swadharma

The word swadharma as coined in Sanskrit literature and Hinduism definitely implied following rules and regulations as per one's state in life.. like education caste and so on..

And in Hindu society of old, the functions were precisely divided ..

So invariably every individual was identified according to his ordained functions..

Dharma as understood then accepts this..

and all law books like that of Manu and others, prescribed and endorsed those rules..

and there was prohibition too that one should not travel too much outside his own swadharma..

Swadharma never implied personality traits, rules of good behaviour and such ethical issues.. though swadharma definitely prescribed ethics and fair play within a group and among its members,

and also code of conduct for the groups and constituents with members of other groups..

But swadharma does not seem to deal with abstract traits like love, or lack of it, truthfulness or lack of it etc as applied to all belonging to human species..

We may try to feel good by interpreting that Swadharma was pure and simple personal ethics.. but it does not seem to be so..as per the conduct of Hindu society over the centuries ..

But any word can be interpreted by anyone as he thinks it is right, but others would accept only what is generally believed and practiced in society through customs and precedents..

Swadharma has more to do with the accredited functions ordained by efflux of social interaction on persons belonging to a certain class..

The svadharma of a brahmin or kshatriya..etc would not be the same..

Even the best brahmin wielding weapons or the best kshatriya doing pourohityam or trade was not accepted as svadharma..

Of course there were people in Hindu society who went out of their Svadharma and excelled..

A Parasurama, Drona or Kripa from brahmins and people like Vishvamira from Kshatrias are examples.

I do not comment on or hold the brief for the correctness or otherwise of the restrictions based on svadharma..

but just say that svadharma was like that...

The conduct of a society and its value standards are always part of history, and has been shaped through compulsions of the circumstances..

No society is or was either perfectly good or abysmally evil..

We have to take into account what was good and what was not so good and can safely accept only the good part for future use..

But that does not mean we should whitewash the past.. as is being done by many rival groups..