monologues. The final
stage of Prakrit was the Apabhransha
language, literally meaning corrupt
or non-standard language.
Apabhransas were used until 13th
century. Sarah, one of the
Mahasiddhas and founders of
Vajrayana is considered to be the
first poet of Hindi (Apabhransa-Hindi).
He was born in Raggyee village of
ancient Bhagalpur (Another Bihari to
be proud of). Maithili, Bhojpuri and
Magahi are NOT dialects of Hindi.
These are Eastern Indic “languages”
while Hindi is Central Indic.
Many Indo-Aryan languages including
Braj-bhasha and Khari Boli evolved
from Apabhransa. Moguls termed Khari
Boli (spoken in western UP and
Delhi) as Hindustani. Over a
thousand years of Muslim influence,
many Persian and Arabic words were
mingled into Khari Boli. Kabir and
Amir Khusro were one of the first to
use Khari Boli in their poetry.
Earlier, terms Hindi and Urdu were
used interchangeably even by Urdu
poets like Mir and Mirza Ghalib of
the early 19th century. The British
colonial government deliberately
associated the term Hindi for the
Sanskritized form used by the
Hindus, and the term Urdu for the
Perso-Arabicized form used by the
Muslims, in order to divide and rule
us.
After partition, Urdu became the
national language of Pakistan (India
has no ‘single’ national language,
though Hindi is popularly believed
to be so). In 1954, the Government
of India set up a committee to
prepare a grammar of Hindi. The
committee's report was released in
1958 as "A Basic Grammar of Modern
Hindi". Since then, Sanskritized
Hindi is often mistaken to be pure
Hindi (as mentioned by some of the
writers here who do not consider
Kanoon to be a Hindi word). Kanoon
is not a Sanskrit word.
The words in Hindi are of four
categories: Tatsam (Words directly
borrowed from Sanskrit), Tadbhav
(derived through Prakrit and
Apabhransa), Deshaj (local words
e.g. lota), Videshaj (e.g. Chaku,
Kanoon, rickshaw). I do not want to
extend the debate on vidhi, prakriya,
pranaali, of whether it’s process or
law. Even in English, the term law
has been used in different contexts,
remember law of gravitation?
Similar retrospective analysis can
be done on the legal system in
India. The current law and order
situation in Bihar or the civic
sense of Biharis has nothing to do
with the Indian history or Hindi
language. - Kumod Jha - Aug. 9,
2006
I
think the absence of basic words
like vakil (lawyer), mukadama (legal
case), kanoon (law) in Sanskrit are
indications that ancient India did
not had a proper legal system in
place for the common masses (a
system practiced by the Romans,
Greeks, Egyptians, Persians and even
Arabs). The effects of this are
being felt even today. Instead of
denying this fact and spinning it
around, people need to urgently
embrace these concepts, doesn't
matter if they have foreign origin.
- Ramsharan, Orlando, Florida -
Aug. 10, 2006
Could it be that India was so great
in the ancient days that there was
no need for terms like kanoon,
lawyers, muqadma etc? What was 'Ram
Rajya' all about? Just a thought...
- Rajeshwar Prasad, New Delhi -
Aug. 11, 2006
It
is factually incorrect to say that
there are no words equivalent to
lawyer, legal case, law and so on.
The word for lawyer is adhivakta,
for legal case is abhiyog and law is
rajniyam or vidhi, that is,
equivalent in "Sanskrit nisht"
Hindi. Due to the influence of the
ruling classes, the words from
Persian/Arabic and later English
might have got prominence in daily
usage and therefore these other
words might have got into disuse. In
fact, words like vakil, mukadama and
kannon are as much part of Hindi and
all standard Hindi dictionaries list
them as well. These Persian/Arabic
words have been in use in India at
the very least for three hundred
years.
Their presence or absence in our
ancient languages does not make much
difference to the present law and
order situation. We had the first
republic in the world right here in
Bihar at Vaishali in the form of the
Lichchavi Ganrajya. However, did it
make any difference when it came to
looting of votes and denial of
democratic rights to a vast number
of our population for several
decades?
We would have to look for solutions
in our present rather than keep
looking for reasons for
inappropriate behaviour in the past.
- T. V. Sinha - Aug. 11, 2006
Here is an analysis of the legal and
judiciary system in ancient India.
The Harappan seals and the head of a
priest found in excavation indicate
towards existence of some sort of
law in the ancient civilization.
But, let's restrict ourselves to
recent times.
The law in Sanskrit is known by the
name of Dharmashastra i.e. the
science of ordinance but the scope
of Dharmashastra is not just limited
to ‘law’, it covers rules of conduct
and rituals, duty, morality,
justice, religion etc. 'Dharma' is
from the Indo-Iranian root dhar "to
fasten, to support, to hold".
Laws in ancient India were codified
in Smritis. There are eighteen main
Smritis of the Dharma Shastra: Manu
Smriti, Yajnavalkya Smriti, Parasara
Smriti etc. It is likely that the
names of authors represent
schools/institutions rather than
individuals. The smritis were a
system of oral teaching, passing
from one generation to the
succeeding generation. They
supplement and explain the
ritualistic injunctions called 'Vidhis'
in the Vedas. The Hindu Law has
emanated from Smritis and not from
Shruti (Vedas).
Yajnavalkya Smriti is divided into
three chapters. The first chapter is
called Achara which deals with
religion, the second chapter is
called Vyavahara which deals with
civil law, and the third chapter is
called Prayaschit which deals with
penance.
During the reign of Vikramarka, a
Chalukya ruler of the 11th century
A.D., Mitakshara was written. It's a
commentary on Yajnavalkya Smriti.
Mitakshara prevailed all over India
except in Bengal and Assam where the
Dayabhaga prevailed. The Mitakshara
was accepted as an authoritative
text not due to promulgation by any
sovereign authority but due to its
tremendous scholarship and intellect
of its author. According to
Mitakshara, in addition to the King
himself as a court of ultimate
resort, there were four classes of
courts. The King’s court was
presided over by the Chief Judge,
with the help of counselors and
assessors. There were three other
courts of a popular character called
Puga, Sreni and Kula. These were not
constituted by the King. They were
people’s tribunals which were part
of the regular administration of
justice. Puga was the court of
fellow-townsmen or fellow-villagers,
situated in the same locality, town
or village, but of different castes
and callings. Sreni was a court of
judicial assembly consisting of the
members of the same trade or
calling, whether they belonged to
the different castes or not. Kula
was the judicial assembly of
relations by blood or marriage.
Kula, Sreni, Puga and the court
presided over by the Chief Judge (Pradvivaka)
were courts to which persons could
resort for the settlement of their
cases. If a case was previously
tried, he might appeal in succession
in that order to the higher courts.
The system of professional lawyers
appearing for the litigants was
unknown, though.
And what about Kautilya's
Arthshastra (It wasn't about
economics)? It explains
jurisprudence meticulously. Legal
processes were divided into four
kinds, according as they dealt with
sacred laws, customs, contracts and
statutory enactments. In the courts
three ministers generally sat
together and decided upon the
questions brought before them, the
cases included marriages,
inheritance, dues and even driving
too fast (speeding bullock-cart) and
passing ironical remark such as "You
have a pretty face"!
A number of legal texts have been
written in ancient India, many of
which are present in the museum at
the Supreme Court of India. -
Kumod Jha - Aug. 11, 2006 |
