Dharma-sutras and Dharma-shastras
Among the texts inspired by the Vedas are the Dharma-sutras, or “manuals on dharma,” which contain rules of conduct and rites as they were practiced in various Vedic schools. Their principal contents address the duties of people at different stages of life, or ashramas (studenthood, householdership, retirement, and renunciation); dietary regulations; offenses and expiations; and the rights and duties of kings. They also discuss purification rites, funerary ceremonies, forms of hospitality, and daily oblations, and they even mention juridical matters. The most important of these texts are the sutras of Gautama, Baudhayana, and Apastamba. Although the direct relationship is not clear, the contents of these works were further elaborated in the more systematic Dharma-shastras, which in turn became the basis of Hindu law.
First among them stands the Dharma-shastra of Manu, also known as the Manu-smriti (“Tradition of Manu”; c. 200 ce), with 2,694 stanzas divided into 12 chapters. It deals with topics such as cosmogony, the definition of dharma, the sacraments, initiation and Vedic study, the eight forms of marriage, hospitality and funerary rites, dietary laws, pollution and purification, rules for women and wives, royal law, juridical matters, pious donations, rites of reparation, the doctrine of karma, the soul, and punishment in hell. Law in the juridical sense is thus completely embedded in religious law and practice. The framework is provided by the model of the four-class society. The influence of the Dharma-shastra of Manu has been enormous, as it provided Hindu society with the basis for its practical morality. But, for most of the Indian subcontinent, it is the commentaries on it (such as Medhatithi’s 9th-century commentary on Manu) and, even more, the local case law traditions arising out of the commentaries that have been the law.
Second to Manu is the Dharma-shastra of Yajnavalkya; its 1,013 stanzas are distributed under the three headings of good conduct, law, and expiation. The Mitaksara, the commentary on it by Vijnaneshvara (11th century), has extended the influence of Yajnavalkya’s work.