Dharmasutra Parallels Containing the Dharmasutras of Apastamba, Gautama, Baudhayana, and Vasistha

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From the Jacket:

The Dharmasutra Parallels presents in a synoptic layout of the passages in the four Dharmasutras of Apastamba, Gautama, Baudhayana, and Vasistha the ideal with the identical topics. The Dharmasutras represents the oldest extant codification of Law in ancient India. A close study to these early legal but also the cultural and religious history of the three or four centuries prior to the common era, a period that saw the beginnings of many of the features that we commonly associate with Indian civilization. It is clearly possible for scholars to compare passages from these four Dharmasutras without the visual id provided by these Parallels. It is, however, much more difficult. Sometime, one becomes aware of the similarities and divergences in the treatment by different authors of the same topic only when the parallel passages and presented visually on the same page. These Parallels will be an invaluable tool in researching the legal and cultural history of this important period of ancient Indian history.

About the Author:

PATRICK OLIVELLE is the chair, Department of Asian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is the professor of Sanskrit and Indian Religions. Among his recent publications are The Samnyasa Upanisads: Hindu Scriptures on Asceticism and Renunciation (Oxford, 1992), The Asrama System: History of Hermeneutics of a Religious Institution (Oxford, 1993), Rules and Regulations of Brahmanical Asceticism (State University of New York Press, 1994), Upanisads (Oxford 1996), Pancatantra (1997), The Early Upnisads: Annotated Text and Translation (Oxford 1998), The Dharmasutra of Apastamba, Gautama, Baudhayana, and Vasistha (Delhi, 2000), and Manu's Code of Law: A Critical Edition and Translation of the Manava-Dharmasatra. (Oxford 2005).

From the Back of the Book:

SOURCES OF ANCIENT INDIAN LAW Series Editor

Patrick Olivelle

DHARMASUTRAS The Dharmasutras are the four surviving works of the ancient Indian expert tradition on the subject of dharma, or the rules of behaviour a community recognize as binding on its members. Written in a pithy and aphoristic style and representing the culmination of a long tradition of scholarship, the Dharmasutras record intense disputes and divergent views on a wide variety of religious and social issues. These unique documents give us a glimpse of how people, especially Brahmin males, were ideally expected to live their lives within an ordered and hierarchically arranged society. In this first English translation of these documents for over a century, Patrick Olivelle uses the same lucid and elegant style of his award - winning translation of Upanisads and incorporates the most recent scholarship on ancient Indian law, society and religion. The fresh editions of the Sanskrit texts presents new manuscript material, variants recorded in medieval commentaries and legal digests, and emendations suggested by philologists.

THE NARADASMRTI The Naradasmrti is the most comprehensive basis text on legal procedure in ancient India. The present publication represents the only critical edition of the material smrti published to date. The critical edition is based on the evidence of 47 manuscripts from libraries in India, Nepal, Germany, France, United States and United Kingdom. In addition to the critical edition of the text of the Naradasmrti, Prof. Lariviere has critically edited and translated the incomplete but extremely important commentary of Asahaya. He also provides the reader with summaries of the commentary of Bhavasvamin.

This is the most comprehensive and through examination of any of the basis text on the Indian legal tradition. It establishes a new standard for the scholarly editing of these texts. A standard which, it is hoped, will be taken up by subsequent scholarship on the rich tradition of the dharmasastra.

The first edition of this work was awarded the prestigious CESMEO (Centro Piemontese de Studi sul Medio ed Estremo Oriente, Torino) prize in 1990 as the best book on South Asia.

Introduction

The Dharmasutras represent the oldest extant codification of Law in ancient India. By “Law’ here I mean both more and less than the general connotation of the term in modern societies. It is more, because it is used as a rough translation of dharma, a term that encompasses customs and moral norms, religious practices and rites, rights and duties of individuals and groups, and much more.1 It is less, because the early codifications were intended to be treatises that expounded norms of conduct rather than actual codes of law that were used in courts. Ancient India did not possess written codes of law that guided the deliberations of courts. The texts on dharma provided at most guidance and guidelines for judges. Nevertheless, these early codifications provide invaluable insight into the customs of various communities and the sociological thinking of the experts who wrote these works.

Lariviere (1997) and Wezler (2004) have argued, convincingly I believe, that the historical source of dharma in the Dharmasastras is not the Veda but “custom” (acara), that is, the normative behavior and practices of various and varied historical communities. Lariviere presents his view of the nature of Dharmasastra clearly: “Let me begin by giving my view of the nature of the dharmasastra literature. I believe that the dharmasastra literature represents a peculiarly Indian record of local social norms and traditional standards of behavior.” Wezler (2004) agrees completely with this new view of the source of dharma in Dharmasastra: “The dharma of the Dharmasastra ... is, in its essential parts, a record or codification of custom and convention.” In seeing the Veda or some transcendent tradition as the source of dharma, historians of Dharmasastra have bought into the theological position enunciated in most of the Dharmasastras themselves as to the provenance of the dharma that they are teaching thus confusing history with theology.

I refer the reader to my own introduction to the edition and translation of the Dharmasutras (Olivelle 2000) for further details about the texts used in these Parallels and their relative chronology , The texts and the translations used here are from that edition.

A close study of these early legal treatises is essential if we are to understand not only the legal but also the cultural and religious history of the three or four centuries prior to the Common Era, a period that saw the beginnings of many of the features that we commonly associate with Indian civilization. In the area of literature, we see the creation of a new genre of scientific literature that came to be called sastra in fields as diverse as grammar, law, statecraft, and astronomy. The legal sastras were written first in the prose style known as sütra, a pithy and aphoristic style of codifying information first perfected in the grammatical tradition.

The Dharmasutras deal with a similar set of topics. Given that they were composed in different geographical regions and at different historical periods, it is inevitable that their treatment of these topics would vary. The present volume containing these parallel treatments of the same or similar topics arranged across a single page both in the original Sanskrit and in an English translation is intended to facilitate the comparative study of these legal treatises. As a member of a Religious Studies department for many years at Indiana University, I was impressed by and envious of the research tools my colleagues dealing with Biblical material had. Students of India’s past are about a century behind our colleagues studying western cultural histories. Our research is hindered by the lack of tools that western scholars take for granted. My inspiration for thinking of the possibility of publishing parallels found in the legal texts of India came when my friend and colleague, Paul Sampley, began to work on his Pauline Parallels, containing parallel passages from the letters of the apostle Paul.

Human beings are visual creatures; we work best when our sight encounters in a simple presentation a complex or hidden set of data. This is the reason why graphs and charts are so popular and so effective; they present to the viewer a complex set of numbers in a manner that is easy to grasp.

It is clearly possible for scholars to compare passages from these four Dharmasutras without the visual aid provided by these Parallels It is, however, much more difficult. Sometime, one becomes aware of the similarities and divergences in the treatment by different authors of the same topic only when the parallel passages are presented visually on the same page. This is especially true when a particular topic is discussed at length by one author but passed over in silence by another. Take, for example, the holy and authoritative region called Aryavarta. This is the region where especially virtuous and learned Brahmins live, Brahmins whose conduct and traditions are viewed as authoritative and as providing a valid and indisputable source for knowing the true dharma. This region is discussed and defined by Baudhayana and Vasistha; but Apastamba and Gautama appear to be ignorant of it, for they have nothing to say about Aryavarta in their discussion of the sources of dharma. From this development of a new concept regarding a sacred geography, we can draw important and interesting conclusions regarding the early history of Dharmasastra and the interaction of the Brahmanical community with others, such as the Buddhists, who competed with them for leadership in religious matters.

There are numerous similar examples. Gautama, Baudhayana, and Vasistha deal extensively with excommunication from caste, whereas Apastamba is completely silent. Apastamba and Vasiha deal with failure to be initiated at the proper time, while Gautama and Baudhayana are silent. Apastamba alone deals with the topic of a householder returning to studentship, while the other three ignore the subject. Apastamba is opposed to a man either divorcing his wife or having multiple wives, while the others acknowledge this practice. Apastamba and Gautama are silent on the subject of women remarrying when their husbands die or are absent for a long time. Apastamba ignores completely the different kinds of sons listed by the other three; for him only a natural son born to a wife of the same class is legitimate. He also has nothing to say about the putrika, a daughter designated as a son to provide male descendants for her father, or about adoption, a topic given extensive coverage by the other authors. Vasistha is the only author concerned about meat eating, indicating that he is living at a time when vegetarianism may have been on the rise; the others take meat eating as normal and have nothing to say about it. Baudhayana is the only one to deal with a list of ascetic householders; he also has extensive coverage of other ascetics, such as world renounces and various kinds of forest hermits, indicating that the text may have undergone revisions by groups favorable to the ascetic way of life. Baudhayana also is the author who discusses in great detail a variety of rites, including bathing, tarpaia, rites for prosperity, and penances. Turning to the king and the administration of justice, Apastamba is the only one to deal with the construction of the royal fort and with gambling and betting, topics treated extensively in the Arthaicistra. With respect to evidence and witnesses, Gautama, Baudhayana, and Vasistha have extensive coverage, whereas Apastamba pays only cursory attention to them.

In this sampling I have only pointed out some highlights. Close reading and extensive research are needed to uncover the history that lies behind and beneath these texts. My hope is that these Parallels will become a useful tool in researching the legal and cultural history of this important period of ancient Indian history.

Due to the restrictions imposed by the format it was not possible to include to the texts or the translations. Readers wishing further information on technical matters difficult words and full texts of ritual formulas should consult my edition and translation of these texts.

CONTENTS

	Introduction		1
	Synopis	7
	DHARMASUTRA PARALLES
1.	INTRODUCTION	33
2.	SOURCES AND ARBITERS OF DHARMA	33
	i. Sources of Dharma	33
	ii. Extent of Veda	34
	iii. Arbiters of Dharma	34
	iv. Authoritative Regions	35
3.	DIVERSITY OF DHARMA	36
	i. Dharma in Different Ages	36
	ii. Dharma of Region and Groups	36
	iii. Dharma Common to All	37
	iv. Conflicts Between Injunctions	38
	v. Dharma in Times of Adversity	38
	vi. Paths of Dharma and Adharma	40
4.	VARNA SYSTEM	41
	i. The Four Varnas	41
	ii. Mixed Varnas	41
	iii. Privileges and Duties of Brahmins	43
	iv. Position of Sudras	44
	v. Occupation of Varnas	46
	vi. Outcastes	47
	vii. Excommunication from Caste	48
	viii. Association with Outcastes	49
	ix. Re-admission to Caste	50
5.	ASRAMA SYSTEM	51
	i. General	51
	ii. Legitimacy and Relative Superiority	52
6.	VEDIC STUDENT	54
	i. Dharma before Initiation	54
	ii. Time of Initiation	54
	iii. Initiation	55
	iv. Failure to Initiated	55
	v. Re-initiation	56
	vi. Residency and Study	57
	vii. Dress Code	57
	viii. Code of Behaviour	58
	ix. Begging and the Food Students	61
	x. Fire Worship	62
	xi. Teacher	63
	xii. Student's Conduct towards His Teacher	64
	xiii. Teacher's Wives and Sons	66
	xiv. Duties of a Teacher	67
	xv. Disciplining Students	67
	xvi. Completion of Studentship	68
	xvii. Permanent Studentship	68
	xviii. Return to Studentship	69
7.	SNATAKA	69
	i. Definition	69
	ii. General Rules of Behaviour	69
8.	MARRIAGE	74
	i. General	74
	ii. Time for Marriage	74
	iii. Kinds of Marriage	75
	iv. Brideprice	76
	v. Improper Marriages	77
	vi. Divorce and Multiple Wives	77
	vii. Remarriage of Women	78
9.	HOUSEHOLDER	79
	i. General Rules of Behavior	79
	ii. Toilet Practices	81
	iii. Bathing	82
	iv. Quenching Libations (tarpana)	83
	v. Sexual Activity	87
10.	WOMEN	88
	i. General	88
	ii. Mother	88
	iii. Wife	88
	iv. Widow	89
	v. Menstruation and Purification	90
11.	CHILDREN	92
	i. Importance of sons/children	92
	ii. To Whom a Son Belongs	93
	iii. Kinds of Sons	93
	iv. Female Sons	95
	v. Adoption	96
	vi. Leviratic Union	97
12.	KINSHIP	97
13.	INHERITANCE	98
	i. General	98
	ii. Inheritance of Women	101
14.	VEDIC STUDY	101
	i. General	101
	ii. Annual Course of Study	102
	iii. Suspension of Vedic Recitation	103
15.	TEACHER	107
	i. General	107
	ii. Duties of a Teacher	108
	iii. Behaviour towards Teacher by Snataka	109
	iv. Behaviour towards Teacher by Householder	110
16.	RITUAL ACTIVITIES	111
	i. Sacrificial Cord	111
	ii. Sacramentary Rites	111
	iii. General Rules	112
	iv. Great Sacrifices	115
	v. Bali Offerings	116
	vi. Twilight Worship (sandhya)	117
	vii. Rites for Prosperity	118
17.	GIFTS	124
18.	GUESTS	126
	i. General	126
	ii. Honey Mixture (madhuparka)	129
19.	RULES OF PRECEDENCE	130
20.	GREETING	130
21.	FOOD	132
	i. General	132
	ii. Food Distribution	133
	iii. Rules on Eating	134
	iv. People Whose Food May Be Eaten	135
	v. People Whose Food May Not Be Eaten	136
	vi. Unfit Food	137
	vii. Forbidden Food	139
	viii. Meat	140
	ix. Offering to Breaths (pranagnihotra)	141
22.	DEATH	142
	i. General	142
	ii. Impurity from Death and Birth	143
23.	ANCESTRAL OFFERING (sraddha)	145
	i. General	145
	ii. Appropriate Times	146
	iii. Appropriate Food	146
	iv. Appropriate Invitees	147
	v. Procedure	149
	vi. Daily Ancestral Offering	151
	vii. Monthly Ancestral Offering	151
24.	IMPURITY AND PURIFICATION	152
	i. Statutory Purity of Persons are Articles	152
	ii. Impurity from Touch	153
	iii. Purification of Persons	154
	iv. Sipping	157
	v. Purification of Articles	159
25.	ASCETIC HOUSEHOLDERS	160
26.	FOREST HERMITS	163
27.	WANDERING MENDICANTS	165
	i. General Rules of Conduct	165
	ii. Procedure of Initiation	168
28.	SINS AND PENANCES	170
	i. Justification of Penance	170
	ii. Principal Grievous Sins	171
	iii. Secondary Grievous Sins	172
	iv. Other Sins	173
	v. Penances of Killing	174
	vi. Penances for Sexual Crimes	177
	vii. Penances for Theft	179
	viii. Penances for Drinking Liquor	180
	ix. Penances for Students Who Break Their Vows	181
	x. Penances for Secret Sins	183
	xi. Krcchra Penance	188
	xii. Lunar Penance	190
	xiii. Miscellaneous Penances	192
	xiv. Generic Penances	195
	xv. Cultivation of Knowledge and Virtue	204
29.	KING AND STATE	206
	i. General	206
	ii. Protection and Governance of Subjects	207
	iii. Royal Fort and Residence	208
	iv. Appointment of Officials	208
	v. Taxes, Duties, and Tolls	208
	vi. War	209
	vii. Lost Property and Treasure Trove	210
	viii. Private Property: Ownership Disputes	210
	ix. Money Leading and Rates of Interest	211
	x. Control of the Economy	212
	xi. Gambling and Betting	212
30.	JUDICIAL PROCEDURE	212
	i. Judges and Judicial Conduct	212
	ii. Evidence and Witnesses	213
	iii. Disputes, Damage Caused by Animals	215
	iv. Crime and Punishment	215
	v. Sexual Crimes	217
	vi. Abuse and Assault	217
	vii. Theft	218
	viii. Legitimate Seizure Property	219
31.	CONCLUSION	219
	Bibliography	221
	Index of Citations	223