What does adharma mean?
Adharma is a noun borrowed from Sanskrit that names the principle of unrighteousness — the violation of moral duty, cosmic order, or sacred law. It stands as the direct antonym of dharma, the concept of righteousness and proper conduct that underpins Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain ethics. Where dharma sustains harmony between individuals, society, and the universe, adharma describes actions that disrupt it: deceit, injustice, violence beyond necessity, and dereliction of one's duties. The word appears frequently in discussions of texts such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Mahabharata, where the struggle between dharma and adharma frames the epic's central conflict. In modern usage it remains largely confined to religious scholarship, philosophy, and literature about South Asian traditions, though it may appear in English-language discourse on Indian ethics. Its connotations are strongly negative, and it is best understood not as a generic word for evil but as a precise term for the breach of a divinely or cosmically sanctioned order.
nounIn Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain thought, the opposite of dharma: unrighteousness, wrongdoing, or action that violates moral and cosmic order.
- Unrighteousness or wickedness; action contrary to moral duty in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain philosophy.
- A specific act of wrongdoing or injustice that violates sacred or social law.
"The epic portrays the prince's refusal to fight as a surrender to adharma."
"The king warned that tolerating corruption would plunge the kingdom into adharma."
"Scholars of the Mahabharata debate whether Krishna's battlefield counsel sanctioned adharma for a greater good."
Rarely pluralized; the word normally functions as an uncountable abstract noun referring to unrighteousness as a principle.
"The scripture catalogs various adharmas that corrupt both rulers and commoners."
In the Bhagavad Gita's worldview, every age of moral decline is measured by how far adharma has displaced dharma — making this one word a yardstick for civilization itself.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of adharma
Adharma derives from Sanskrit, formed by prefixing the negative particle 'a-' to 'dharma,' a term rooted in the Sanskrit verbal root 'dhr-,' meaning to hold, support, or sustain. Dharma thus originally conveyed that which upholds the cosmic and social order, and adharma came to signify its negation — that which undermines or violates it. The word entered English through translations and scholarly studies of Indian religious texts, appearing in English writing from the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries onward as British and European orientalist scholarship on Hinduism and Buddhism expanded. Its closest relatives are dharma itself and derivatives such as dharmic.
Related word forms
How adharma is actually used
Adharma is a learned borrowing from Sanskrit used primarily in religious, philosophical, and literary contexts concerning South Asian traditions. It carries strong negative connotation and is typically discussed alongside its counterpart dharma rather than as an everyday synonym for 'bad behavior.'
Easily confused with adharma
Dharma denotes righteous duty and cosmic order, while adharma is its direct negation — unrighteousness or disorder.