Concluding remarks

The notion of equality is variedly defined and contested. It is closely linked with religion, philosophy, economy and politics. In ancient India inequality was a fact as well as a value. The notion of welfare was closely related to implementing separate policies for separate varnas or grades as per their conditions and aspirations. Mahavir and Buddha challenged inequality on religious and spiritual grounds but failed to make a dent in the social system. They could only attack Brahmainical socio-religious thought and they compromised with secular power. This was safe. Brahmins had only religious power and were a divided lot. Several of them were conveted to Jainism and Buddhism. They were not a threat to spread of a new religious thought. Till this day most reforms in India have followed more or less the same line. The real attack on inequality came from the West.

The Western notion of equality has its origins in the ancient Hebrew (Judeo- Christian) tradition, percolating in the Greek philosophical tradition. It was a matter of great concern in Aristotle’s thought of justice. Previously in Judeo- Christian tradition the equal perception of Gods and commoners contributed to a notion of equality, though in much abstract sense. However, the idea of equality found a concrete expression first time in the Jewish Law, whereby teachings were available for both the elite and the masses. Yet certain other forms of inequality such as between men and women continued in the works of Aristotle who equated equality with fairness and played a significant role in founding a political critique of economic inequalities. Considering all humans as creations of God, medieval thinking proclaimed the preservation of some natural rights for the masses.

Interest in the notion of equality was revived in the philosophical writings of social contract theorists such as Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. Criticising the inevitability of the inequalities, Locke claimed that the idea of inequality resulting from the ‘privatization of the commons’ asserts that the resources be used more effectively. Subsequently, Adam Smith made the analysis of unequal market power and propagated the notion of equality of economic opportunity.