On Thu, May 15, 2008 at 8:26 AM, ss <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > IMO you have hit upon a fundamental streak in Indians - and not just Hindus. > the concept of preserving dharma. Preserving dharma includes respect to > elders and teachers etc - but also involves a sound beating - or even death > of a wrongdoer. Many of these are actually misapplication of dharma and > auto-interpretation of laws. The thief who is beaten is not reported to the > police - the punishment is summary and considered complete.
This is not fundamental to Indians alone. And I don't think it has anything to do with preserving dharma - real or imagined. I have seen first-hand, and I am sure ashok has also witnessed, such summary mob justice being meted out to pick pockets, glue sniffing street kids and many other n'er do wells in Kenya. One more definition of Dharmam (at least in Tamil) is charity/alms. I believe it is being used in this sense in the phrase 'Dharma Adi' - Every passer by adds his (it is mostly men (interesting how people tend to generalize from this sample of ~50% to all hindus)) contribution (as if adding a few paise in alms) of blows in meting out mob justice. Thaths -- Bart: We were just planning the father-son river rafting trip. Homer: Hehe. You don't have a son. Sudhakar Chandra Slacker Without Borders
