• K R Ajitha Shaji

This paper offers a comprehensive meta ethical and literary exploration of the evolution of moral philosophy in India from its earliest textual traces to modern reinterpretations. It argues that Indian moral thought is best understood as a dynamic interplay between normative prescriptions and reflective meta ethical inquiry, mediated through religious, social, and literary channels. Beginning with Vedic sacrificial ethics and proceeding through the emergent introspective ethics of the Upaniṣhads, the divergent intersecting moral grammars of Buddhism and Jainism, and the normative syntheses of classical Hindu philosophical schools, the paper highlights how moral questions about the nature of good, right action, intention, and personhood evolved in response to shifting metaphysical claims. It shows how medieval bhakti and Sufi literatures reframed moral concerns around devotion, love, and social equality, while colonial encounters and modern reform movements reconfigured moral discourse with concepts such as human rights, social justice, and rational critique. Using a meta ethical lens, the study examines recurring debates - e.g., moral motivation (dharma vs. kāma), moral realism vs. anti realism, the role of intention and consequences, and the normative authority of scripture, community, and reason. The literary exploration elucidates how epics, didactic poetry, and devotional songs operate as moral laboratories that both preserve and contest philosophical norms. Methodologically, the paper combines textual analysis, comparative conceptual mapping, and close readings of representative literary texts to reveal continuities and ruptures across time. The conclusion proposes that contemporary Indian moral philosophy offers fertile ground for pluralist meta ethical frameworks that respect contextual moral grammars while engaging universalist ethical concerns through Indian moral Philosophy — an approach that can contribute meaningfully to global ethical discourse.

Indian moral philosophy, meta ethics; dharma, intention, bhakti, Vedic literature Upaniṣhads, Mahābhārata, moral realism, moral pluralism, literary ethics.

"The Evolution of Moral Philosophy in India: A Meta -Ethical and Literary Exploration", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.12, Issue 11, page no.f185-f200, November-2025, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2511544.pdf

"The Evolution of Moral Philosophy in India: A Meta -Ethical and Literary Exploration", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.12, Issue 11, page no. ppf185-f200, November-2025, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2511544.pdf