INDIGENOUS APPROACH TO CONSTITUTIONAL INTERPRETATION: AN INTERPRETATIVE MODEL BASED ON THE SHRIMAD BHAGAVAD GITA

AUTHOR – RAJIV KUMAR, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, SCHOOL OF LAW, IMS UNISON UNIVERSITY, DEHRADUN

BEST CITATION – RAJIV KUMAR, INDIGENOUS APPROACH TO CONSTITUTIONAL INTERPRETATION: AN INTERPRETATIVE MODEL BASED ON THE SHRIMAD BHAGAVAD GITA, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (5) OF 2026, PG. 905-917, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344. DOI – https://doi.org/10.65393/V6I597

Abstract

The Constitutional text in itself is not living law, but the text, along with its interpretation by the courts, covers the changing societal needs and aspirations. The Constitution of India is a unique document that encompasses philosophy, politics, society, and law, requiring an interpretative model distinct from ordinary legal interpretation. There are various methods to interpret the Constitution, such as Textualism, Originalism, Structuralism, Doctrinalism, Pragmatism, and Purposivism. The Indian Supreme Court initially preferred a textualist approach to interpret the constitutional text and later shifted to a structuralist and purposive approach to give expansive meaning and enlarge the scope of various fundamental rights. These approaches are mainly dominated by Western legal philosophy. There is a need to Indianize the interpretative paradigm, and the Bhagavat Gita can be an inspiring instrument in this regard. This paper explores whether principles of Buddhi Yog, Dharma, Karm Yog, and Karm Sanyās Yog in the Bhagavat Gita can be utilised for understanding various constitutional provisions dealing with fundamental rights, fundamental duties and Directive Principles for the State Policy. Drawing parallels between the Gita’s philosophy and various key constitutional concepts like equality, freedom and liberty, this paper presents an Indian philosophical approach to interpret key constitutional principles.

There has been a common concern in the interpretative exercise that which meaning would be appropriate and how to reach a particular conclusion in a case where a word or phrase has multiple meanings. It is also seen that the justices, in the name of interpretation, disregard the constitutional text and employ their morals, political, or social preferences. In that case, the Gita’s key principles can be a fruitful instrument to guide and give meaning to the constitutional provisions and provide a moral and ethical framework of constitutional interpretation resonant with the civilizational ethos of India. This paper doctrinally analyses the key Gita’s principles through textual analysis of selected Gita passages and maps their normative principles to Constitutional interpretation. This Indian philosophical approach promotes a balanced constitutional jurisprudence and harmonises rights and duties, and the role of the judiciary.

KEYWORDS: Constitutional Interpretation; Bhagavat Gita; Supreme Court: Indian Philosophy; Dharma