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Dharmaśāstra (Sanskrit: धर्मशास्त्र) is a genre of Sanskrit texts and refers to the śāstra, or Indic branch of learning, pertaining to Hindu dharma, religious and legal duty. The voluminous textual corpus of Dharmaśāstra is primarily a product of the Brahmanical tradition in India and represents the elaborate scholastic system of an expert tradition.[1] Because of its sophisticated jurisprudence, Dharmaśāstra was taken by early British colonial administrators to be the law of the land for Hindus in India.[2] Ever since, Dharmaśāstra has been linked with Hindu law, despite the fact that its contents deal as much or more with religious life as with law. In fact, a separation of religion and law within Dharmaśāstra is artificial and has been repeatedly questioned.[3] Others have, however, argued for a distinction of religious and secular law within Dharmaśāstra.[4] Dharmaśāstra is important within the Hindu tradition—first, as a source of religious law describing the life of an ideal householder and, second, as symbol of the summation of Hindu knowledge about religion, law, ethics, etc.
Pandurang Vaman Kane, a great Sanskritist wedded to social reform, continued the earlier tradition of scholarship. His monumental work entitled the "History of the Dharmasastra", published in five volumes in the 20th century, is an encyclopedia of ancient social laws and customs. This enables us to study the social processes in ancient India.[5]
Contents |
All Dharmaśāstras derive their authority with reference to the Vedas, though few, if any, of the contents of most Dharmaśāstra texts can be directly linked with extant Vedic texts.[6] Traditionally, Dharmaśāstra has, since the time of the Yājñvalkyasmṛti, been divided into three major topics: 1) ācāra, rules pertaining to daily rituals, life-cycle rites, and other duties of four castes or varṇas, 2) vyavahāra, rules pertaining to the procedures for resolving doubts about dharma and rules of substantive law categorized according the standard eighteen titles of Hindu law, and 3) prāyaścitta, rules about expiations and penances for violations of the rules of dharma.
Combining the categorization given in the Yājñavalkyasmṛti with a more descriptive catalog of the contents in Dharmaśāstra texts found in P.V. Kane's History of Dharmaśāstra[7] presents the following list of topics:
The category of ācāra comprised rules governing obligations and proper conduct for all the vaṛṇas and āśramas, closely related to Mīmāṃsā laws of proper ritual conduct. It also had the broader meaning of conventions of practice, though still carrying the moral connotation of "right practice," i.e. the authorized practices of good people passed down over generations.
Vyavahāra is an important concept of Hindu law denoting legal procedure. Kane defines it as follows: "When the ramifications of right conduct, that are together called dharma and that can be established with efforts (of various kinds such as truthful speech, etc.) have been violated, the dispute (in a court between parties) which springs from what is sought to be proved (such as debt), is said to be vyavahāra."[9] The king’s personal dharma is inextricably linked to legal proceedings and his dharma is determined the by the merits and demerits of his subjects, therefore it is crucial he bring about justice to injustice. This is why it is stressed in the dharmaśāstras how important it is for the king to be fair and righteous and to appoint learned Brahmins to counsel and help him in legal matters.
Prāyaścittas are seen as means of removing sin, as they are undertaken to atone for not doing what is ordained or doing something which has been forbidden.[11]
In addition to these topics, Dharmaśāstra makes extensive use of the tradition of textual hermeneutics known as Pūrva-Mīmāṃsā, which describes in great detail how to interpret the ritual texts of the Vedic corpus. The principles of Mīmāṃsā have been borrowed and reapplied to a broader range of religious and legal phenomena in the Dharmaśāstra.[13] Other cognate disciplines important for understanding Dharmaśāstra are grammar and Nyāya.
While there are literally hundreds of Dharmaśāstra texts and many more commentaries and digests, the principal Dharmaśāstra texts include:
The Dharmasūtras are the first four texts of the Dharmasastra tradition and they focus on the idea of dharma, the principal guide by which Hindus strive to live their lives. The Dharmasūtras are written in concise prose, leaving much up to the educated reader to interpret.The most important of these texts are the sutras of Āpastamba, Gautama, Baudhāyana, and Vasiṣṭha.[14]
The Dharmasūtras can be called the guidebooks of dharma as they contain the rules of conduct and rites as practiced in the Vedic schools. They discuss about the duties of people at different stages of life like studenthood, householdership, retirement and renunciation. These stages are also called āśramas. They also discuss about the rites and duties of kings, judicial matters, and even personal practices like the regulations in diet, offenses and expiations, daily oblations, and funerary practices.[14]
The Dharmasūtras belong to the literary tradition of the Vedas. The primary Vedas are the Ṛg, Yajur, Sāma, and Atharva. Later, these Vedic branches split into various other branches the reasons of which remain unclear.[15] the dharmasastras
Each branch of the Vedas is further divided into two categories namely the Saṃhitā which is a collection of the foundational texts of the Vedas and the Brāhmaṇa which is prose text that explains the meaning of the liturgy. The Brāhmaṇa was further divided into Āraṇyakas which contain the esoteric sections of the Brāhmaṇas while the others are called the Upaniṣads. The Vedic basis of Dharma literature is found in the Brahmana texts.[16]
Towards the end of the vedic period after the middle of the 1st millennium BCE the language of the vedic texts grew very archaic to the people of that time since the texts were centuries removed form the time of their composition. This led to the formation of Vedic Supplements called the vedāṇga which literally means ‘limbs of the Veda’ which consisted of ritual expositions of the Veda, grammar, astronomy, etymology, phonetics, metrics (A2.8.11).Although, these expert traditions developed within the vedic branches, they later became independent.[16]
The hymns of Ṛgveda are one of the earliest texts composed in verse. The Brāhmaṇa which belongs to the middle vedic period followed by the vedāṇga are composed in prose. The basic texts are composed in an aphoristic style known as the sūtra which literally means thread on which each aphorism is strung like a pearl.[17]
The Dharmasūtras are a part of the Kalpasūtras which give a vivid description of the rituals. The Kalpasutras are of three kinds namely the Śrautasūtras which deals with vedic rituals, Gṛhyasūtras which deals with domestic rituals and Dharmasūtras.[18] The Dharmasūtras of Āpastamba, Baudhāyana form a part of larger Kalpasutra.[18]
The sūtra tradition ended around the beginning of the common era and was followed by the simple verse style called the śloka.[19] The period of epics and Purāṇas were composed in this style. The legal texts of Dharmaśāstras are also composed in sloka style of which Manu smṛti is an earliest representation.[19]
The age of Smṛtis that ended approximately around the second half of the first millennium CE was followed by that of commentaries around the 9th century called nibandha. This legal tradition consisted of commentaries on earlier Dharmasūtras and Smṛtis.[19]
Although the four Dharmasūtras carry the names of their authors it is still difficult to determine who these real authors were.[20] The Dharmasūtra of Āpastamba and Baudhayana form a part of the Kalpasūtra but it is not easy to establish whether they were historical authors of these texts or whether these texts were composed within certain institutions attributed to their names.[21] Moreover, Gautama and Vasiṣṭha are ancient sages related to specific vedic schools and therefore it is hard to say whether they were historical authors of these texts.[22] The issue of authorship is further complicated by the fact that apart from Āpastamba the other Dharmasūtras have various alterations made at later times.[23]
There is uncertainty regarding the dates of these documents due to lack of evidence concerning these documents. Although Kane has given some approximate dates but they are just guesses. Gautama 600 to 400, Āpastamba 450 to 350, Baudhāyana 500 to 200, and Vasiṣṭha 300 to100, all BCE.[24]
There is confusion regarding the geographical provenance of these documents. According to Bühler and Kane Āpastamba came from South India probably from Andhra.[25] Baudhāyana also came from south although evidence regarding this is weaker than that of Āpastamba.[26] Gautama may have belonged to north-western region to which Pāṇini belonged. This assumption is formed on the basis of certain terms that Gautama used which were also referred to by Pāṇini. Nothing can be said about Vasiṣṭha due to lack of any evidence.[27]
Scholars have varied opinions about the chronology of these documents. Regarding the age of Āpastamba and Gautama there are opposite conclusions. According to Bühler and Lingat Āpastamba is younger than Baudhāyana. Vasiṣṭha is surely a later text.[28]
The structure of these Dharmasūtras primarily addresses the Brahmins both in subject matter and the audience.[29] The Brahmins are the creators and primary consumers of these texts.[30] The subject matter of Dharmasūtras is dharma. The central focus of these texts is how a Brahmin male should conduct himself during his lifetime.[31] The text of Āpastamba which is best preserved has a total of 1,364 sūtras out of which 1,206 (88 per cent) are devoted to the Brahmin, whereas only 158 (12 per cent) deals with topics of general nature.[32] The structure of the Dharmasūtras begin with the vedic initiation of a young boy followed by entry into adulthood, marriage and responsibilities of adult life that includes adoption, inheritance, death rituals and ancestral offerings. According to Olivelle, the reason for this kind of structure is to prepare an individual towards the performance of dharma at his initiation, which is viewed as his second birth making him a ‘twice born’ man.[33]
The structure of Dharmasūtra of Āpastamba is simple and straightforward it begins with the duties of the student and ends with administration of the king. This forms the early structure of the Dharma texts. However, in the Dharmasūtras of Gautama, Baudhāyana and Vasiṣṭha separate sections are devoted to inheritance and penance. Ollivelle suggests that these changes show chronological development.[34]
Dharma is a concept which is central not only in Hinduism but also in Jainism and Buddhism. This reason gives it a wide scope of interpretation. The fundamental meaning of Dharma is right behavior within ritual, moral or social spheres.[35] Dharma provides the guidelines for proper and productive living in society.
The source of dharma is in the Vedas. It is believed that like the Vedas, dharma is not of human origin and therefore its existence is intangible. At the same time, dharma operates in practical ways beyond mere meaning. Some dharmas are based in the customs of different social groups for example deśadharma, dharma of different regions, jātidharma, dharma of different social groups, and kuladharma, dharma of different families.[36] The sources of these dharmas are not found in the Vedic texts. This leads to incongruity between theology and nature of dharma and the reality of rules as mentioned in the Dharmasutras.[37]
Āpastamba made an attempt to resolve this issue of dissonance. He placed the importance of Veda second and that of accepted customs of practice first. He also had realistic views about the difficulty of right judgment in dharma due to its indefinable nature. He further gives the theory of the ‘lost Veda’ and says that originally all the rules of dharma were contained in the Vedas, but now parts of those Vedas are lost.[38]
The sources of dharma according to Gautama are smṛti, the tradition, acāra, the practice and those who know the Veda. These three sources are commonly referred to in literature.[39] He also stated that when there is conflict between smṛti, the tradition and the Vedas the rules of the higher authority apply. On the other hand, according to Baudhāyana smṛti is the second source and śiṣṭa which is practice of cultured people the third source.[40]
However, the Brahmanical tradition still maintains the theological ideal that the Dharmasūtras are based on vedic texts irrespective of whether it is clearly expressed or implied.
The nature of Dharmasūtras is normative and this reason makes room for a scholarly debate. Some scholars argue that that these sources are unreliable and worthless for historical purposes instead to use archaeological, inscriptional, and art historical materials. Olivelle argues that the dismissal of normative texts is unwise and betrays the spirit of these documents.[41]
Written after the Dharmasūtras, these texts use a metered verse and are much more elaborate in their scope. Scholars have postulated that these texts are actually compilations of common gnomic verses of the times, known by the śiṣṭas. Such verses were regularly cited as legitimation for legal judgments and advice. At some point these verses were gathered together into complete texts under the name of particular sages. These texts are said to have been edited and updated with additions of verses which had not previously been included.[43] However, there is an ongoing debate amongst scholars regarding this matter. Other scholars refute the multiple authorship idea, claiming that the major texts were written by a single author at a particular time in history and remained relatively unedited as time went by.[44] Regardless, by attributing their authorship to that of well known sages like Nārada, the text takes on a superior authority. The most influential texts are listed below, along with their approximate dates:
The commentaries (Bhashya) on the Dharmaśāstras were generally devoted to one particular text, or smṛti. The commentators saw themselves as interpreters of the texts, concerning themselves with explaining the meaning of the texts they were commenting on.[51] The digests (nibandhas) were arranged by topic, more or less, and drew upon many different smṛtis for their source material. For example, an author of a digest might focus on the topic of inheritance, and then discuss how several different smṛtis address the issue. In many cases it is difficult to tell the difference between a commentary and a digest because many commentaries draw upon several outside sources to legitimate the claims they make about a specific smṛti and to attempt to reconcile any disagreements between the texts.