International Journal of Advanced Research and Development

Authors
Ariba Zaidi

Abstract
Cooperation among the members is at the root of any society. For sustainable cooperation among members, they need to perceive the resultant structure to be just. Any conception of justice, if analysed, cannot be formed without the essential elements of liberty, equality and rights. Thus, using the notions of liberty, equality and rights, this research is an effort to analyse how just the social structure and social environment was that prevailed during later Vedic period, the period in which Buddha was born. It further seeks to analyse how Buddha got affected by the features of his social environment and the social structure. Finally, it analyses the efforts of Buddha to shepherd the later vedic society towards a more inclusive, liberal, and egalitarian social structure, where basic rights of every individual to realise their higher self is recognised. In order to attain the aforementioned goals, the research primarily relies on Digha Nikaya as the primary source for substantiation.