The Dharma Shaasthra-s are based on the difficult to read Dharma Soothra-s.
NOTE
Dharma Shaasthra-s are part of Kalpa Vedaanga, though most of the sins and stuff are not mentioned in the Veda-s.
Introduction
The textual corpus of Dharma Shaasthra-s were composed in poetic verses, are part of the Hindu Smritis, constituting divergent commentaries and treatises on duties, responsibilities and ethics to oneself, to family and as a member of society.
The texts include discussion of Aashrama (stages of life), Varna (social classes), Purushaartha (proper goals of life), personal virtues and duties such as Ahimsa (non-violence) against all living beings, rules of just war, and other topics.
Note
Dharma Shaasthra became influential in modern colonial India history, when they were formulated by early British colonial administrators to be the law of the land for all non-Muslims (Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs) in the Indian subcontinent, after Sharia set by Emperor Aurangzeb, was already accepted as the law for Muslims in colonial India.
Texts
The extant Dharma Shaasthra texts are listed below:
- The Manu Smriti ( 2nd to 3rd century CE) is the most studied and earliest metrical work of the Dharma Shaasthra textual tradition of Hinduism. The medieval era Buddhistic law of Myanmar and Thailand are also ascribed to Manu, and the text influenced past Hindu kingdoms in Cambodia and Indonesia.
- The Yaajnavalkya Smriti (~4th to 5th-century CE) has been called the “best composed” and “most homogeneous” text of the Dharma Shaasthra tradition, with its superior vocabulary and level of sophistication. It may have been more influential than Manusmriti as a legal theory text.
- The Naarada Smriti (~5th to 6th-century CE) has been called the “juridical text par excellence” and represents the only Dharma Shaasthra text which deals solely with juridical matters and ignoring those of righteous conduct and penance.
- The Vishnu Smriti (~7th-century CE) is one of the latest books of the Dharma Shaasthra tradition in Hinduism and also the only one which does not deal directly with the means of knowing Dharma, focusing instead on the Bhakti tradition.
British Influence
Of the four extant Dharma Shaasthra-s, Manu Smrithi, Yaajnavalkya Smrithi and Naarada Smrithi are the most important surviving texts. But, states Robert Lingat, numerous other Dharma Shaasthra-s whose manuscripts are now missing, have enjoyed equal authority.
Between the three, the Manu Smrithi became famous during the colonial British India era, yet modern scholarship states that other Dharma Shaasthra-s such as the Yaajnavalkya Smrithi appear to have played a greater role in guiding the actual Dharma.
Further, the Dharma Shaasthra-s were open texts, and they underwent alterations and rewriting through their history.
Contents of Dharma Shaasthra-s and Dharma Soothra-s
All Dharma, in Hindu traditions, has its foundation in the Vedas. The Dharma Shaasthra texts enumerate four sources of Dharma – the precepts in the Vedas, the tradition, the virtuous conduct of those who know the Vedas, and approval of one’s conscience (Aatma Santhushti / Self Satisfaction).
The Dharma Shaasthra texts include conflicting claims on the sources of dharma. The theological claim therein asserts, without any elaboration, that Dharma just like the Vedas are eternal and timeless, the former is directly or indirectly related to the Vedas.
Yet these texts also acknowledge the role of Smriti, customs of polite learned people, and one’s conscience as source of dharma.
The historical reality, states Patrick Olivelle, is very different from the theological reference to the Vedas, and the dharma taught in the Dharma Shaasthra has little to do with the Vedas. These were customs, norms or pronouncements of the writers of these texts that were likely derived from evolving regional ethical, ideological, cultural and legal practices.
The Dharma Soothra and Dharma Shaasthra texts, as they have survived into the modern era, were not authored by a single author. They were viewed by the ancient and medieval era commentators, states Olivelle, to be the works of many authors.
Robert Lingat adds that these texts suggest that “a rich literature on dharma already existed” before these were first composed. These texts were revised and interpolated through their history because the various text manuscripts discovered in India are inconsistent with each other, and within themselves, raising concerns of their authenticity.
The Dharma Shaasthra texts present their ideas under various categories such as Aachara, Vyavahaara, Praayaschittha and others, but they do so inconsistently. Some discuss Aachara but do not discuss Vyavahaara, as is the case with Parashara-Smrithi for instance, while some solely discuss Vyavahaara.
Aachara
Aachara (आचार) literally means “good behavior, custom”. It refers to the normative behavior and practices of a community, conventions and behaviors that enable a society and various individuals therein to function.
Vyavahaara
Vyavahaara (व्यवहार) literally means “judicial procedure, process, practice, conduct and behaviour”. The due process, honesty in testimony, considering various sides, was justified by Dharma Shaasthra authors as a form of Vedic sacrifice, failure of the due process was declared to be a sin.
The Vyavahaara sections of Dharma texts included chapters on duties of a king, court system, judges and witnesses, judicial process, crimes and penance or punishment. However, the discussions and procedures in different Dharma Soothra and Dharma Shaasthra texts diverge significantly.
Some Dharma Shaasthra texts such as that attributed to Brihaspathi, are almost entirely Vyavahaara-related texts. These were probably composed in the common era, around or after 5th-century of 1st millennium.
Praayaschittha
Prayaaschittha (प्रायश्चित्त) literally means “atonement, expiation, penance”. Praayaschittha is asserted by the Dharma Soothra and Dharma Shaasthra texts as an alternative to incarceration and punishment, and a means of expiating bad conduct or sin such as adultery by a married person.
Thus, in the Apastambha text, a willing sexual act between a male and female is subject to penance, while rape is covered by harsher judicial punishments, with a few texts such as Manusmriti suggesting public punishments in extreme cases.
Those texts that discuss Praayaschittha, states Robert Lingat, debate the intent and thought behind the improper act, and consider penance appropriate when the “effect” had to be balanced, but “cause” was unclear. The roots of this theory are found in the Brahmana layer of text in the Samaveda.
Contributions by different Hindu schools of thought
The Meemaamsa school of Hindu philosophy developed textual hermeneutics, theories on language and interpretation of Dharma, ideas which contributed to the Dharma Soothra-s and Dharma Shaasthra-s. The Vedaanga fields of grammar and linguistics – Vyaakarana and Niruktha – were the other significant contributors to the Dharma-text genre.
Mimamsa literally means the “desire to think”, states Donald Davis, and in colloquial historical context “how to think, interpret things, and the meaning of texts”.
In the early portions of the Vedas, the focus was largely on the rituals; in the later portions, largely on philosophical speculations and the spiritual liberation (moksha) of the individual.
The Dharma-texts, over time and each in its own way, attempted to present their theories on rules and duties of individuals from the perspective of a society, using the insights of hermeneutics and on language developed by Mimamsa and Vedanga.
The Nyaya school of Hindu philosophy, and its insights into the theories on logic and reason, contributed to the development of and disagreements between the Dharma Shaastgra texts, and the term Nyaya came to mean “justice”.