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veda atharvaveda divisions samhita brahmana aranyaka upanishads upanishads rig vedic aitareya kaushitaki sama vedic chandogya kena yajur vedic brihadaranyaka isha taittiriya katha shvetashvatara maitri atharva vedic mundaka mandukya prashna other scriptures agamas bhagavad gita tantras related hindu texts vedangas shiksha chandas vyakarana nirukta kalpa jyotisha puranas brahma puranas brahma brahmānda brahmavaivarta markandeya bhavishya vaishnava puranas vishnu bhagavata naradiya garuda padma vamana varaha purana kurma matsya shaiva puranas shiva linga skanda vayu agni shakta puranas devi bhagavata itihasa ramayana historicity mahabharata historicity sangam literature saiva tirumurai divya prabandham tirumurukāṟṟuppaṭai thiruppugazh tirukkuṟaḷ kamba ramayanam five great epics eighteen greater texts eighteen lesser texts aathichoodi iraiyanar akapporul abhirami anthadhi thiruvilaiyadal puranam vinayagar agaval shastras and sutras dharma shastra manusmriti yajnavalkya smriti nāradasmṛti vishnu smriti artha shastra kamasutra brahma sutras samkhya sutras mimamsa sutras nyāya sūtras vaiśeṣika sūtra yoga sutras pramana sutras charaka samhita sushruta samhita natya shastra vastu shastra panchatantra divya prabandha tirumurai ramcharitmanas yoga vasistha swara yoga shiva samhita gheranda samhita panchadasi vedantasara stotra timeline timeline of hindu texts v t e dharmaśāstra sanskrit धर्मशास्त्र are sanskrit puranic smriti texts on law and conduct and refer to treatises śāstras on dharma these texts are elaborate law commentaries often more theoretical than practical there are many dharmaśāstras variously estimated to number from 18 to over 100 note 1 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 vedanga studies in the vedic era 2 3 the textual corpus of dharmaśāstra were composed in poetic verse 4 and are part of the hindu smritis 5 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 6 7 the texts include discussion of ashrama stages of life varna social classes purushartha proper goals of life personal virtues and duties such as ahimsa non violence against all living beings rules of just war and other topics 8 9 10 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 hindus jains buddhists sikhs in the indian subcontinent 11 12 13 the most well known and discussed dharmaśāstra today is manusmriti history edit copy of a royal land grant recorded on copper plate made by chalukya king tribhuvana malla deva in 1083 the dharmashastras are based on ancient dharmasūtra texts which themselves emerged from the literary tradition of the vedas rig yajur sāma and atharva composed in 2nd millennium bce to the early centuries of the 1st millennium bce these vedic branches split into various other schools shakhas possibly for a variety of reasons such as geography specialization and disputes 14 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 15 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 15 16 the vedic basis of dharma literature is found in the brahmana layer of the vedas 15 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 15 the vedangas were ancillary sciences that focused on understanding and interpreting the vedas composed many centuries earlier and included shiksha phonetics syllable chandas poetic metre vyakarana grammar linguistics nirukta etymology glossary jyotisha timekeeping astronomy and kalpa ritual or proper procedures the kalpa vedanga studies gave rise to the dharma sutras which later expanded into dharma shastras 15 17 18 the dharmasutras edit the dharmasutras were numerous but only four texts have survived into the modern era 19 the most important of these texts are the sutras of apastamba gautama baudhayana and vasistha 20 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 21 22 the extant dharmasutras are written in concise sutra format 23 with a very terse incomplete sentence structure which are difficult to understand and leave much to the reader to interpret 19 the dharmasastras are derivative works on the dharmasutras using a shloka four 8 syllable verse style chandas poetry anushtubh meter which are relatively clearer 19 4 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 19 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 20 however dharmasutras typically did not deal with rituals and ceremonies a topic that was covered in the shrautasutras and grihyasutras texts of the kalpa vedanga 19 style of composition edit 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 24 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 25 the dharmasūtras of āpastamba and baudhāyana form a part of larger kalpasutra texts all of which has survived into the modern era 25 the sūtra tradition ended around the beginning of the common era and was followed by the poetic octosyllable verse style called the śloka 26 the verse style was used to compose the dharmaśāstras such as the manusmriti the hindu epics and the puranas 26 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 26 authorship and dates edit about 20 dharmasutras are known some surviving into the modern era just as fragments of their original 27 four dharmasūtras have been translated into english and most remain in manuscripts 27 all carry the names of their authors but it is still difficult to determine who these real authors were 26 the extant dharmasūtra texts are listed below apastamba 450 350 bce this dharmasūtra forms a part of the larger kalpasūtra of apastamba it contains 1 364 sutras 28 gautama 600 200 bce although this dharmasūtra comes down as an independent treatise it may have once formed a part of the kalpasūtra linked to the samaveda 29 it is likely the oldest extant dharma text and originated in what is modern maharashtra gujarat 30 it contains 973 sutras 31 baudhāyana 500 200 bce this dharmasūtra like that of apastamba also forms a part of the larger kalpasūtra it contains 1 236 sutras 28 vasishtha 300 100 bce this dharmasūtra forms an independent treatise and other parts of the kalpasūtra that is shrauta and grihya sutras are missing 27 it contains 1 038 sutras 28 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 26 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 32 the issue of authorship is further complicated by the fact that apart from āpastamba the other dharmasūtras have various alterations made at later times 32 excellence practise righteousness dharma not unrighteousness speak the truth not an untruth look at what is distant not what s near at hand look at the highest not at what s less than highest vasishtha dharmasutra 30 1 33 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 34 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 35 30 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 36 baudhāyana also came from south although evidence regarding this is weaker than that of āpastamba 36 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 29 nothing can be said about vasiṣṭha due to lack of any evidence 37 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 37 literary structure edit the structure of these dharmasūtras primarily addresses the brahmins both in subject matter and the audience 38 the brahmins are the creators and primary consumers of these texts 38 the subject matter of dharmasūtras is dharma the central focus of these texts is how a brahmin male should conduct himself during his lifetime 38 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 39 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 39 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 39 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 40 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 40 ollivelle suggests that these changes may be because of chronological reasons where civil law increasingly became part of the king s administrative responsibilities 40 the meaning of dharma edit dharma is a concept which is not limited to a particular religion or region it s applicable for all the living and non living organism or thing in this world 41 the term means a lot of things and has a wide scope of interpretation 41 the fundamental meaning of dharma in dharmasūtras states olivelle is diverse and includes accepted norms of behavior procedures within a ritual moral actions righteousness and ethical attitudes civil and criminal law legal procedures and penance or punishment and guidelines for proper and productive living 42 the term dharma also includes social institutions such as marriage inheritance adoption work contracts judicial process in case of disputes as well personal choices such as meat as food and sexual conduct 43 the source of dharma scriptures or empiricism edit the source of dharma was a question that loomed in the minds of dharma text writers and they tried to seek where guidelines for dharma can be found 44 they sought to define and examine vedic injunctions as the source of dharma asserting that like the vedas dharma is not of human origin 44 this worked for rituals related rules but in all other matters this created numerous interpretations and different derivations 44 this led to documents with various working definitions such as dharma of different regions deshadharma of social groups jatidharma of different families kuladharma 44 the authors of dharmasutras and dharmashastra admit that these dharmas are not found in the vedic texts nor can the behavioral rules included therein be found in any of the vedas 44 this led to the incongruity between the search for legal codes and dharma rules in the theological versus the reality of epistemic origins of dharma rules and guidelines 44 the hindu scholar āpastamba in a dharmasutra named after him 400 bce made an attempt to resolve this issue of incongruity he placed the importance of the veda scriptures second and that of samayacarika or mutually agreed and accepted customs of practice first 45 āpastamba thus proposed that scriptures alone cannot be source of law dharma and dharma has an empirical nature 45 āpastamba asserted that it is difficult to find absolute sources of law in ancient books or current people states patrick olivelle with the righteous dharma and the unrighteous adharma do not go around saying here we are nor do gods gandharvas or ancestors declare this is righteous and that is unrighteous 45 most laws are based on agreement between the aryas stated āpastamba on what is right and what is wrong 45 laws must also change with ages stated āpastamba a theory that became known as yuga dharma in hindu traditions 46 āpastamba also asserted in verses 2 29 11 15 states olivelle that aspects of dharma not taught in dharmasastras can be learned from women and people of all classes 47 āpastamba used a hermeneutic strategy that asserted that the vedas once contained all knowledge includin...
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