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Read moreThe concept of positive peace has transformed Peace and Conflict Studies by shifting analytical attention from the absence of war towards the social, political and cultural conditions necessary for human flourishing. Johan Galtung's distinction between negative and positive peace, together with his conceptualisation of direct, structural and cultural violence, remains foundational to this transformation. Yet contemporary scholarship increasingly identifies the need to deepen positive peace through attention to identity, agency, relationality, ecological sustainability, cultural meaning and the lived experience of Peace. This article argues that selected concepts from Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS), particularly classical Sanskrit thought, can contribute to this theoretical development when subjected to critical rather than celebratory interpretation. Through comparative conceptual analysis and critical hermeneutics, the article examines Ahiṃsā, Śānti, Dharma, Loka-Saṃgraha, Vasudhaiva Kuṭumbakam, Sarvabhūta-Hita and Epistemic Openness in relation to Galtung's theory. The article explicitly examines claims of historical equivalence between Indian Knowledge Systems and modern Peace Studies. Instead, it proposes a methodology of critical conceptual translation, through which historically situated Indic concepts are brought into contemporary theoretical dialogue. The study further examines contemporary Indian peace-oriented scholarship and practice associated with UNESCO chair Dr. Vishwanath D. Karad, UNESCO chair Dr. Priyankar Upadhyaya, Mata Amritanandamayi, the Chinmaya tradition and Pandurangshastri Athavale. On this basis, the article proposes an original framework termed Integrative Positive Peace (IPP), conceptualised through six mutually reinforcing dimensions: direct, structural, cultural, relational, inner and ecological peace. The article argues that IKS can enrich global Peace Studies not by replacing Galtung or asserting civilizational superiority, but by contributing alternative ethical vocabularies, theories of relationality and models of human flourishing. The paper concludes by proposing an empirical research agenda, including the development of an IKS Positive Peace Index, through which the theoretical propositions advanced here may be operationalised and tested.
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Indian Knowledge Systems; Positive Peace; Johan Galtung; Sanskrit Thought; Ahiṃsā; Śānti; Dharma; Loka-saṃgraha; Vasudhaiva Kuṭumbakam; Cultural Violence; Peacebuilding; Peace Education; Ecological Peace; Intercultural Peace.
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