The
original European translators of the word "Dharma" rendered it as
"duly" and sometimes as "sacred law or religion." Through the passage
of centuries the word acquired many significances. It came to denote ethical duty, and
virtue and it generally meant "good works". It also denoted the
enjuctions regarding moral and religious conduct fundamental in the Vedas, one definition
of Dharma being It also meant a code of customs and traditions and accepted convention.
"Dharmagnsamayah pramaanam vedhasch" (Apastamba
Dharma Sutra). It also denotes the various duties and rules laid down by the sastras for
the various castes and communities in India. In that sense it is included in Such
compounds as swadharma, uarnadharma, jatidharma, and when it denoted generally the
traditional observances of various communities, we find it used even in the compound
Pashanda Dharma.
In its abstract conception, it means the under lying
fundamental law of one's being, that which holds a thing together, makes it what it is,
prevents it from breaking up and changing it into some thing else. In other words,the
characteristic function, peculiar property, fundamental attribute or essential nature of a
thing is its Dharma, the law of its being. Further enlarged and idealized, it has come to
mean that which makes the world what it is and holds all its parts together as one whole.
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