Sebastian Velassery | Akateeminen Kirjakauppa

This book seeks to understand the contextual nature of casteism, its bearing upon the issue of human rights, its dynamics and its philosophical meaning. In the first chapter, the origin and development of casteism is assessed and analysed, how casteism caused and provided an ethos that favoured a philosophy of exclusion, backed and sanctified by certain metaphysical postulates. Following that, the author answers three crucial questions regarding the human person with the view of situating the substratum of Dalit-Sudra consciousness. In the third chapter, the issue of human rights is studied from the Indian philosophical and ethical perspectives via the doctrines of Dharma and Rta. The fourth chapter posits an inquiry into the role of religions with regard to the issue of human rights. Religions like Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism and Christianity were taken into consideration for this scrutiny. An analysis was also carried out on the positive and negative contributions that these religions have made to human rights. The book ends with a discussion on the issues of equality and social justice.
READERSHIP: Policy makers, researchers, tertiary students, philosophers, sociologists and all those interested in Vedic philosophy, the caste system and human rights in India.