The "dharma" and "rita" depict a central idea of ancient Vedic civilization of India. In this context, consider the following statements: 1) Dharma was a conception of obligations and of the discharge of one's duties to oneself and to others. 2) Rita was the fundamental moral law governing the functioning of the universe and all it contained. Which of the statements given above is/ are correct?

Both statements are correct, so the answer is C. This is a conceptual question, and the two terms are best understood as a pair.

• Statement 1 is correct. Dharma, as it develops in the Vedic and later texts, means the duties and obligations a person owes to himself, to family, to society and to the gods. It is a conception of right conduct tied to one's varna, ashrama and station in life.
• Statement 2 is correct. Rita is the older Rigvedic idea of cosmic order, the regular rhythm that governs the sun, seasons, rivers and ritual alike. Dharma later absorbed much of this sense of universal order.

The core concept is the move from rita (natural, cosmic order) to dharma (ethical and social order). This matters for Mains, especially in GS-1 Indian Culture and in ethics questions on duty-based versus consequence-based morality.

Trap: aspirants sometimes reject statement 2 because they associate rita only with ritual sacrifice. Rita is primarily a cosmic principle, and the ritual was a means of maintaining it.