Of late, the expression, 'human rights' has gained a lot of significance in the modern society in the West as well as in the East. This article delves into the past, particularly into Indian history at different ages and attempts to explore whether such concepts prevailed earlier in India or whether they were alien to Indian culture. It brings out in a subtle way the concepts, which were nothing but the 'human rights' embedded in the age-old culture. Indian culture, which is an amalgamation of different faiths and religions and boasts of a written history of about five thousand years, imbibed and evolved human rights concepts long ago, long before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or the European Renaissance. There are similarities and differences between the modern conception of human rights and that existing in Indian history.
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