An Ancient History of Insurance Concepts

Abstract

All “life” is born in this universe with an inexplicable urge and intention of “self preservation.”

This remains an indescribable “urge” in every organism. It was always a “fight for self preservation” in the face of the ever pervading risks and hazards around in nature of every “life”. And this need and urge had to be addressed to by every organism through a quest for “self security” or a “secured position”, both physically and psychologically. Essentially, the concept of “insurance” as man could see it was and is the concept of “self preservation” through a quest for “self security” or “secured position”. In this paper, ‘insurance’ or ‘assurance’ is not used in the modern sense. It is used as an evolutionary concept, and as a sensitive and safe ‘social measure’.   We also understand that man’s progress and his civilization were not always developing at the same levels and stages wherever he lived at the various times and on the various parts of the world. And, interestingly, we also see that the conceptualization of his “social measure” – the concept of “insurance” – was also developing at different levels and stages at different points of the world, at different times.  The progress of the man and his quest for “self preservation’ or “secured position” or his “social; measure” or his “conceptualization of ‘insurance’” seem to have been interlinked since long past. This paper is an attempt to draw the likely lines of appreciation of our fore-fathers’ conceptualization of thoughts and practices of ‘insurance’.