Dharmaśāstra


Dharmaśāstra are Sanskrit Puranic Smriti texts on law and conduct, and refer to treatises on Dharma. Like the Dharmasūtras which are based upon the Vedas, these texts are also elaborate law commentaries based on the Vedas, and evolved from Dharmasutras. There are many Dharmaśāstras, variously estimated to number from 18 to over 100. Each of these texts exists in many different versions, and each is rooted in Dharmasutra texts dated to the 1st millennium BCE that emerged from Kalpa studies in the Vedic era.
The textual corpus of Dharmaśāstra were composed in poetic verse, and are part of the Hindu Smritis, constituting divergent commentaries and treatises on ethics particularly duties, and responsibilities to oneself and family as well as those required as a member of society. The texts include discussion of ashrama, varna, purushartha, personal virtues and duties such as ahimsa against all living beings, rules of just war, and other topics.
Dharmaśāstra 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 in the Indian subcontinent, after Sharia set by Emperor Aurangzeb under his compendium Fatwa Alamgiri, was already accepted as the law for Muslims in colonial India.

History

The Dharmashastras are based on ancient Dharmasūtra texts, which themselves emerged from the literary tradition of the Vedas composed in 2nd millennium BCE to the early centuries of the 1st millennium BCE. These Vedic branches split into various other schools possibly for a variety of reasons such as geography, specialization and disputes. Each Veda is further divided into two categories namely the Saṃhitā which is a collection of mantra verses and the Brahmanas which are prose texts that explain the meaning of the Samhita verses. The Brāhmaṇa layer expanded and some of the newer esoteric layers of text that explore the hidden meanings behind Vedic rituals were called Aranyakas while the philosophical sections came to be called the Upanishads. The Vedic basis of Dharma literature is found in the Brahmana layer of the Vedas.
Towards the end of the Vedic period, after the middle of the 1st millennium BCE, the language of the Vedic texts composed centuries earlier grew too archaic to the people of that time. This led to the formation of Vedic Supplements called the Vedangas which literally means 'limbs of the Veda'. The Vedangas were ancillary sciences that focused on understanding and interpreting the Vedas composed many centuries earlier, and included Shiksha, Chandas, Vyakarana, Nirukta, Jyotisha, and Kalpa. The Kalpa Vedanga studies gave rise to the Dharma-sutras, which later expanded into Dharma-shastras.

The Dharmasutras

The Dharmasutras were numerous, but only four texts have survived into the modern era. The most important of these texts are the sutras of Apastamba, Gautama, Baudhayana, and Vasistha. These extant texts cite writers and refer opinions of seventeen authorities, implying that a rich Dharmasutras tradition existed prior to when these texts were composed.
The extant Dharmasutras are written in concise sutra format, with a very terse incomplete sentence structure which are difficult to understand and leave much to the reader to interpret. The Dharmasastras are derivative works on the Dharmasutras, using a shloka, which are relatively clearer.
The Dharmasutras can be called the guidebooks of dharma as they contain guidelines for individual and social behavior, ethical norms, as well as personal, civil and criminal law. They discuss the duties and rights of people at different stages of life like studenthood, householdership, retirement and renunciation. These stages are also called ashramas. They also discuss the rites and duties of kings, judicial matters, and personal law such as matters relating to marriage and inheritance. However, Dharmasutras typically did not deal with rituals and ceremonies, a topic that was covered in the Shrautasutras and Grihyasutras texts of the Kalpa.

Style of composition

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 sutra which literally means thread on which each aphorism is strung like a pearl.
The Dharmasūtras are composed in sutra style and were part of a larger compilation of texts, called the Kalpasūtras which give an aphoristic description of the rituals, ceremonies and proper procedures. The Kalpasutras contain three sections, namely the Śrautasūtras which deal with vedic ceremonies, Gṛhyasūtras which deal with rites of passage rituals and domestic matters, and Dharmasūtras which deal with proper procedures in one's life. The Dharmasūtras of Āpastamba and Baudhāyana form a part of larger Kalpasutra texts, all of which has survived into the modern era.
The sūtra tradition ended around the beginning of the common era and was followed by the poetic octosyllable verse style called the śloka. The verse style was used to compose the Dharmaśāstras such as the Manusmriti, the Hindu epics, and the Puranas.
The age of Smṛtis that ended 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 Smritis.

Authorship and dates

About 20 Dharmasutras are known, some surviving into the modern era just as fragments of their original. Four Dharmasūtras have been translated into English, and most remain in manuscripts. All carry the names of their authors, but it is still difficult to determine who these real authors were.
The extant Dharmasūtra texts are listed below:

  1. Apastamba this Dharmasūtra forms a part of the larger Kalpasūtra of Apastamba. It contains 1,364 sutras.
  2. Gautama although this Dharmasūtra comes down as an independent treatise it may have once formed a part of the Kalpasūtra, linked to the Samaveda. It is likely the oldest extant Dharma text, and originated in what is modern Maharashtra-Gujarat. It contains 973 sutras.
  3. Baudhāyana this Dharmasūtra like that of Apastamba also forms a part of the larger Kalpasūtra. It contains 1,236 sutras.
  4. Vasishtha this Dharmasūtra forms an independent treatise and other parts of the Kalpasūtra, that is Shrauta- and Grihya-sutras are missing. It contains 1,038 sutras.

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. 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. The issue of authorship is further complicated by the fact that apart from Āpastamba the other Dharmasūtras have various alterations made at later times.
There is uncertainty regarding the dates of these documents due to lack of evidence concerning these documents. Kane has posited the following dates for the texts, for example, though other scholars disagree: Gautama 600 BCE to 400 BCE, Āpastamba 450 BCE to 350 BCE, Baudhāyana 500 BCE to 200 BCE, and Vasiṣṭha 300 BCE to 100 BCE. Patrick Olivelle suggests that Apastamba Dharmasutra is the oldest of the extant texts in Dharmasutra genre and one by Gautama second oldest, while Robert Lingat suggests that Gautama Dharmasutra is the oldest.
There is confusion regarding the geographical provenance of these documents. According to Bühler and Kane, Āpastamba came from South India probably from a region corresponding to modern Andhra Pradesh. Baudhāyana also came from south although evidence regarding this is weaker than that of Āpastamba. Gautama likely came from western region, nearer to the northwestern region to which Pāṇini belonged, and one which corresponds to where Maratha people in modern India are found. Nothing can be said about Vasiṣṭha due to lack of any evidence.
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.

Literary structure

The structure of these Dharmasūtras primarily addresses the Brahmins both in subject matter and the audience. The Brahmins are the creators and primary consumers of these texts. The subject matter of Dharmasūtras is dharma. The central focus of these texts is how a Brahmin male should conduct himself during his lifetime. The text of Āpastamba which is best preserved has a total of 1,364 sūtras out of which 1,206 are devoted to the Brahmin, whereas only 158 deals with topics of general nature. 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 Dharmasutras introduced vedic initiation was to make the individual subject to Dharma precepts at school, by making him a 'twice born' man, because children were considered exempt from Dharma precepts in the vedic tradition.
The structure of Dharmasūtra of Āpastamba begins with the duties of the student, then describes householder duties and rights such as inheritance, 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 some sections such as inheritance and penance are reorganized, and moved from householder section to king-related section. Ollivelle suggests that these changes may be because of chronological reasons where civil law increasingly became part of the king's administrative responsibilities.