THE DHARMASHASHTRA

1.    DHARMA-SHASHTRA

1.1.        The compound expression Dharma-Shastra is formed of the two words Dharma and Shashtra. Therefore the study of the Dharma Shastra will not have been properly appreciated unless the expression Dharmashashtra is properly understood by a thorough analysis. In this respect. Manu's characterization of it, and its differentiation from Sruti will be a very useful guide; for says he. “By Sruti however, should be known to be the Veda; while Dharmashashtra is Smriti." it is proper first to have a clear idea of the two words Dharma and Shashtra.

2.    DHARMA

2.1.        The word Dharma is one of the most complex expressions which are not amenable to any attempt at an analysis or definition. Right from the Vedas, the most ancient of the world’s literature, down to the most modern times, this word will be found to have been used in a variety of senses expressing diverse notions.

2.2.        Dharma is derived, from the root (धृ) dhri, ‘to hold’ and denotes to a large extent and also connotes the same idea as the word Law derived from Lego “I bind”’. For, Dharma in its widest and correct significance means that attribute or quality which indicates ian nseparable connection between causes and their effects. In other words, given certain facts or events, the result which must necessarily follow from such facts or events is the Dharma of these e. g. if a thing is let loose, it must fall to the ground:

2.3.        Therefore the Dharma of a thing (पदार्थधर्म) which has no support is to fall to the ground. It is in this sense that in the most ancient literature of the world viz. the Vedas, the word Dharma has been understood and interpreted. It may be regarded as its most primary sense.

2.4.        In the Illustration given above, however, if the thing which was without a support had been held up by any intervening agency the result of such intervention may apparently create a diversion from the inseparable consequence viz. of the thing falling to the ground. In other words, but for any artificial intervention, what¬ ever result is expected as the consequence of certain facts and events, that result is known as its Dharma.

2.5.        In the same manner, the word 'Law’ may be understood as the invariable consequence which must necessarily follow from the combination of certain facts and events. This is what may be understood in the expression such as natural law. But this significance of the word Law has undergone contraction and limitation us is seen in the variation of the results which are due to the intervention of adventitious causes and circumstances; and it is these interventions that have been mainly responsible for giving the word Dharma or Law a restricted significance such as Positive Law, Vyavhara-Dharma etc. It is the intervention of outside agencies ‘that causes an obstruction in the realization of the natural consequences.

2.6.        The Dharma or Law can be classified as follows; 1) Universal, cosmic law (Rita ऋत) regulates the forces of Nature, manifested by laws of physics. It controls everything from subatomic properties to motions of galaxies. The Aryans believe himself/herself to be part of Nature and seeks to bring the Self into harmony with the universal path. 2) Social Dharma (Professional Dharma) consists of the duties, occupations, and responsibilities that everyone fulfills in the family, nation, society and communities. An important aspect is a religious and moral law. 3) Human law (Ashram Dharma) is the natural expression and evolution of the body, mind, soul, and feelings throughout the stages of life. 4) Self-dharma (Sva-dharma स्व धर्म) is the dharma. It is the sum of all accumulated "karmas" in one's life, molded by one's tendencies, personality, desires, and experiences. It represents one's path one takes: righteousness, wealth, pleasure and, liberation.

2.7.        Law, which in its perfection and completeness is the one science of all sciences, knowledge pre-eminently directed to the achievement of desired happiness here and hereafter by means of appropriate action."

2.8.        It is indeed true that science has been very much in own end. And that the higher mind or intuition, the organ for the direct realization of truth, has not boon fashionable in scientific circles. It must also be admitted that neither logic nor epistemology can give us a clear Idea of this underlying law or principle, which can satisfy us fully.

3.    ASPECT OF DHARMA

3.1.        In the Rigveda, it appears to have been used both; as a noun and as an adjective. It is treated in the ancient times as a superhuman or divine being, but more generally Dharma is referred to as an impersonal principle. As for example, Sacrifice (यागादिरेश धर्म); that which is demonstrated by the Vedas); the old Rta ; the ethical duty, virtue ; what is morally proper, or good works, a Religious duty or religious virtue e. g. ( Rg. X. 90-16). the ideal; a universal law or principle identical with God or Absolute Truth ; Divine Justice ; Sometimes Dharma is found as a mythological personage, a Divine symbol, a compromise between the ideal and actual conditions; a code of customs and traditions; common law or Law ; international or eternal law. Rules laid down for the proper administration of all social classes.

3.2.        It is also used in regard to men’s actions in this world such as the Pravartti [प्रवृत्ति] dharma and the Nivratti [निवृत्ति] -dharma; and it has also reference to Karma and liberation. The word law or jus conforms in its significance to some of the aspects of Dharma above specified. In the Dharma Shashtra, as the introduction says, the word ‘Dharma has been used with reference to the rules and regulations for the proper organization and management of then classes of society consisting of the several persons carrying on in the several stages or Ashrams or span of life.

3.3.        Dharma or Law, therefore, has an abstract significance and also it has a concrete use. Generally, therefore, Dharma may be described as the regulator of the word's relations. ’

3.4.        All human beings, as also beings other than human, and for the matter of that, all created things are governed by a ‘Law. The whole of the universe is amenable to a Law or the Law which is common to all. The idea of law therefore as it was conceived by the ancients has an extensive and universal application. According to the Aryans, and in particular the Indo-Aryans, the whole of the universe, whether consisting of the movable ( char चर ) or the immovable ( Achar अचर) as also whether visible to the physical eye ( द्रष्ट ) or invisible (atomअद्र्ष्ट) was founded in and governed by a law from its inception, which according to the generally accepted notion was the result of the Divine Will, or according to some schools was the automatic result of forces working under an immutable law, which regulated anything and everything which, came under its influence.

3.5.        Thus the most common element in the term low in all its shades of moaning or conception is the uniformity, results or consequences bring produced from certain facts, under certain environmental surroundings. ’

3.6.        The wonderful discoveries of scientists like Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, Mathematicians like Einstein have now paved the way for the universal application of the rule of the ancients that all things are the created Universe arc amenable; a Law. ’

3.7.        Man cannot live alone; an individual cannot do without a family which again cannot be conceived of except as part of a larger organization or society severally known as a gens (family), a tribe, or a nation.

3.8.        If these combinations are to continue together and in a harmonious manner or in a manner which, as far as possible, would involve as little disharmony as possible, some rule of life, some uniform convention becomes necessary. Individual impulse must be subordinated to larger interests, the orbit of subordination varying differently with the expanse of the unit or nation. Sic utere tuo ul alienam non ledas. ’The subordination of individual interests grows into such an ingrained habit of the society or the nation that the corporate mind ceases to conceive of an individual as anything excepting that which exists for and subordinated to the society. The relations of the individual and the groups or of several "'groups inter se arc determined either by a predetermined arrangement, in which case it is called a covenant or a compact, or come to be established by a long course of conduct and submission which gives rise to what is known as ‘a rule or habit of action, which either consciously or unconsciously is used by somebody or class of persons or even by one person. It is the ‘spontaneous evolution by the popular mind of rules the existence and general acceptance of which are proved by their customary observance.’

3.9.        There is an unwritten practice is: ‘Those rules, which the people without any writing has approved, bind all persons; for what difference does it make whether the people declare their will by their votes or by things and acts?’

3.10.    The next and the last phase of the conception of ‘Law’ is to be seen among societies more or less developed on individual lines of each. For, while in some highly civilized societies, e.g. the Indo-Aryans, the source and origin of law as an abstract pro¬ position as well as a specific rule of conduct is ascribed to Sruti or what is revealed, in other societies, e. g. the English, the word law in a concrete sense is used to mean, ‘any particular rule, having the nature of law in the abstract sense, which is expressly prescribed by the supreme power in the State, or by some person or body having authority for that purpose though not generally supreme ’.

3.11.    A law in this sense is the exercise of a creative or at least formative authority and discretion; the power that made it might conceivably have chosen to make it otherwise. Thus the -conscious exercise of an authority by a sovereign in its formation it the essential characteristic of a Law ' according to the conception of the school of Bentham and Austin."

4.   Law and Dharma (धर्म); Right and Vyavhara (व्यवहार)

4.1.     The various stages of the origin, development and the use in popular as well as in the technical language of tire term Taw have been noticed above. It will be seen from this bread survey that the term ‘Law’ coincides thoroughly with the term Dharma’ not only in the origin and derivation, linguistically as well as socially and scientifically, but that the denotations as well as the connotations of the terms an? Co-extensive in all respects.

4.2.     For while the term Law is derived from a Latin root which means ‘ to bind,’ Dharma also owes its origin to the Sanskrit root which means “to hold” “to bind”' The expressions ‘Law of Gravitation’, ‘ Social law ’ etc. have their prototypes in the‘ Padartha-dharma ‘ Samaja-dharma’ and other similar expressions. Law and Dharma therefore in their abstract sense have a perfect correspondence this correspondence is maintained even when the term ' law ' does not much descend from its abstract position. It is only when the term ‘Law ’-‘is subjected to limitations and particularizations, that its divergence from Dharma makes a beginning. In this respect, its destiny is very much on a par with the Latin Jus. Dharma has occupied a large portion of the Sanskrit literature on account of tire multilateral use and application of that term. Keeping aside all these various shades of its use, even in a scientific treatise, the use of drat term has been very much like drat of the term Law.

4.3.     It has been defined as चोदनालक्षणोऽर्थो ‘an Artha, an expression which has the characteristic of ‘a command. ’ in this aspect, it conforms to the Anstinian conception of a command as the source of its origin.

4.4.     It represents the utilitarian aspect of that term. While in the definition or rather the description contained in the passage अचारप्रभवो धर्म: law and usage are treated as on a par; or at any rate, usage has been indicated as a source of law. Its description in the’ practically rounds up all the afore-mentioned positions and lays down that whatever holds or sustains people is Dharma.

4.5.     What is contemplated by the aspect of the word in English viz. ‘the dictates of a sovereign authority,’ is contained in the definition of Dharma given in the Mimansa चोदनालक्षणोऽर्थो धर्मः: 

4.6.     These laws and rules if carefully followed would result in general well, while their disobedience would lead to chaos. Therefore it is clear that all happiness is entirely dependent on Dharma धर्म.

4.7.     The expression Dharmashashtra therefore when interpreted in its full significance would mean, the Rules or Ordinances or Regulations (धर्म) which have a binding force (Shastra शास्त्र).

4.8.     That the Dharma Shastra (Rules) were binding upon the community and were enforced by the Executive authority is evidenced from all records which have been handed down from the post, according to which it was the King whose duty it was to carry on the Government of the people, who compelled obedience to these Rules and enforced their sanction by administering punishments to those who were guilty of disobedience.

4.9.     It should be borne in mind that among the Indo-Aryans, the King was not above the Laws. He was amenable to the law equally with the other members of the State. His function in the Department of Law was only that of an executing authority. This point will be elaborated further on during the discussion about the sources of Law.

4.10.  But the most ancient and by far the primeval original ideas of Dharma may be found in the Vedic literature, which evidences its universal character in an all-pervading orbit. The well-known Hymn of the Veda, among others, introduces this concept. It is this:

4.11.  “The Rta ऋत and Satya सत्य was born from the light heat; from these was born night, and thence the billowy sea. From the sea was born Samvatsara सवंत्सर-the year; he who ordered day and night, the Lord of all that moves (works). The maker (धाता) shaped the Sun and the Moon in order; he shaped the sky, the earth, the welkin and the highest galaxy.

4.12.  ऋतं च सत्यं चाभीद्धात्तपसोऽध्यजायत । ततो रात्र्यजायत ततः समुद्रो अर्णवः ॥१॥ समुद्रादर्णवादधि संवत्सरो अजायत । अहोरात्राणि विदधद्विश्वस्य मिषतो वशी ॥२॥ सूर्याचन्द्रमसौ धाता यथापूर्वमकल्पयत् । दिवं च पृथिवीं चान्तरिक्षमथो स्वः ॥३॥ [RGV 10-190-6]

4.13.  This concept of Rta, as an impersonal Order or law pervading the physical and the moral world, marks out a distinct phase in the history of Vedic thought and culture.

4.14.  According to another concept this term originally meant no more than 'straight-line’ ( Rta ) and stood for the appointed course of the Sun, the Moon and the stars ; subsequently, it came to indicate the sacrifice regulated by the periodical movements of these, and finally law or Dharma.

4.15.  Dharma is more powerful than King, Dharma is with itself. There is nothing higher than that.

4.16.  Thus Rta is here, there, everywhere, dwelling among men in places glorified and of sacrifice, in the water, in the sky, the Sunlight and in truth.

4.17.  We call that Rta, that straight, direct, or right line, when we apply it in a more general sense, the Law of Nature; and when we apply it to the moral world, we try to express the same idea again by speaking of the moral Law, the law on which our life is founded, the eternal law of Right and Reason, or, it may be, that which makes for righteousness’ both within us and without.

4.18.  And thus, as a thoughtful look on nature led to the first perception of bright gods, and in the end of the God of light, as love of our parents was transfigured into piety and a belief m immortality, recognition of die straight lines in the world without and in the world within, was raised into the highest faith, a faith in a law that underlies everything, a law in which we may trust, whatever befall, a law which speaks within us with the divine voice of conscience, and tells us ‘ this is rta , ’ ‘ this is right, ’ * this is true, ’ whatever the statutes of our ancestors, or even the voices of our bright gods, may say to the contrary.

4.19.  “And it is due almost entirely to the discovery of the Veda that we, In this twenty-first century of ours, have been allowed to watch again these early phases of thought and religion, which had passed away long before the first beginnings of other literature. In the Veda, an ancient city has been laid bare before our eyes which in the history of all other religions, is filled up with rubbish, and built over by new architects. Some of the earliest and most instructive scenes of our distant childhood have risen once more above the horizon of our memory which, until thirty or forty years ago seemed to have vanished forever." P. 244. 1

4.20.  ‘The Rta stands as much for a physical as for a moral order - the former standing in an instrumental or subordinate relation to the latter. What affords an instructive comparison herewith is the Stoic maxim of ‘life according to nature,’ which is but another way of characterizing ‘life according to reason '. If therefore, the ethics of the Rigveda, rooted in the concept of Rta, be at all conceded, it is not to be construed as an ethics of naturalism with its apotheosis of “la bele humaine”. It provides,

4.21.  In the stricter sense, an ethics in accordance with the highest human ideal which was destined to realize all its ethical implications in the Law of Karma. Of that there is surely no room for a misgiving; for accredited exponents of the philosophy and history of religion, view ‘the Rta and Karma as more or less hyphenated in their nature, and classify them, on grounds of functional similarity, with the Nemesis of the Greeks, the Ashavaista of the Persians, and the Tao of the Chinese.

4.22.  Thus it will be seen that the most ancient origin o£ Dharma in the word ‘ Rta' has far-reaching effects. Shortly stated, straight conduct based on truth is the definition of Dharma. In fact, this idea will be found to be prevailing in all the Smriti also.

4.23.  The first verse of the Smriti of Narada opens as follows  धर्मैकतानाः पुरुषा यदासन्सत्यवादिनः । तदा न व्यवहारोऽभून्न द्वेषो नापि मत्सरः ।। १.१ ।।

4.24.  Which in substance says that men are ordinarily expected to be straight in their behavior and free from crookedness ; this necessarily assumes truthfulness both in speech and conduct; and it says therefore, that there would be no occasion for any VyavaMmi or differences arising between any individuals; and the second verse states as a very logical conclusion from the first that the dis¬ appearance of Dharma, rta, or straight conduct from among the people between themselves leads to the starting of disputes, and for that the institution of Governmental machinery has been stated to be inevitable.

4.25.  नष्टे धर्मे मनुष्येषु व्यवहारः प्रवर्तते । द्रष्टा च व्यवहाराणां राजा दण्डधरः कृतः ।। १.२ ।। Indeed, it is from this aspect that Vyavhara (व्यवहार) has been derived and gencsised thus:

4.26.  Lastly, there is, however, one more aspect, and a very important one also, of this term which evidences the degree of advance in ethical and legal ideas in which the Vedic Arya as stood over others. The well-known rule that ‘every right’ has a correlative ‘duty ’is embodied in the word Dharma which is indicative both of right and duty. In this respect, it is best indicated by the word Adhikara (अधिकार) and Adhikari ( अधिकारी  ) which is expressive of both. One is liable to a penalty, as well as entitled to a reward. The word for both the expressions of these two correlated opposite notions of ‘Right’ and ‘Obligation’ by the single word अधिकार as instanced in the word अधिकारी marks the very great progress our society had made in their socio legal notions as e. g. पितृधर्म, पुत्रधर्म, राजधर्म, प्रजाधर्म —expressing in one term the concomitance of right and obligation.

5.    SHASHTRA

5.1.        The next term in the expression Dharmashashtra also claims special notice. Shastra in its ordinary significance in popular language is rendered as Science, i. e. something which lays down principles. Literally, however, its root meaning from Sas शास् “to command”, would be an ‘order which dictates- Sishyate anena (शास्ति शासति शिष्येते:नेनेति) that by which a command is laid or/and. enforced is Shastra.

5.2.        The word Sas like the word command, implies obedience, with the further implication that disobedience of the command involves punishment for those who are guilty of the disobedience. Shasana शासन therefore in the popular language has come to mean ‘sanction -punishment. The value of punishment or danda दंड as a necessary asset for a good Government, has been sufficiently elaborated in important Hindu Law works and will lie indicated hereafter.

5.3.        The object of every undertaking is to secure the greatest possible good to the greatest number of people. The whole world is after happiness, and happiness cannot be secured except by the avoidance of evil; the avoidance of evil can be accomplished only by conforming to the Rules and Laws, those rules as having been laid down for all the classes in regard to all the orders of life.

6.    SOURCES OF DHARMA

6.1.        The law can be found at fourteen places. These are their chronological order in point of priority, may be arranged as follows: — the (1) Vedas with their Angas, (2) History, (3) Nyaya, (4) Mimansa and (5) Dharmashashtra.

6.2.        Then comes the Dharmashashtra comprehending within their scope the Sutras, Smriti, Nibandhas, history, Nyaya, Mimansa.

6.3.        The Manu has been given great importance on account of its antiquity, this is the General Law of Hindu in India.  the statement of the Rules in the Smriti of Manu runs over 12 Chapters  in a detailed form.

6.4.        Exhibits the Sources from three different points of view viz. (1) Places where to find the Law.  (2) The authorities on Law.  (3) The Rules of Law be practical working.

6.5.        The Rules of Dharmashashtra are the rules of Substantive and Adjective Law of the Smriti.

7.    THE FUNDAMENTAL OF DHARMA SASTRA

7.1.        Thus having examined the meaning and extent of the expression Dharmashashtra, its denotation, and connotations, and laving noted the sources and taken a short resume of the evolution of these, now the principles and the objectives, i.e. the fundamentals of the Dharma-Shastra may now be stated and discussed. The Dharma Shastra consist the three primary sections or topics i.e. Dandaniti, Rajniti, and Nitishashtra or Achara or code of conduct.

7.2.        The code of conduct consists of the following subjects viz.  [1]The Sanskar संस्कार [2] The stage of life आश्रम [3] The classes of society [4]Triad  /Four aims of life पुरुषार्थ [5]The General laws of Society [The Duty and professions]सामान्य नियम

7.3.        It includes Professions, Ashrams and the Goals of life. Generally, there is three class according to professions. 1. Teaching 2. Politics 3. Business in society. And the four Ashrams or stage of the life  are (1 ) the celibate student’s (Brahmacharya-Education) ( 2 ) The Householder’s (Grhasthya) (3) The Hermit’s ( Vanaprastha ) and ( 4 ) the Ascetic ( Sanyasi): The three goals of life are ( 1 ) Dharma 2. Artha, (3) Kama.

8.    DHARMA AND LAW

8.1.        Finally, the notion of dharma as duty or propriety is found in India's ancient legal and religious texts. In Sanatana, justice, social harmony, and happiness requires that people live per dharma.

8.2.        The Dharma Shastra include instructions on the education of the young, their rites of passage, customs, religious rites and rituals, marital rights and obligations, death and ancestral rites, laws and administration of justice, crimes, punishments, rules and types of evidence, duties of a king, as well as morality.