Dharamshastra: Definition, Origin, Composition, Significance & UPSC Notes

The Dharamshastra is an ancient Sanskrit text that contains the moral, legal, and social obligations of the Hindu world. Hindu civil law and ethical conduct are based on these scriptures. Dharamshastra was written between 500 BCE and 500 CE and gives details of how people of different castes, ages, and stages of life should act. It also includes the responsibilities of rulers, lifestyles of families, ceremonies, and behaviours. As a part of the Vedas, it has contributed significantly to the establishment of Indian customs and traditions up to the present day. Dharamshastra, to the Indian students, is the starting point in an effort to comprehend the historical Indian source of law and morals.

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Political Science and International Relations (PSIR), an optional in UPSC, has extreme significance in the Dharmashastra. It assists in deciphering the origins of the ancient Indian political thinking and law. In Paper I, Section A (Indian Political Thought), political theorists such as Manu, Kautilya and Shukra are mentioned whose thoughts were placed in context through the Dharmashastra, which discusses issues of state, law, kingship, and duty (dharma). It demonstrates the significant relationship between politics and morality in ancient India. Also, the original social contract, justice, and rules are found in the Dharma Shastra. It gives PSIR aspirants a great deal of information on the indigenous political philosophies of India to compare with the Western theories. Join the UPSC coaching today and boost your preparation. 

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What is the Dharmashastra?

Dharmashastras are old Hindu scriptures that formulate policies for righteous living, social responsibilities, and laws. These are literary texts that tell people how to behave morally, what justice, rituals, and duties should be according to their caste (varna), and stage of life (ashrama). Dharmashastras have a Vedic origin, and popular texts include Manusmriti, Yajnavalkya Smriti, and Narada Smriti. They were written 500-500 BCE and 500 CE. Dharmashastras were ancient Hindu laws that were used in everyday governing cases. They give a profound reflection of the traditional Indian value system, and elements of Indian society reflect them even today.

• Dharmasastra can refer to both the texts on dharma or the Sanskrit literature on law and conduct.
• A number of Dharmashastras, numbering 18 to about 100, each have varying and in some cases conflicting opinions.
• All these writings have several different forms, and all of them are founded on the Dharmasutra manuscripts dated to the beginning of the first millennium BCE, which appeared due to the Vedic Kalpa research.
• The dharma literature was composed in verse form and is a formation of the Hindu Smritis, which has many remarks and discourses on what one is supposed to do, responsibilities, and morality to self, family, and society.
• The writings address ashrama (stages of life), varna (caste divisions), purushartha (rightful goals in life), personal virtue and obligations such as ahimsa (nonviolence) to all living beings, just rules of war and more.
• Dharmasatra acquired a modern political life in the history of colonial India by being enacted in modern colonial India by the first British colonial officials as the law of the land of all non-Muslims in all of South Asia, after Sharia, i.e. Fatawa-e-Alamgiri by Emperor Muhammad Aurangzeb had already been incorporated as the law governing Muslims in colonial India.
• Smritis can be of two types, i.e. Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras. Their topics are almost the same.
• The description of the Dharmasutras is in prose form in the form of short maxims (Sutras), and the Dharmashastra is in poetry (Shlokas).

Vedic tradition. The Dharmashastras were developed as part of the Vedic tradition, during a period between 500 BCE and 500 CE. They include smriti (remembered) and shruti (heard) teachings, and especially the Brahmanas and Upanishads. These texts were written to formalise rules of behaviour, justice and organisation of the society as society became more complex. Wise men such as Manu, Yajnavalkya and Narada contributed a lot to this system.

• The Dharmashastras are grounded on some ancient Dharmasutras which have evolved out of the Vedic literature tradition (Rig, Yajur, Sma and Atharva), dated between the 2nd millennium BCE and the beginning of the 1st millennium BCE.
• Some differences leading to the formation of other schools (shakhas) resulted from various issues such as place, specialisation, and dispute, among others.
• In turn, every Veda is divided into the Sahit, consisting of a set of mantra lines, and the Brahmanas, which are the prose books describing the meaning of the verses of the Samhita.
• The Brahmana layer expanded further, and several upper esoteric theoretical levels of the literature were referred to as Aranyakas. The parts continued to be referred to as Upanishads, which were mystical and philosophical.
• The foundation of the Vedic Dharma literature provides the contents of the Brahmana layer of the Vedas.

Dharmashastras - Composition

The Dharmashastrians were written either in Sanskrit prose or verse and were mainly in the form of Smritis - the writings founded on remembered tradition. Among the most significant works are the Manusmriti, the Yajnavalkya Smriti, and the Narada Smriti, which describe obligations, laws and conventions. These writings are systematically written with 2 topics of 2 elements, 3 on 2 elements, 3 on 3 elements, and 4 on 2 elements. Sages wrote them to regulate social life and preserve order based on the varna and ashrama systems.

• Hindu religions depend on the Vedas, and all Dharma is based on the Vedas.
• The sources of Dharma mentioned in the Dharmashastra scriptures include the Vedic rules, tradition, the good nature of persons who learn the Vedas and satisfaction of oneself (Atmasantushti, self-satisfaction).
• Dharma-scriptures called Dharmashastra give conflicting references to the origins of dharma.
• The theological thesis there maintains, without any expounding, that Dharma, being the Vedas, is eternal and timeless, and the latter either a) directly or b) indirectly is connected to the Vedas.
• But these scriptures view the necessity of Smriti, the conventions of friendly knowledgeable people, and conscience as a source of dharma.
• Historical fact is very different to theological allusion to the Vedas, and the dharma of the Dharmasastra has nothing in common with the Vedas.
• These were the habits, norms, or utterances of the writers and were most probably developed due to the rise in the regional moral, ideological, cultural and legal practices.

Meaning of Dharma

Dharma is one of the most essential terms of Indian philosophy, and it translates to duty, righteousness and moral order. It is the ethical course which every individual has to pursue depending on their role, age, and life stage in society. Dharma is a virtuous path as per the Dharmashastra tradition, and it directs persons in how to behave in their family, social life, and personal responsibilities. It contains sincerity, non-violence, justice, and respect for other people. Dharma is religio, but also a way of life, which creates harmony and balance in society. According to Hindu views and ancient Indian law, acting according to their Dharma was considered a means of preserving cosmic order and attaining spiritual growth.

• Dharma is a wide-ranging concept in Hinduism, and it has several explanations.
• Its primary aim is to secure the rational and regular course of its creation and its existence by maintaining its structure and upholding its system of supports, values, order, and regularity.
• According to Hinduism, one of the tasks that God set for himself is to create worlds and creatures by the implementation of the Dharma, which is peculiar to each of them.
• The Dharma laws are universal in the fact that they have only one source, and that is God.
• Despite this, however, the differences in their implementations arise because of the application at different levels and in other worlds based on the tasks, roles and obligations of each of them.
• Dharma will never be destroyed, but it is modified by time in its practice and enforcement.
• Consequently, they are likely to change.
• They are also applied to entraved men to duty or mortality, not, however, to those to whom it is eternal liberty.
• In the free state of the souls (muktas), they have eternity of power in the world of Brahman, where there are neither restrictions nor rules, only the infinite consciousness and infinite life without laws and limitations.
• Every soul is lord of itself, lives solitary, is not bound to anything, is whole and perfect and much like God in being in one condition in that eternal and infinite state.

Dharmashastras - Significance

The Dharmashastras were critical in determining ancient Indian law, moral standards, and societal makeup. They also gave an elaborate account of individual responsibilities, legal institutions and varna and ashrama-based governance. These books had a touch of Hindu personal laws, and they went on dominating and influencing the Indian society in the coming centuries. The moral and legal values with which they made the claim continue to influence culture and societal norms today in India.

• Dharmashastras, too, are not the products of divine revelations like the Vedas are.
• This has exposed them to the weaknesses that the human mind is susceptible to.
• They were carefully made so that they could bring divine teaching.
• In them is divine knowledge as cleansed by human intelligence, and passed through the sieve of intelligent intelligence.
• This makes them fall under the category of smriti as opposed to sruti.
• They are the work of spiritual sages, scholars, royalty, and lawmakers who were part of its planning and implementation.
• The law books provided every course of creatures with the best possible alternatives of following the four principles of dharma, artha, kama and Moksha. Still, those were not free from any caste discrimination, and a few social classes were preferred.
• They can be defined as a silent effort by intelligent people trying to preserve the status quo and keep the social, economic, and political privileges of particular castes intact.
• Dharma Shastras tried to keep the world on the keel of order and regularity around the clock with the help of the authority of God and religion. Still, they could not achieve this aspect entirely. As a result of the erosion of Hindu rule in the Indian subcontinent, the jurisdictional strength of Dharma Shastras also gave way.

Dharmashastras - Influence

The Hindu system of personal law, societal practices, and moral conduct was significantly affected by the Dharmashastras. They influenced the way the caste system was developed, family functions, and traditions concerning the law pursued in generations. The codified Hindu Law assumed many of the Dharma Shastra principles during the British rule. These influenced the marriage, inheritance, and religious practices in India even today.

• Dharmasastras were a big part of the modern history of colonial India, where they were used as the source of law of the land for all non-Muslim citizens (Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs).
• The initial British were those of the East Indian Company operating as the 18th-century agents of the Mughal emperor.
• Since the British colonial administration took the political and administrative powers in India, they were also charged with numerous state roles, some of which included legislative and justice services.
• The East India Company, and then the British Crown, tried to gain profits for their British stockholders in trade. At the same time, they attempted to exercise effective political control with minimum troop presence.

Conclusion

A Sanskrit literary genre named Dharmasastra, the Sanskrit word, is a reference to the Dharma works (shastras) of Hinduism. The Hindu Dharmashastras are old Hindu writings on the law that suggest ethical standards and norms of intense commitment and good conduct to the adherents of the faith. Historically, Hindu rulers imposed laws due to their religious duty, and they shaped the limits of their social and spiritual conduct.

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