Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam and the Literature of Universal Humanism: A Comparative Study of Vedic and English Thought

Abstract

This paper discusses the Vedic principle of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam ("the entire earth is one family"), outlining it as an ancient Indian ethical construct relevant to the modern world. The study is based on the primary Vedic and Upanishadic literature, such as the Rigveda, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, and the Maha Upanishad, and charts the intellectual history of the doctrine, from the earliest hymns of collective harmony to its philosophical crystallization as a universal moral imperative. The paper also compares the tradition with the classic English poetry of Shelley, Arnold, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Hopkins, Ruskin, Donne, Eliot in order to show that the Vedic imperatives of collective well-being, of ecological responsibility, of dietary discipline, and of yogic liberation find compelling parallels in the works of these poets. The paper highlights that the Indian concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam is not a local cultural sentiment but a well-founded and universalistic moral approach. This philosophy is an alternative to the individualistic and exploitation-driven ethos of modern times, a need in the moral consciousness of all humanity at a time when the climate crisis, resource conflict, moral decay and civilizational fragmentation are haunting the world.