BharatNotes Dhamma
nounUsage in a UPSC answer
Ashoka's conception of Dhamma was less a creed than a civic ethic, seeking to bind a vast and plural empire through tolerance, non-violence and welfare rather than coercion — an early Indian articulation of the idea that legitimate authority rests on moral persuasion as much as on power.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Word Family
dharma (Sanskrit n), dharmika (Sanskrit adj), adharma (Sanskrit n, antonym), dhammapada (n)
Root
Sanskrit dharma (धर्म) = law, duty, righteousness; from root dhṛ = to hold, support; Pali form: dhamma
Etymology
From Pali dhamma, inherited from Sanskrit dharma ("law, duty, righteousness"), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *dharmas, from Proto-Indo-European *dhermos ("holding, supporting").
Memory Hook
Dhamma shares its root with "dharma" and, distantly, Latin firmus — think of it as the FIRM moral foundation that "holds up" society; Ashoka used it to hold a sprawling empire together.
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