A PROJECT

ON
HOLY ALLIANCE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am feeling highly elated to work on the topic Life As Depicted in

.
Dharmsutra under the guidance of my History 1 teacher. I am very grateful to his for the

exemplary guidance. I would like to enlighten my readers regarding this topic and I hope I
have tried my best to pave the way for bringing more luminosity to this topic.

I also want to thank all of my friends, without whose cooperation this project was
not possible. Apart from all these, I want to give special thanks to the librarian of my
university who made every relevant materials regarding to my topic available to me at
the time of my busy research work and gave me assistance. And at last I am very much
obliged to the God who provided me the potential for the rigorous research work.

At finally yet importantly I would like to thank my parents for the financial support.

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 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The project is basically based on the doctrinal method of research as no field work is
done on this topic. The whole project is made with the use of secondary source.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The aim of the project is to present a detailed study of Life As Depicted inDharmsutra
through decisions and suggestions.

SOURCES OF DATA:

The following secondary sources of data have been used in the project-

1. Books

2. Websites

3. Magzine

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 TABLE OF CONTENT

1. Introduction
2. Srauta sutras
3. Grhya Sutras
4. Dharma sutras
5. Apastamba
6. Gautama
7. Baudhayana
8. Vasistha
9. Conclusion
10. Bibliography

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 INTRODUCTION

The Dharmansutras were written during 800 to 200 BC. They were mostly written in prose
form but also contain verses. It is clear that they were meant to be training manuals of sages
for teaching students. They incorporate the teachings of Vedas with local customs. They
generally bear the names of their authors and sometime also indicate the shakhas to which
they belong.
Some of the important sages whose dharmasutras are known are: Gautama, Baudhayan,
Apastamba, Harita, Vashistha, and Vishnu.
They explain the duties of men in various relationships. They do not pretend to be anything
other than the work of mortals based on the teachings of Vedas, and the legal decisions given
by those who were acquainted with Vedas and local customs.

Gautama - He belonged to Sam veda school and deals exclusively with legal and religious
matter. He talks about inheritance, partition, and stridhan.

Baudhayan - He belonged to the Krishna Yajurveda School and was probably from Andhra
Pradesh. He talks about marriage, sonship, and inheritance. He also refers to various customs
of his region such as marriage to maternal uncle's daughter.

Apastamba - His sutra is most preserved. He also belonged to Krishna Yajurvedaschool

from Andhra Pradesh. His language is very clear and forceful. He rejected prajapatya
marriage.

Vashistha- He was from North India and followed the Rigvedaschool. He recognized
remarriage of virgin widows.

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Srauta Sutras
The rautasutras (rautastra) form a part of the corpus of Sanskrit Sutra literature. Their
topic are the instructions relating to the use of the shruti corpus in ritual ('kalpa') and the
correct performance of rituals as such. Some early Shrautasutras were composed in the late
Brahmana period (such as the Baudhyanana and Vadhula Sutras), but the bulk of the
Shrautasutras are roughly contemporary to the Grhya corpus of domestic Sutras, their
language being late Vedic Sanskrit, dating to the middle of the first millennium BCE,
generally predating Panini).

Grhya Sutras
The Grhya Sutras "domestic sutras" are a category of Sanskrit texts prescribing Vedic ritual,
mainly relating to rites of passage. Their language is late Vedic Sanskrit, and they date to
around roughly 500 BCE, contemporary with the Shrautasutras. They are named after
Vedic shakhas.

Dharmasutras
The Dharmasutras are Sanskrit texts dealing with custom, rituals and law. They include the
four surviving written works of the ancient Indian tradition on the subject of dharma, or the
rules of behavior recognized by a community. Unlike the later Dharmashastra, the
dharmasutras are composed in prose. The oldest Dharmasutra is generally believed to have
been that of Apastamba, followed by the dharmasutras of Gautama, Baudhayana, and an early
version of Vasishtha. It is difficult to determine exact dates for these texts, but the dates
between 500300 BCE have been suggested for the oldest Dharmasutras. Later Dharmasutras
include those of Kasyapa, Brhaspati, and Ushanas.

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 Dharma-sutra
socialDharma-sutra, ( Sanskrit: righteousness thread) any of several manuals of human
conduct that form the earliest source of Hindu law. They consist chiefly of sutras (threads
or strings) of terse rules containing the essentials of law concerning interpersonal relations
and the relationship between people and the state. The maxims deal with the practical rules
of caste and of human beings in their social, economic, and religious relations. Formulated in
prose, they were intended to be committed to memory and expounded orally by teachers
thus forming, as it were, epitomes of class lectures. Eventually these rules came to be
interspersed with stanzaic verses in various metres, each generally giving the substance of the
rule immediately preceding it. The verses themselves became increasingly popular and
ultimately led to the appearance of works entirely in verse. These metrical versions of
previously existing Dharma-sutras came to be called Dharma-shastras, though in modern
times that term more commonly is used to denote the whole body of customary rules and
observances governing Hindu religious and life.

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The Dharma Sutras are manuals on correct behavior inspired by the Vedas and which exist in
a number of different formats and styles. Many of the numerous verses within the Dharma
Sutras consider such topics as appropriate dietary behavior, the duties and rights of kings and
rulers, and suitable forms of behavior or people of different ranks in various circumstances.
Some sutras were developed and codified into shastras, which are more established
frameworks of rules that were used to create Hindu laws.

The principal Dharma Sutra is considered to be the Manu-smrti (The Laws of Manu), which
was created around 200 B.C. (although probably begun earlier) and consists of 12 chapters
with a total of 2,694 verses. The contents range from practical prescriptions for funerary and
dietary practices to legal systems and religious strictures. This sutra acted as the law that
governed the societies of much of India for a number of centuries. This led to the four-caste

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conception of society and the social structure that underlay the whole of Hindu society. The
fundamental structure of society, therefore, has integrated within it the notions of hell,
heaven, and the proper behavior of the individual as a member within a designated caste.

Another sutra of great influence and prestige was written by Yajnavalkya and has just over
1,000 verses arranged in areas relating to the law, expiation, and methods of good conduct.
This makes the canon rather lengthy in nature, and it contains disparate elements that would
seem irrational from the Western point of view. However, the Hindu conception of the
universe is able to reconcile these elements, so far as they are fully aware of them, into a
coherent whole

The Dharma Sutras are combined with the Srauta Sutras (dealing with sacrificial rituals) and
the Grhya Sutras (dealing with domestic rituals) to make up the Kalpa Sutra, which is a
manual of religious practice written in a short and aphoristic style that facilitates committing
the material to memory. Each school of the Vedas had its own Kalpa Sutra, and each Kalpa
Sutra is one of the six vedangas, the canon of religious and philosophical literature,
descended from the Vedas. They are created by humans and hence have the name smrti, or
tradition.

Article 4

The Sutra phase roughly coincides with the Buddhist age. They deal with the social usages
and customs of everyday life and in them we see the beginning of civil and criminal law.

Vamash- raniadhanna was a firmly established feature of society and it was explained that or
twice born, i.e. Brahmin, Kshatriya and Vaishya, must pass through the four stages of life.
Tremendous emphasis was now laid on the purity of social order, which was possible only if
the rules of marriage and interdining were meticulously observed.

Marriage within the same gotra and "within six degrees on the mother's side" was prohibited.
But there were some differences in the Dharmasutras due to local customs and conditions.
The rise of Buddhism was the expression of resentment against the social orthodoxy, on the
one hand, and the increasing conflict between the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas, on the other,
which is evidenced by Kshatriya origin of Mahavira and Gautama Buddha.

Buddhism and Jainism both adopted a liberal attitude towards the lower castes, but they did
not wage any struggle against the caste system and untouchability. The Vaishyas specially

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looked to the new religion which could improve their position. Both the religions challenged
the supremacy of the Brahmins and declared Kshatriyas as superior to Brahmins.

Article 5

One might wonder what exactly Dharma Sutra means and how it came about. It is a blend
of the two components dharma and sutra. Therefore this blend obviously means sutras
dealing with dharma (Banerji 1). It is hard to define Dharma itself as it could be interpreted
in many ways. However, it is often understood as religion or moral code (Sekhar 1).Hence, I
would say that Dharma Sutras deal with directions about our domestic, social and religious
lives.

The origin of Dharma Sutra, just like the many other ancient Indian literature, is veiled in
shadows. The Dharma Sutra is part of the Kalpa Sutras which is derived from the Vedas.
Therefore from this significance we can say that Dharma Sutra is also written during the
Vedic age. The Vedas have two different aspects, speculative and ritualistic (Banerji 7).
Much later into the Vedic age, literature becomes more focus on rites and rituals. As the
civilization was growing, this led to the preparation for shorter and easier manuals of these
ritualistic works. In the process of trying to do this, the Kalpa Sutras were composed. To
distinguish heterogeneous matters within the Kalpa Sutras, it was classified into three distinct
classes. These were the rauta which deals purely with Vedic rites, Grhya which deals with
domestic rites performed before the domestic fire and Dharma which deals principally with
the rules of conduct and Vyavahra.

People tend to overlap and think that Grhya Sutra and Dharma Sutra deal with the same idea.
However, they do not deal with the same idea; instead they have a close comparison of the
contents within these sutras. Grhya Sutra deals absolutely with just the domestic rites and the
procedure of how one is supposed to go about doing the rites. Dharma Sutra not only deals on
the law or righteousness but also on the broader stand about the conduct of men, secular law
(Vyavahra) and duties of the king (rja-dharma). Even then still, people wonder What is the
reason of the overlapping of the contents of these two types of works in respect of certain
rites, e.g.upanayana, vivha, etc (Banerji 10)? The easiest response to this would be that,
Grhya Sutra really stresses on the procedure of the different rites and goes really into details.
On the other hand, Dharma Sutra accounts for the various customs and practices connected

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with these rites excluding the details of procedure. Although some of the topics covered in
both the sutras are similar, they are both independent types of works apparently composed to
serve different purposes.

Before going any further into the details of the Dharma Sutras, we should know the
differences between Dharma Sutras and Dharma Sastras. Both of these texts are closely
connected as both deals with the same or allied topics (Banerji 2). Even then there are
differences to be noted between them. There are eight main points of differences; Form,
Language, Divine Origin, Arrangement of topics, Historical priority, and Affiliation. Form:
majority of the work of Dharma Sutras is composed in text intermixed with verse, however
for the Dharma Sastras, it is entirely in verse. Language: Dharma Sutras contains many
outdated forms than the Dharma Sastras. Affiliation to Vedic School: most of the Dharma
Sutras betray some preference in the quotations for certain Vedas or Vedic Schools whereas
the Dharma Sastras do not (Banerji 2). These are just some of the differences between
Dharma Sutras and Dharma Sastras.

To this day, the only four remaining works which are related on the topic of Dharma are
thepastamba, Baudhyana, Gautama and Vasistha (Olivelle3). pastamba and Baudhy
ana are the only two Dharma Sutras that were brought down from Kalpa Sutras (Olivelle 3).
Majority of the work which dealt with dharma appeared to have been composed during the
Common Era.

The pastamba contains thirty pranas (lit., questions) or books. Of these, the first 24
compromises of the rauta Sutra, 25-26 compromises of the collections of ritual formulas to
be used in domestic rites, 27 compromises of the Grhya Sutra, 28-29 compromises of the
Dharma Sutra and the final book on ulva Sutra. The pastamba belongs to the Taittirya
branch of theBlackYajurveda. It has been conserved better than the rest of the Dharma Sutras.
This could be proved by the only one surviving commentary of Haradatta (Olivelle 20). The
laws of the pastambaare very straight forward and strict as it is the oldest Dharma Sutras. It
deals with matters of civil law such as inheritance and brief sections on the orders of life. An
example of a law of the pastambaunderlying the caste system is that: If someone kills a
Ksatriya, he should give a thousand cows to erase the enmity, a hundred if he kills a Vaiya,
and ten if he kills a Sudra. (Olivelle 61)

The Gautama Dharma Sutra did not have any connection with the Kalpa Sutras. It was
composed as a separate thesis. Traditionally, the Gautama has been associated with

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the Smaveda (Olivelle 116). This is proved in the book, the twenty-sixth chapter, where the
atonement is taken from theSmavidhnaBrhmana which belongs to the Smaveda. Only
one of the two commentaries could be said is a useful source. That was by Maskarin;
however the other commentary by Haradatta is not really a useful source as he merely
worked on what Maskarin had wrote before. This would be plagiarism in todays world. An
example of a law of the Gautama underlying the caste system is that: If someone kills a
Ksatriya, he should observe the standard vow of chastity for six years and give a thousand
cows together with a bull; if he kills a Vaiya, he should do so for three years and give a
hundred cows together with a bull; and if he kills a dra, he should do so for one year and
give ten cows together with a bull. (Olivelle 175)

The BaudhyanaDharma Sutra is also part of the Kalpa Sutras just like the pastamba.
pastamba was preserved really excellent compared to the rest of the Dharma Sutra;
howeverBaudhyana text was tampered around and inter-mixed a lot. Baudhyana contains
more detailed descriptions of rituals- sacrifices, twilight worship, bathing, quenching
libations than any other Dharma Sutras (Olivelle 191). An example of a law of
the Baudhyana underlying the outcaste system is that: When someone associates with an
outcaste- not, however, by officiating at his sacrifices, by teaching him, or by contracting a
marriage with him- but by traveling in the same vehicle or sitting on the same seat as he, or
by eating together with him, he himself becomes an outcaste within a year. (Olivelle 249)

The Vasistha Dharma Sutra, just like the Gautama Dharma Sutra, did not have any
connection with the Kalpa Sutras. It also came down as a separate text.
Traditionally, Vasistha has been associated with the Rgveda (Olivelle 346). It does not have a
strong ancient commentary to prove its work; therefore, Vasistha Dharma Sutra might also
have addition of works from different people over time. The Vasistha represents a trasitional
phase from the prose Dharma Sutras to the verse Smrtis (Olivelle 346). An example of a law
of the Vasistha is that: If someone kills a Ksatriya, he should do the same for eight years; if
he kills a Vaiya, for six years; and if he kills a Sudra, for three years. (Olivelle 435)

The Dharma Sutras were not really investigated well in Hindu studies in the past. It has
limited sources and commentaries notes to prove its accurate date and existence. However,
from the following books of sources, which guided me through this article, the related
websites which gave me some knowledge on this topic, Dharma Sutras is indeed a wide text.
From the four remaining Dharma Sutras, pastamba, Gautama, Vasistha and Baudhyana we

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can see similar laws but phrased in different ways. The punishment for the same concept of
sin done is different or phrased differently within the Dharma Sutras. Therefore one has to
read and understand the different Dharma Sutras in general and also in detail.

CONCLUSION
In the later dharmsutras ,however we find increasing use of verses not simply citation but
integrated into the composition . This strategy is used with increasing frequency by Vasistha
,the auther of the latest Dharmasutras.With regard to the dating of the ManvaDharmasastra
we do not fare much better .Its relative chronology ,however ,has widespread scholarly
consensus. The ManvaDharmashastra was undoubtedly composed after the Dharmasutras; it
shows advances in thinking on many fronts ,specially in the sections relateing to statecrafts,
royal functions and judicial procedure. The Dharmasutras are not only in prose but are also
presented as nothing more than scholarly works. There is no literary introduction; the author
gets write down to business. He presents his material in a straight forward manner , and on
points of controversy and debate he presents opposing view points. Niyoga was a long
established practise in india and is recorded in all the Dharmasutras. The earliarDharmasutras
were written when urbanisation in the Ganges Plain was upsetting the mores of the Vedas and
the hetrodox sects where questiongbrahmanical norms.
Hence , the composition of Dharmasutras setting out the social courts , social obligations,and
duties and current behaviour for e

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