System of Justice was based on various Smritis like Manu Smriti, Yagnavalkya Smriti, Shanka Smrithi, Apasthambha Smrithi, The Smritis carry the portions where they mention about Danda Neethi or Justice System this was the basis of Nyaya Vyavastha.
Nayaya which is one of the important Darshan Shastras actually deals with the philosophical aspects of life and not Justice. So the system of Justice was based on various Smritis like Manu Smriti, Yagnavalkya Smriti, Shankar Smrithi, etc. I have made an attempt to bring about most of the portions of these Smritis which carry the Danda Neethi or Justice System. Over and above this there were two very nice unwritten rules of Justice in place.
That was “Any dispute between any opposing parties can be best resolved locally.” And the second “Any dispute should be settled within 3 days as later than that it becomes stale.” With these two rules as the central pillars the whole justice system was based and there were Kutumb Panchayat (Family Court), Jaathi Panchayat (Community Court), Gram Panchayat (Village Court) and finally the Raja Durbar (Raja’s Court). As a result most of the disputes would be resolved inside the family. If it didn’t get resolved in the family then it would be escalated to the Jaathi Panchayat that is at the community level and then escalation would happen to higher levels. It is interesting to note here that the opposing parties could have a neutral person to “Argue” the case on their behalf and that person was called “Adivaktha” (Note that this Sanskrit word is very close to the word “Advocate”). Here I will be throwing light on the Nyaya Vyavastha Justice System in general and the premise of justice.
Panch Parameshwar the village court
The court, the court was called “Panch Parameshwar” and it consisted of five people selected by the people of the village who put their faith in these five people. These people were selected with what was known as “Sarvasmmathi” meaning “Unanimously”.
In the bygone days any case or any dispute would be disposed of with both parties accepting the verdict within a maximum of three days. The best part of this system was that both parties were not required to move out of their village or town; the justice system was local. How were the case heard? Were there Advocates? Who were the judges? Let me explain to you the court, the court was called “Panch Parameshwar”.
It consisted of five people selected by the people of the village who put their faith in these five people. These people were selected with what was known as “Sarvasmmathi” meaning “Unanimously”. As there were five people it was called “Panch” meaning five and “Parameshwar” meaning Divine God. They would pass judgements within a maximum of three days. In this workshop I discuss the role of the “Panch Parameshwar” in the Bharathiya Nyaya Vyavasastha. I also share my personal experience where I was invited as a special observer to a Panchayat. This workshop also includes the story behind the usage of the word Panch Parmeshwar. This workshop takes about 3hours.
