Abstract
The word Human Rights under ancient philosophy is a concept of rights of people against state and other individuals as a natural rights which can be traced back to Greek philosophy, Stoic philosophy, Roman law to Ancient Indian philosophy in which the human rights is recognized as natural rights of man which is wonderfully described under the great play of “Antigone” written by Sophocles, in which she fight against the ruler for her right to buried her brother dead body with full rituals and honors which the ruler was not allowed to do so and if anybody attempting to do so then they will be publicly stone to death. Antigone angrily rejected and goes off alone to bury her brother and pleaded that she had acted in accordance with the immutable unwritten laws of god which even the king or ruler could not override and the prime objective of this philosophy is to protect the individual from different arbitrariness of ruler Therefore it is necessary to understand the notion of human rights under ancient philosophy.
Introduction-
The concept of human right under ancient philosophy is basically surfaced through the notion of just and ideal order in society which is chiefly based and revolving around the concept of morality, reason virtue, and dharma. Under this concept only the idea of right developed in the society. There are law colleges in Cooch Behar that had a specific course/module/talks/seminars/legal discourse on various aspect of issues and challenges with respect to the origin and development of human rights subject in the ancient period vis-à-vis present scenario. The central point of the ancient philosophy was the conduct and behaviour of person through which the concept of rights such as right to freedom of speech (Isogoria), right to equality before law (Isonomia) right to equal respect for all (Isotimia) etc and duties emerged in the state. The transformation of Human rights in ancient period is mainly partitioned under Greek, stoic, Roman and ancient legal thought respectively which is discussed as below.
1. Greek Philosophy: Under Greek philosophy era of time, one can see the impression of human rights through the concept of virtue or good values as justice. Under this period, it was the virtue which was the main concern in that era and not a right because they talked about virtue as justice and social control of man. Every person was under duty bound to righteous demeanor and in this way he was entitled to right on the right conduct towards other. For this purpose of righteous conduct, Plato formulate the concept of state in which justice prevail in the individual person. Plato recognize the basic right of subsistence and general welfare of society. He says that when a finger of hand is injured, then the whole body feels that hurt, in the same way of ideal state, if the finger of an individual is hurt or injured then the whole society should feel the hurt to itself. Thus we can say that Plato in spirit talked about human rights in the form of treating individual in organic and natural state.
2. Stoic Philosophy: The focal point of this philosophy is based on the Principles of natural law which were universal in their nature i.e rights which every human being posses by virtue of being human and rational in earth. The application of this idea was universal in nature and not limited to any class or groups of persons of certain state rather it applied to everybody living everywhere across the globe. The natural rights of man being its embodiment were not the particular privileges of citizens of certain state but something to which every human being everywhere was entitled by virtue of the simple fact of being human and rational. In this way some great stoic philosopher put forward their idea of universal brotherhood of mankind and laid stress upon equality and freedom for all which could also been found in our constitution also. Cicero advocates for right of every human being which is universal, unchanging and everlasting and cannot be repeal or alter as it possess the law of nature (lex naturalis). 1 The Roman also applied the Stoic ideas of natural law in their provinces to make new body of laws in regulating the administration of justice in kingdom, which were basically divided into two category namely jus civile or roman civil law dealing with their citizens and jus gentium which is applicable to non citizens of their kingdom.
3. Ancient Indian Philosophy: The expression of human rights under ancient Indian philosophy was used in the sense of just claim which was articulated through the idiom ‘Adhikara’. The notion of Adhikara was used in the sagacity that the individual has come to posses something value or status, which is now means to call that what we call today as right particularly the human rights or fundamental rights, and that is closely related to the concept of dharma also under Indian culture. Thus the concept of human rights through the ancient Indian philosophy under the prism of dharma is basically tried to regulate not only the external but internal behaviour of person through which the rights of everyone is protected.
The ancient Vedas such as Rig Veda gives the principles of “Sarva Dharma Sambhav” by which an extremely ideal was placed before the king. Through this doctrine of Kautilya ‘Artha Sastra’ asserts the magnificent ideal is that, in the happiness of the common people or citizens lies the happiness of the rulers. The good of rulers does not consist in what is satisfying to him but what is pleasing and satisfying to the common people. Thus in Ancient Indian philosophy the concept of human rights was deep rooted in concept of dharma and duty of not only king but every member of society. 2
Conclusion: In the foregoing paragraphs it can now be stated that the concept of Human Rights under ancient period is basically evolved and developed to shield the self-esteem and survival of human creature is the culmination interaction of law and society. The law colleges in Cooch Behar conducts many seminar, conference, moot court competition for spreading awareness among the citizens about the idea of human rights in ancient period and more by conducting legal awareness camp in villages and through road safety awareness programme, legal discourse and different programe This philosophy is not new in concept but approach is only different. As human rights in ancient philosophy of Greek , Stoic and Ancient Indian philosophy was implanted in the concept of virtue, duty and moral conduct. The cause behind that state’s control over their people was not so strong bounding and also there was no effective mechanism therefore through the idea of virtue, duty and morality a higher standard of conduct was placed by society by which rights of people was attempted to protect.
