State and Government in Ancient India c19.s2.2

c19.s2.2

Besides administering the rules embodied in a part of the Dharmaśāstra literature, courts enforced *jātidharmas* (rules of castes) *janapadharmas* (local customs), *śreṇīdharmas* (bye-laws of guilds) *kuladharmas* (family traditions), in so far as they created civil and legal rights.¹ Most of this law was based upon tradition, which was changing along with social customs ; *Varṇāśramadharma*, which our governments and courts are described as enforcing, was not a scheme of life evolved and determined by priests in their interests, but contained rules which made a liberal allowance for the changes in the customary, civil and criminal law, as sanctioned by popular usage and moulded by state guidance. It was the duty of one of the ministers, called Paṇḍita by Śukra, to make a periodical survey to find out which laws are ancient and which modern, which of them are sanctioned by Dharmaśāstra and which though based upon that authority, are no longer valid and which of them have the approval neither of the Dharmaśāstra nor of popular usage. He was then to lay down a proper policy.² It will be thus seen that the laws which the courts administered represented a set of rules, which though embodied in Smṛitis to a great extent, also conformed to the actual social practice and were acceptable to the state.