ABSTRACT
Notions of the sacred are central to societies in South Asia, whether as cultural sub-stratum, source of personal conviction or the bedrock of institutionalised religion. The violence of religion, both past and present, has all but eclipsed its equally potent legacy as a source of knowledge and inspiration for questions that lie at the heart of social justice activism: how to take one’s place in the universe and within the human collectivity, what it means to be human. Dharma and secular ideals share common ground even though the latter cannot countenance the claim of ‘divine createdness’. Law in a secular democracy is grounded in the principles of liberty, equality of all humans and solidarity or fraternity. Dharma would contend that dignity is an inherent property and that discrimination is the effect of conditioned perception: the result of creating a false hierarchy of life forms that are radically equal and breathtakingly diverse.
