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Classical Hindu law is a category of Hindu law (dharma) in traditional Hinduism, taken to begin with the transmittance of the Vedas [ citation needed ] and ending in 1772 with the adoption of "A Plan for the Administration of Justice in Bengal" by the Bengal government. [1]
Law during the classical period was theologically based on the dharmasastra, and dharma which was traditionally delineated by "learned people" or scholars of the Vedas. [2] However, in reality, classical Hindu law was diverse in practice, varying between locations, vocational groups, and castes. Thus, the common source of classical Hindu law was the community and, therefore, laws on a whole were highly decentralized and diverse. [3] These laws were dictated by various corporate groups such as merchant leaders, heads of caste, and kings, and because of the diverse leadership, these laws were particular to a set place. [4] Records of classical Hindu law can be found in the Manu Smriti and other smṛti literature; although, actual court records during this time period are rare.
Classical Hindu law was theologically based on the Dharmasastras. Traditionally these texts established the rules of dharma which could be found through three sources. Theologically the most important source for dharma was from the śruti or Veda, because it was acknowledged to be of divine origin. If one could not find a particular idea in the Vedas, the Dharmasutras instructed him or her to consult the next source of authority: smṛti followed then by ācāra and in some cases ātmatuṣṭi. [5]
However, ācāra was the law that was conveyed in actual practice. [6]
Śruti is a section of texts that are learned through hearing and are synonymous with the Vedas. [7] Originally transmitted to ancient Rishis by way of cosmic vibration, the texts are considered the highest form of revelation. [8] Because of their divine origin, the texts were passed orally through the generations by a select group of people who were granted the power to interpret the texts into more tangible laws. Although the texts themselves contain no specific law codes or rules, they are the claimed source for all classical Hindu Laws. [9] These texts contain the four Vedas and the supplementary commentary associated with them.
Smriti, defined as tradition, is the second source of dharma and specifically refers to the written texts which cite the traditions of lawful virtuous people. These texts include the Dharmasastras. [10] Smriti refers to the collections of acara or customary law wherein learning takes place. Smriti is the testimony of people who know the Vedas and is considered as the secondary Veda. Unlike Sruti, revelation, Smriti is based on memory; specifically those of sages who transmit their memories of traditions onto men as a means of passing down their wisdom. Smriti also represents the complete set of sacred literature: the six Vedangas, the epics (the Mahabharata and the Ramayana) and the Puranas. [11]
Ācāra is the third source of dharma and refers to the community norms and standards of a particular social group. [12] Traditionally, according to the dharmasastras, these standards are derived from the actions of those so fully learned in the Vedas that all their actions are aligned with Vedic teaching. [13] Such actions are looked towards for example in times when information regarding a particular instance is not found within śruti and smṛti literature. Although theologically the Vedas or śruti literature should be the primary source for information regarding Hindu law, in reality, ācāra provided the basis for the working system of law during the classical period. [14] Along with this shift away from laws directly resulting from the Vedas came the normalization of leaders whose actions are considered ācāra yet are not Vedic scholars. Over time, merchant leaders, heads of caste, and community leaders became the true sources of ācāra and therefore, also became the primary source for rulings within the Hindu law tradition. [15]
Atmatusti is defined as being what is pleasing to oneself and is considered by some to be the fourth source of dharma. [16] However, only the law codes of Manu and Yājñavalkya cite atmatusti as the fourth source of law. [17] Most scholars do not recognize atmatusti as a source of dharma within Hindu Law because it does not have the same authority as sruti, smriti, and acara. Atmatusti is used as a last resort where a person may only use it if the first three legitimate sources do not address the issue in question. [18]
Classical Hindu law in practice originates from the community, not state bodies. In this way, particular groups of society began to gain influence in the creation and administration of law. Primary corporate groups, kingships, and Brahmins were the factions which conveyed Hindu jurisprudence in practice. Corporate groups were responsible for legislating law through the conception of social norms; [19] kingships were responsible for the administration of punishment and the worldly Hindu system; and Brahmins were responsible for ritual, penance, and the maintenance of a spiritual Hindu system. [20]
Evidence of judicial procedure in ancient India was mostly derived from classical Hindu law and religious texts like the Vedas. The king was made to be the ultimate law authority within a court. Ordeals, the divine methods of proof and oaths for simple cases were used to help in the decision-making process, while ultimately basing the decision on different texts like Manu, Yājñavalkya, Dharmaśāstras, Sastras and dharma.
Yajnavalkya or Yagyavalkya is a Hindu Vedic sage featuring in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and Tattiriya Upanishad. Yajnavalkya proposes and debates metaphysical questions about the nature of existence, consciousness and impermanence, and expounds the epistemic doctrine of neti neti to discover the universal Self and Ātman. Texts attributed to him include the Yajnavalkya Smriti, Yoga Yajnavalkya and some texts of the Vedanta school. He is also mentioned in the Mahabharata as well as various Puranas, Brahmanas and Aranyakas.
Śruti or shruti in Sanskrit means "that which is heard" and refers to the body of most authoritative, ancient religious texts comprising the central canon of Hinduism. Manusmriti states: Śrutistu vedo vijñeyaḥ meaning, "Know that Vedas are Śruti". Thus, it includes the four Vedas including its four types of embedded texts—the Samhitas, the Upanishads, the Brahmanas and the Aranyakas.
Smriti Literature in Hinduism The smṛti texts are a body of Hindu texts usually attributed to an author, traditionally written down, in contrast to Śrutis considered authorless, that were transmitted verbally across the generations and fixed. Smriti is a derivative secondary work and is considered less authoritative than Sruti in Hinduism, except in the Mimamsa school of Hindu philosophy. The authority of smriti accepted by orthodox schools is derived from that of shruti, on which it is based.
Āpastamba Dharmasūtra is a Sanskrit text and one of the oldest Dharma-related texts of Hinduism that have survived into the modern age from the 1st millennium BCE. It is one of three extant Dharmasutras texts from the Taittiriya school of Krishna Yajurveda, the other two being Baudhayana Dharmasutra and Hiranyakesin Dharmasutra.
The Manusmṛti, also known as the Mānava-Dharmaśāstra or the Laws of Manu, is one of the many legal texts and constitutions among the many Dharmaśāstras of Hinduism.
Dharmaśāstra are Sanskrit Puranic Smriti texts on law and conduct, and refer to treatises (śāstras) on Dharma. Unlike Dharmasūtra which are based upon Vedas, these texts are mainly based on the Puranas. There are many Dharmashastras, variously estimated to number from 18 to over 100. Each of these texts exists in many different versions, and each is rooted in Dharmasutra texts dated to the 1st millennium BCE that emerged from Kalpa (Vedanga) studies in the Vedic era.
Hindu law, as a historical term, refers to the code of laws applied to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs in British India. Hindu law, in modern scholarship, also refers to the legal theory, jurisprudence and philosophical reflections on the nature of law discovered in ancient and medieval era Indian texts. It is one of the oldest known jurisprudence theories in the world and began three thousand years ago whose original sources were the Hindu texts.
The Mitākṣarā is a vivṛti on the Yajnavalkya Smriti best known for its theory of "inheritance by birth." It was written by Vijñāneśvara, a scholar in the Kalyani Chalukya court in the late eleventh century in the modern day state of Karnataka. Along with the Dāyabhāga, it was considered one of the main authorities on Hindu Law from the time the British began administering laws in India. The entire Mitākṣarā, along with the text of the Yājñavalkya-smṝti, is approximately 492 closely printed pages.
Prāyaścitta is the Sanskrit word which means "atonement, penance, expiation". In Hinduism, it is a dharma-related term and refers to voluntarily accepting one's errors and misdeeds, confession, repentance, means of penance and expiation to undo or reduce the karmic consequences. It includes atonement for intentional and unintentional misdeeds. The ancient Hindu literature on repentance, expiation and atonement is extensive, with earliest mentions found in the Vedic literature. Illustrative means to repent for intentional and unintentional misdeeds include admitting one's misdeeds, austerities, fasting, pilgrimage and bathing in sacred waters, ascetic lifestyle, yajna, praying, yoga, giving gifts to the poor and needy, and others.
Ācāra is a concept used in the context of Classical Hindu law that refers to the customary laws or community norms of a particular social group. These community norms are delineated and put into practice by people who have earned the respect of those within each individual group, such as a community leader or elder. Although in Dharmaśāstra the ideal person who defines the ācāra of a particular place is dictated as one who knows the Vedas or is “learned”, in actual practice this role is often deferred to group leaders along with Vedic scholars. Ācāra is theologically important in Hindu law because it is considered, along with the Vedas (Śruti), and Smriti, to be one of the sources of dharma. Particular regional ācāra is believed to be canonized in Dharmaśāstra texts; however scholars differ on the source for the actual accounts found within these texts.
The Yajnavalkya Smriti is one of the many Dharma-related texts of Hinduism composed in Sanskrit. It is dated between the 3rd and 5th century CE, and belongs to the Dharmashastra tradition. The text was composed after the Manusmriti, but like it and Naradasmriti, the text was composed in shloka style. The legal theories within the Yajnavalkya Smriti are presented in three books, namely achara-kanda (customs), vyavahara-kanda, and prayascitta-kanda.
Vishnu Smriti is one of the latest books of the Dharmaśāstra tradition in Hinduism and the only one which does not deal directly with the means of knowing dharma. The text has a strong bhakti orientation, requiring daily puja to the god Vishnu. It is also known for its handling of the controversial subject of the practice of sati. A Varanasi pandit, Nandapandita, was the first to write a commentary on the Vishnu Smriti in 1622, but the book was not translated into English until 1880 by Julius Jolly.
Atmatusti is a source of dharma in Hinduism, usually translated into English as being "what is pleasing to oneself." The four sources of dharma are: śruti (Vedas); smṛti, "that which is remembered, tradition: Dharmaśāstra, Puranas, Epics; ācāra, good custom; and ātmatuṣṭi.
Classical Hindu law in practice originates from community, not a state polity. In this way, particular groups of society began to gain influence in the creation and administration of law. Primary corporate groups, Kingships, and Brahmins were the factions, which conveyed Hindu jurisprudence in practice. Corporate groups were responsible for legislating law through the conception of social norms; kingships were responsible for the administration of punishment and the worldly Hindu system; and Brahmins were responsible for ritual, penance, and the maintenance of a spiritual Hindu system.
Bhāruci's commentary (bhashya) on the Manu Smrti, or Laws of Manu, is part of the corpus of Dharmaśāstra texts available to us today. It is the oldest commentary on Manu that we know of, and is one of the sources used by Medhātithi, another major commentator on the Manu Smṛti.
The Vashistha Dharmasutra is one of the few surviving ancient Sanskrit Dharmasutras of Hinduism. It is reverentially named after a Rigvedic sage Vashistha who lived in the 2nd millennium BCE, but the text was probably composed by unknown authors between 300 BCE – 100 CE. It forms an independent text and other parts of the Kalpasūtra, that is Shrauta- and Grihya-sutras are missing. It is written in sutra style, and contains 1,038 sutras. According to Patrick Olivelle – a professor of Sanskrit and Indian religions, the text may be dated closer to the start of the common era, possibly the 1st century, since it uses the pronoun "I" and a style as if the text is a personal teaching guide, and because it is the oldest Indian text that mentions "the use of written evidence in judicial proceedings".
Gautama Dharmasūtra is a Sanskrit text and likely one of the oldest Hindu Dharmasutras, whose manuscripts have survived into the modern age.
Daṇḍa is the Hindu term for punishment. In ancient India, the ruler generally sanctioned punishments but other legal officials could also play a part. Punishments were handed out in response to criminal activity. In the Hindu law tradition, the counterpart to daṇḍa is prāyaścitta. Whereas daṇḍa was primarily sanctioned by the king, prāyaścitta is taken up by a person at his or her own volition. Daṇḍa provides a way for an offender to correct any violations of dharma he or she may have committed. Daṇḍa functions as the ruler's tool to protect the system of life stages and castes. Daṇḍa is part of vyavahāra, which was also a responsibility afforded to the king.
Law in India primarily evolved from customary practices and religious prescriptions in the Indian subcontinent, to the modern well-codified acts and laws based on a constitution in the Republic of India. The various stages of evolution of Indian law is classified as that during the Vedic period, the Islamic period, the British period and post independence.
In Hinduism, Śāstra pramāṇam refers to the authority of the scriptures with regard to puruṣārtha, the objects of human pursuit, namely dharma, artha, kāma (pleasure) and mokṣa (liberation). Together with smṛti, ācāra, and ātmatuṣṭi, it provides pramana and sources of dharma, as expressed in Classical Hindu law, philosophy, rituals and customs.
