Samvad and Dharma: Rooting Mediation in the Indian Knowledge System

Abstract

Contemporary legal discourse often mischaracterises mediation in India as a transplant of Western Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) jurisprudence. This article challenges that narrative by situating mediation as an intrinsic resurgence of the indigenous Indian Knowledge System (IKS). It argues that the epistemological foundation of Indian justice is not the adversarial adjudication of rights, but the restorative maintenance of Rta (cosmic order) through Samvad (dialogue). By analysing Vedic and Smriti literature, specifically the concept of "Congenital Debt" (Rin), the article demonstrates how ancient jurisprudence prioritised the discharge of social duty (Dharma) over the assertion of individual claims.

The study provides a detailed historical analysis of the decentralised tribunal hierarchy,Kula (family councils), Sreni (professional guilds), and Puga (community assemblies)codified in the Yajnavalkya and Narada Smritis. It establishes that these bodies functioned effectively in accordance with the principles of subsidiarity and expert adjudication long before the advent of the modern state judiciary. The narrative traces the systemic rupture caused by the colonial imposition of the adversarial Anglo-Saxon model, which displaced these organic mechanisms with formalised, rights-based litigation, introducing a "pathology of delay" that persists in the Indian legal system today.

Finally, the article critically evaluates the Mediation Act 2023, specifically Chapter X on Community Mediation, interpreting it not merely as a procedural reform but as a statutory attempt to institutionalise the ancient wisdom of the Puga. It concludes that while the Act provides the necessary legislative skeleton for pre-litigation and community-based resolution, its success depends on avoiding bureaucratic over-formalisation and successfully reviving the cultural ethos of Samjhauta (conciliation) that defined the pre-colonial legal order.