Dharmashastra: Vedic Law, Rituals and Ethics

      The period of Gautama Buddha and Mauryan Empire was the historical background in which both epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana together with major Shastras were composed. The Shastras, for the first time, talked about all aspects of the full life of a human. The very nature of this literature was different from Vedic literature in terms of matter, spirit, language and forms. Vedic literature was largely liturgical or philosophical while from now onward, the theme will get abundantly developed in all directions of human life. Most important Shastras requiring specific discussions cover all-important subjects of Dharma, Artha and Pleasure by the names of 'Dharma Shastra', 'Artha Shastra' and 'Kama Shastra'. Others that could also be included are Charak Samhita covering the entire gamut of Ayurveda, Vastu and Shilpa Shastra, etc. Let us touch upon the main three Shastras one by one.

Dharma Shastra

      Dharma Shastras are primarily focused on Brahmins who are creators, consumers and administrators of these texts. The subject matter is Dharma and focus is to let a Brahmin know as to how he should conduct himself during his entire lifetime. Dharma principles of these texts are generally accepted by Buddhists and Jains alike but with varying interpretations (strong view about Ahimsa being the single most divergent point of difference).

      The basic Sutras forming part of these Shastras are by Appastamba, Gautama, Baudhayana and Vashishtha which, like a guide book, mentioned doses and don'ts for all stages of life of a human, duties of kings, judicial matters and personal conduct like diet, penance, daily oblations, funerals, offenses, etc. These are prime texts establishing authority for varna vyavastha, asrama vyavastha, principles of dharma and law of karma. In total eighteen Shastras are included under Dharma Shastra but most important of these are:

1. Manu Smriti (200 BC to 200 CE),

2. Yajnavalkya Smriti (200 to 500 CE), and

3. Narada Smriti (100 BC to 400 CE).

      Manu is called the fore father of entire human race and crediting Manu Smriti (also called Manav Dharma Shastra) to his name suggest that it was not composed by a single author and must have been compiled by various contributors over a good long period of time. Manu Smriti details out very elaborate and clear laws, rules and codes of conduct to be applied to an individual, whole community and entire kingdoms. That is why Manu Smriti can be called a foundation of Hindu Social Law.

      There are a total of twelve chapters each contributing to a different subject matter which include what to eat, whom to meet and avoid, roles of different classes under the caste system, responsibilities of person at different stages of life, how to control woman, duties of a King to properly govern his kingdom, etc. Details included for what 'not to do' include people to be avoided from personal contact, people excluded from teaching Veda, women not to be married with, people not to be invited for specific ceremonies, people whose food is not to be eaten, people who do not qualify to be a witness, sons getting disqualified from inheritance, mixed castes to be excluded from social contacts, crimes resulting in getting one's own class degraded.

      Manu Smriti was also making a big shift in positioning women completely as subordinate to man from her earlier position of being subservient. Manu is known for his harshness towards women like never before. Provision after provision carry very adverse comments about their lustfulness and Manu (all other composers of the text included) makes it look like wherever women get an opportunity; some bad thing is about to happen. He blames them for having a nature to seduce the men in this world. He goes to the extent of advising wise men not to sit alone with even their mother, daughter or sister saying that carnal desires are very strong and such company can lead to temptations. Manu Smriti also provides for number of points for types of women to marry and not to marry and provisions relating to inter-class marriages with most provisions favouring higher classes and suppressing the lower classes. It is quite saddening but it contains many derogatory views about women for modern times.

      But it would not be correct that all the provisions were mandatory for all concerned; there were many other materials that were accepted as proper guide to social traditions of their areas of influence. However, British rulers adopted Manu Smriti as applicable social code to govern Hindus in their raj as people like Robert Clive and Lord Macaulay came to conclusion that it would help them make Hindus subjugate.

      Manu also writes a lot about addictions and its dangers. One of his paragraphs completely sums up Hindu's continued thought about addictions:

"All ten vyasans arising out of lust/desire end up badly — hunting, gambling, sleeping during day; malicious gossip, women, drunkenness, singing, dancing and aimless wandering...drinking, gambling, women and hunting, in that order, are universally addictive, each vice is more serious than the one that follows."

      Manu Smriti's highlight was establishing supremacy of Brahmins, sanctity to caste system, treating women under strict vigil and lower status to Dalits. It is unfortunate that some of these tendencies can still be traced in modern Hinduism, which is still struggling for providing proper respect to women and true equality to all Hindus alike.