Hindu Ethical Considerations in Relation to Tax Evasion

Abstract

The subject of Hindu ethics, and literature pertaining to it, stretches through 3,000 years of history and represents a vast array of research and analysis by both Indian and Western scholars. Yet, discerning a clear set of ethical principles based on definitional and methodological clarity remains elusive. This is not surprising because the study of ethics, related closely to Hindu philosophy, traces its origins back to the Vedic age, which over the centuries has spawned a plethora of scholars to offer views in their own understanding of Hindu ethics. Ancient literature on religion, philosophy, and ethics are numerous: Vedic ethics appears to be the original source; followed by the ethics of the Upanishads; then the Bhagavad Gita; the Dharma Shastras; the six orthodox systems of Indian philosophy, followed by the ethics of Jainism and Buddhism. In recent times philosophers such as Radhakrishnan, Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru, and Sri Aurobindo have all contributed to the vast body of knowledge on Hindu ethics.