What is dharma?

Patrick Olivelle, A Dharma Reader: Classical Indian Law

- ‘three texts within the literary tradition of the science of dharma and written in
aphoristic prose fall between the texts composed by Apastamba in the third
century.’ P.59
- Gautama
o ‘Gautama, for example, is the first to highlight the centrality of the Veda as
the source of dharma and the first to invoke the category of recollection
within the context of the epistemology of dharma.’ P.59
o ‘Veda is the root of dharma, as also the recollection and conduct of those
who know it.’ P.60
o ‘Trangression of dharma is seen, as also violence, in great men.’ P.60
o ‘The king’s administration of law shall be based on the Veda, treatises on
dharma, Vedic supplements, subsidiary Vedas, and Purana.’ P.60
o ‘The dharmas of regions, castes, and families that are not in confict with the
sacred scriptures are authoritative.’ P.60
o ‘A legal assembly is said to consist of a minimum of ten members - four who
have mastered the four Vedas; three belonging to the three orders…and
three who know three different treatises on dharma.’ P.61
o ‘devoted to the dharma proper to them enjoy the fruits of their deeds after
death.’ P.61
o ‘with a residue of those fruits, they take birth again, in prosperous region, a
high caste, and a distinguished family…those who act in a contrary manner
disperse in every direction and perish.’ P.61
- Baudhayana
o ‘He follows Gautama in highlighting the pre-eminence of the Veda, but in
using the somewhat ambiguous term prativedam… he seems to be following
the general view that people belonging to various Vedic branches (sakha)
should follow the injunction within their respective branches.’ P.61
o Two sources of dharma: Veda, text of recollection – Smarta  refers to a
text
o ‘he presents a third epistemic source of dharma, calling it sista agama.’ P.62
o ‘definition of the cultured elite reminiscent of Patanjali’s, without, however,
a direct link to a sacred geography, which Baughayan presents separately as a
region whose practices…are authoritative.’ P.62
o ‘they know the Veda and the subsidiary Vedic texts, and most important,
they know how to draw inferences from the extant Veda; these inferences
probably related to extracting dharma from the Vieda.’ P.62
o ‘Baudhayana turns to a situation when none of the above three ways of
knowing dharma is available.’ P.62
o ‘Dharma is taught in each Veda.’ P.62
o ‘Now, the cultured elite are those who are devoid of envy and without pride,
who possess just a jarful of frain and are without covetousness, and who are
free of hypocrisy, arrogance, greed, folly, and anger.’ P.63
 o ‘There are five areas in which there is disagreement with respect to the
south and likewise with respect to the north.’ P.63
- Vaisistha
o ‘influence of Vedic exegesis on Vaisisthat is evident.’ P.65
o ‘Dharma is laid down in Vedic texts and texts of recollection. In the absence
of these, the practice of the culture elite is authoritative. The cultured elite,
however, are free from desire; and dharma is without a tangible motive.’
P.66
o ‘When there is no scriptural text, Many has prescrive the dharma of the
region, the dharma of the caste, and the dharma of the family.’ P.67
o ‘Good conduct is the highest dharma for all – that is certain. A man bereft
of good conduct and whose self is corrupt comes to ruin in this world and
the next.’ P.67
o ‘nothing will ever rescue a man bereft of good conduct and gone astray.’ P.67
o ‘The Vedas, even if theyhave been recited along with the six supplements, do
not purify a man bereft of good conduct.’ P.67
Dharmasūtra of Āpastambha 2.21 – 24 [Ovielle]

- ‘there are four orders of life: the householder’s life, living at the teacher’s house, the
life of a sage, and that of a forest hermit.’ P.64
- ‘If a man remains steadfast in any of these, he attains bliss.’ P.64
- ‘Following the rules of a novice student, a student should serve his teacher until
death, leavinghis body in his teacher’s house.’ P.64
- ‘Next, the wandering ascetic.’ P.64
- ‘Speaking only when he is engaged in private vedic recitation and obtaining food
from a village to sustain himself, he should live without any concern for this world or
the next.’ P.65
- ‘Abandoning truth and falsehood, pleasure and pain, the Vedas, this world and the
next, he should seek the Self. When he gains insight, he attains bliss.’ P.65

Laws of Manu Olivelle

- ‘Manu was seated, absorbed in contemplation. V.1

- ‘the Laws of all the social classes’ v.2
- ‘to establish distinctions among activities, moreover, he distinguished the right
(dharma) and the Wrong (adharma) and afflicted these creatures with the pairs of
opposites such as pleasure and pain.’ V.26
- ‘Together with the perishable atomic particles of the five elements given in tradition,
this whole world comes into being in an orderly sequence.’ V.27
- ‘Violence or nonviolence, gentleness or cruelty, righteousness (dharma) or
unrighteousness (adharma), truthfulness or untruthfulness – whichever he assigned
to each at the time of creation, it stuck automatically to that creature.’ V.29
Patrick Olivelle, A Dharma Reader: Classical Indian Law (Columbia, 2018)

- ‘Dharma is undoubtedly the most central and ubiquitous concept in the whole of
Indian civilisation…dauntingly broad semantic range.’ P.xxxvii
- ‘it first appears in the early vedic literature with reference to the rules and statutes
connected with the…[maintaining of order.’ P.xxxviii
- ‘dharma was at first, and in the Brahmanical tradition continues to be, associated with
the ritual…so dharmas are the rules of correct ritual procedure.’ Pxxxviii
- ‘dharma…provides the guidelines for proper and productive living and for social
organisation and interaction.’ P.xxxix
- ‘The Brahamanical theologians, however, sought to give it a theological definition:
dharma is the content of vedic injunctions. This definition clearly defines dharma as
positive, albeit revealed, law, rather than a cosmic or natural law which can be
gathered by investigation.’ P.xxxix
- ‘Dharma, according to this definition, can only be gathered by examining the
vedicinjunctions. Like the Vedas, therefore, dharma is not of human origin, and it
can have no practical value or visible aim.’ P.xxxix
- ‘Apastamba provides an early attempt an early attempt at resolving the problem. He
calls the dharmas he is going to explain ‘accepted customary’ samayacarika.’ P.xl
- ‘the dharmas that are accepted or agreed upon (samaya) by those who know
dharma.’ P.xl
- ‘Apastamba clearly places customary practice at the very heart of dharma; not just
any custom, however, but only those accepted by an elite group. He then goes on to
say that the authority is based also on the Vedas, placing it second after the accepted
customs as the source of dharma.’ P.xl
- ‘vedic prescriptions functioned as a check or a negative criterion: customs of a region
or a group are authoritative for those belonging to that region or group provided they
are not in conflict with explicit vedic prescriptions.’ P.xl
- ‘The theological explanation is that the people ofthose days had extraordinary power
lacking in modern men. This theory developed later into what is known as the yuga-
dharma, the dharma of different world ages; the dharma appropriate forancient ages
may be inappropriate for the current depraved age.’ P.xli
- Apastamba = ‘originally all rules of dharma were contained in the Vedas, but now
parts of those Vedas are lost.’ P.xli
- ‘The customs from which some elements of dharma are derived are actually based on
lost vedic texts.’ P.xli
- ‘Gautama…gives the three sources of dharma that become standard in later literature:
the Veda and the tradition (smriti) and practice (acara) of those who know the Veda.’
P.xli
- ‘Baudhayana…explicitly calls smrti the second source, and the practice of cultured
people (sista) the thir.’ P.xli
- ‘The Dharmasutras are normative texts. They contain norms of correct behaviour and
action.’ P.xlii
Flood, Gavin, An Introduction to Hinduism, chapter 3

- Most prized, however, is the putting into word of the much celebrated Rta…’active
realisation of truth.’’ P.70
- ‘The vital force of Rta indeed has the power to keep the cosmos and human society
functioning correctly. This untranslatable concept thus is similar to the later Hindu
dharma.’ P.70
- ‘the beginning of the Bhagavadgita still defends the dharma of a Ksatriya as the
norm- that is the duty to fight and kill.’ P.85
- ‘The Sutras are descriptive and prescriptive texts that deal systematically, in the
proper order of ritual procedure, with the solemn ritual (Srauta Sutra), with the
domestic rituals (Grhya Sutra), and with the rules of proper behaviour as a Veda
student.’ P.87
- DS
o ‘These Sutras deal with dharama ‘proper behaviour,’ beginning with that of a
Veda student, and moving to that of a married man…’ p.89
- ‘dharma appropriate to each stage of life.’ P.293

Chapter 4 -

- ‘Along with artha and kama, dharma is one of the three goals (trivarga) in the life of a
Hindu.’ P.102
- ‘The noun dharma is derived from the verbal root dhr, which means ‘uphold,
maintain, sustain, keep in balance.’ P.102
- ‘Henc dharma is the way, the right way, to maintain order and balance in the universe
generally.’ P.102
- ‘At the human level, dharma governs every aspect of and every activity in the life of
Hindu.’ P.102
- Dharma is not synonymous with ‘law’ which has become an often used translation for
dharma..nor with religion.’ P.102
- ‘An individual’s specific dharma (sva-dhartna) is primarily determined by two
criteria: his social class and his stage of life.’ p.103
- ‘The members of the four social classes…have different dharmas.’ P.103
- ‘The Brahman’s specific dharma includes teaching the Vedic texts.. performing
sacrifices for the benefit of others (yajana…), and receiving special gifts.’ P.103
- ‘The Ksatriya maintains law and order inside the territory and defends the country
against outsiders; the king who, theoretically though not always in practice, is the
principal Ksatriay, has his own rajadharma.’ P.103
- ‘the Sudras, have only one dharma: be of service (susrusa) to the members of the
three higher classes.’ P.103
- ‘There are also four life stages (asrama), during each of which the dharma of the
Hindu is different.’ P.103
- Upanayama (5)  ‘This ritual is conceived as a second birth, as a result of which the
boy is invested with the sacred thread (yqjnopavita) and becomes a brahmacarin.’
P.103
- ‘The main dharma of the brahamacarin is to move in with and study the sacred texts
under the guidance of a teacher(guru), to serve his guru, and to observe strice
celibacy.’ P.103
- ‘the grhastha establishes andsustains a family, including the primary duty of fathering
a son who will perform the necessary funeral rites (sraddha) after his father’s death.’
P.103
- ‘enter the thirs asrama, retire from active life, and become a vanaprastha.’ P.103
- Samnyasin
- Desdharmas
- Jatidharma
- Kuladharma
- Srenidharmas
- ‘In other words, forms of behaviour that are recognised as proper for the members of
these groups are dharma, even if they are not described in or even if they are
incompatibale with the rules codified in the dharmasastras.’ P.103
- Apad (emergencies)
o ‘the strict rules they lay down in the texts are suspened.’ P.104
- ‘It cannot be stressed enough that, except for the rules that apply to one and all,
in Hinduism dharma is different for different individuals and under different
circumstances. What is dharma for one individual may constitute a breach of
dharma (adharma) for others; what is adharma under certain circumstances
may be dharma in other situations.’ P.104