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Hinduism and Social Justice

The Social structure is a very important and (projected to be) most controversial part of Hinduism, in this thread I will try to explain how original philosophy of Hinduism ensured social justice for all in true sense
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First basic definition-

Justice means- "A person getting what they deserve"
Social justice means each and every member of society is given due and equal consideration. That will ensure each one gets what they deserve.

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▪︎ Varna-Ashrama system -

The original purpose of Varna system which was work and quality based, was to ensure that people get what they deserve and work as per their capabilities.
the qualities and capabilities were identified and varnas were allotted.
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Original Varna system was based on qualities of individual and varna could change,we have enough evidences for that (M.S 10/65, Aitreya Brahman 2.19)

So Varna system Categorized individuals on basis of their qualities and ensured same duties and privileges for a group
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This ensures "Equal treatment for equals" and hence promotes social justice.

Further, Varna system also promoted "Proportionate Justice" different groups were treated differently according to their qualities,

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For example a Learned and well educated person would get more punishment as compared to an illiterate person for same crime. (Manusmriti 8.337-338)

Also as there was no surety in which Varna a person or their children a can land in due to karma,
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for example there was a possibility that children of Brahmin may become Shudra in future due to their karma, there is a "Veil of Ignorance" here and due to this, something like "Rawls' theory of Justice" ensured no group was discriminated against.
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So the Varna system ensured that a person got what he deserved, unfortunately this system became "Birth Based" with time and got entrenched in our society and later evolved to present form of Caste system which is synonymous with Injustice.
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The Ashrama system similarly categorized people on basis of "which stage of life they are in", the students had different rules and duties as their objective was to attain knowledge,

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Households had different set of duties and privileges and similarly "Sanyasis"and Vanprasthis.
Even today while making policies governments consider "Age, Education, health, professions etc"
This shows that how important categorization is.

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▪︎No Gender based discrimination-

In Hinduism women are given equal status and opportunities while not ignoring the natural and biologically occurring differences between men and women at the same time. Women did get educated, followed "Brahmacharya Ashrama",
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just like men (Atharva Veda 11.5.18)
Girls and boys were considered equal (Manusmriti 9/130) and "Respect and Happiness" of women was given utmost importance (Manusmriti 3.56-57)
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Women were allowed to remarry freely( Atharva veda 9.5.27-28) same way as men were allowed after death of spouse.
Hence Hinduism ensures Social justice for all.
society didn't discriminate against women and Shudras originally,
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with time due to corruption and foreign invasions, the original system became rigid.

It is important that we recognize the true nature of Hinduism, remove medieval adulteration and try to implement the beautiful teachings in society to ensure Social Justice.
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