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tras 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 including that of ideal dharma but parts of vedas have been lost 46 human customs developed from the original complete vedas but given the lost text one must use customs between good people as a source to infer what the original vedas might have stated the dharma to be 46 this theory called the lost veda theory made the study of customs of good people as a source of dharma and guide to proper living states olivelle 46 testimony during a trial the witness must take an oath before deposing single witness normally does not suffice as many as three witnesses are required false evidence must face sanctions gautama dharmasutras 13 2 13 6 48 49 the sources of dharma according to gautama dharmasutra are three the vedas the smriti tradition acāra the practice of those who know the veda these three sources are also found in later dharmashastra literature 46 baudhāyana dharmasutra lists the same three but calls the third as śiṣṭa शिष्ट literally polite cultured people note 2 or the practice of cultured people as the third source of dharma 46 both baudhāyana dharmasutra and vāsiṣṭha dharmasutra make the practices of śiṣṭa as a source of dharma but both state that the geographical location of such polite cultured people does not limit the usefulness of universal precepts contained in their practices 46 in case of conflict between different sources of dharma gautama dharmasutra states that the vedas prevail over other sources and if two vedic texts are in conflict then the individual has a choice to follow either 51 the nature of dharmasūtras is normative they tell what people ought to do but they do not tell what people actually did 52 some scholars state that these sources are unreliable and worthless for historical purposes instead to use archaeology epigraphy and other historical evidence to establish the actual legal codes in indian history olivelle states that the dismissal of normative texts is unwise as is believing that the dharmasutras and dharmashastras texts present a uniform code of conduct and there were no divergent or dissenting views 52 the dharmaśāstras edit written after the dharmasūtras these texts use a metered verse and are much more elaborate in their scope than dharmasutras 53 the word dharmaśāstras never appears in the vedic texts and the word śāstra itself appears for the first time in yaska s nirukta text 54 katyayana s commentary on panini s work 3rd century bce has the oldest known single mention of the word dharmaśāstras 54 the extant dharmaśāstras texts are listed below the manusmriti 2nd to 3rd century ce 55 56 is the most studied and earliest metrical work of the dharmaśāstra textual tradition of hinduism 57 58 the medieval era buddhistic law of myanmar and thailand are also ascribed to manu 59 60 and the text influenced past hindu kingdoms in cambodia and indonesia 61 the yājñavalkya smṛti 4th to 5th century ce 55 has been called the best composed and most homogeneous 62 text of the dharmaśāstra tradition with its superior vocabulary and level of sophistication it may have been more influential than manusmriti as a legal theory text 63 64 the nāradasmṛti 5th to 6th century ce 55 has been called the juridical text par excellence and represents the only dharmaśāstra text which deals solely with juridical matters and ignoring those of righteous conduct and penance 65 the viṣṇusmṛti 7th century ce 55 is one of the latest books of the dharmaśāstra 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 66 in addition numerous other dharmaśāstras are known 67 note 3 partially or indirectly with very different ideas customs and conflicting versions 70 for example the manuscripts of bṛhaspatismṛti and the kātyāyanasmṛti have not been found but their verses have been cited in other texts and scholars have made an effort to extract these cited verses thus creating a modern reconstruction of these texts 71 scholars such as jolly and aiyangar have gathered some 2 400 verses of the lost bṛhaspatismṛti text in this manner 71 brihaspati smriti was likely a larger and more comprehensive text than manusmriti 71 yet both brihaspati smriti and katyayana smriti seem to have been predominantly devoted to judicial process and jurisprudence 72 the writers of dharmasastras acknowledged their mutual differences and developed a doctrine of consensus reflecting regional customs and preferences 73 of the four extant dharmasastras manusmriti yajnavalkyasmriti and naradasmriti are the most important surviving texts 74 but states robert lingat numerous other dharmasastras whose manuscripts are now missing have enjoyed equal authority 74 between the three the manusmriti became famous during the colonial british india era yet modern scholarship states that other dharmasastras such as the yajnavalkyasmriti appear to have played a greater role in guiding the actual dharma 75 further the dharmasastras were open texts and they underwent alterations and rewriting through their history 76 contents of dharmasutras and dharmaśāstra edit a facsimile of an inscription in oriya script on a copper plate recording a land grant made by rāja purushottam deb king of odisha in the fifth year of his reign 1483 land grants made by royal decree were protected by law with deeds often being recorded on metal plates all dharma in hindu traditions has its foundation in the vedas 16 the dharmashastra 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 atmasantushti self satisfaction 77 the dharmashastra texts include conflicting claims on the sources of dharma the theological claim therei...
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