ABSTRACT
Many texts of the Dharma traditions analyze and elaborate on the value of nonviolence in personal life and in interpersonal relations. This chapter provides a brief overview of Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist religions' approaches to nonviolence in personal life as well as in social and political situations. It explores the dilemma of practicing the dharma of nonviolence in the face of dire situations such as injustices and war through analyzing the war context and philosophy of the Bhagavad-Gita, which ostensibly instructs the warrior of his duty (dharma) to fight the righteous battle. The chapter analyzes Gandhi’s unconventional allegorical interpretation of war in the Bhagavad-Gita to elaborate on how Gandhi’s interpretation not only situates active nonviolence within a religious framework. It reconciles the two meanings of the dharma of nonviolence—virtue to avoid causing harm to fellow beings and duty to confront social and political injustices.
