SELECT INDIAN POLITICAL THINKERS AND THE IDEA OF PEACE

The idea of peace has multiple dimensions. Since the emergence of new nation-states, weapons of mass destruction have gradually emerged. Although human control over brute power has been sensitively strengthened, this human superpower needs to be controlled. The human power needs to be checked because unending human power will destroy everything, even the human itself. That is why many thinkers have gradually emerged to protect human society with the means of peace and harmony. Peace, in this context, refers to safeguard human life. Many Indian thinkers have devoted themselves to the protection and maintenance of peace. The body of literature with regard to the idea of peace in the Indian political thought is highly significant. Sri Aurobindo, M.K.Gandhi and Dr. Radhakrishnan are excessively important for their contribution to the development of peace in India. The paper primarily focusses on the idea of peace constituted by the Indian political thinkers. The main proponents for the Indian school of peace are Sri Aurobindo, M.K.Gandhi and Dr.Radhakrishnan. The paper has been divided into three parts, discussing the ideas of each thinker and how the concept of peace finds a place in their philosophy. In the first part, the ideas of Sri Aurobindo have been elaborated. Sri Aurobindo emphasized on the religion of humanity to create a new kind of human unity in the context of Indian civilization. The main purpose of any religion, according to Aurobindo, is not any kind of dogma or any kind of rigid ideology, but to blend the values of liberty, equality, and fraternity. So, the central argument in the analysis of Sri Aurobindo's idea of human unity and peace rests upon the combination of the values of liberty, equality and fraternity (Mahapatra and Mahapatra:2004:p.150).