History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c18.10
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c18.10
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Before embarking upon any treatment of *varṇas* it would not be out of place to say a few words about dharmas common to all humanity. Our dharmaśāstra works do not enter into any subtle or detailed examination of the principles of ethics or of the moral standard, nor are the concepts of duty, happiness or perfection subjected to any searching analysis.⁶ But this does not at all mean that the principles of ethics were passed over by dharmaśāstra works or were not highly thought of by them. From very ancient times truth is exalted above everything else. Ṛgveda VII. 104. 12 says⁷ 'True speech and false speech run a race against each other. Soma protects out of the two what is true and what is very straight-forward and strikes down what is false'. The conception of *ṛta* in the Ṛgveda is a sublime one and is the germ of the later doctrine of the rule of dharma. The Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa (S. B. E. vol. 44 p. 85) enjoins 'therefore let a man speak naught but truth'⁸. In the Taittirīyopaniṣad (I. 11. 1), the teacher when taking leave of his pupil at the end of the latter's studenthood places truth in the forefront of his exhortation and dharma next.⁹ In the Chāndogya (III. 17) there is an allegory of a Soma sacrifice on life, where the dakṣiṇā (fee to be paid) is fivefold viz. the five virtues of tapas (asceticism), dāna (charity), ārjava (straightforwardness), ahiṁsā (non-injury to sentient beings), satyavacana (truthfulness). The Bṛ. Up.
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remarks that truth and dharma are in practical life identical terms.¹⁰ One of the noblest prayers in all literature occurs in the Bṛ. Up. (I. 3.28) 'from falsehood lead me unto truth, from darkness lead me unto light, from death lead me unto immortality'. The Muṇḍakopaniṣad says 'only truth is victorious and not falsehood; the path of the gods is spread out by (the pursuit of) truth'. The Bṛ. Up. inculcates on all the great need of three cardinal virtues, viz. self-restraint, *dayā* (compassion or love for all sentient life) and dāna (gifts or charity).¹¹ The Chān. Up. says that the world of Brahman is free from all evil and only those who have lived as chaste students can enter the world of *brahma*. The Chān. Up. V. 10 sternly condemns five sins, viz. theft of gold, drinking spirits, murder of a brāhmaṇa, defiling of one's guru's bed and association with these, as the greatest sins and in V. 11. 5 Aśvapati exultantly declares that in his kingdom there were no grave sinners. The Kaṭhopaniṣad (I. 2.23) insists¹² upon cessation from evil conduct, peace of mind and concentration as essential for the seeker after the Self. The Udyogaparva 43.20ff. speaks of the twelve *vratas* (vows or rules of conduct) for brāhmaṇas and verses 22-25 describe at great length the characteristics of one who is dānta (self-controlled). Śānti 160 contains an eulogy of *dama* (self-control).
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Śānti 162.7 describes how *satya* has 13 aspects and verse 21 says that non-injury to all beings in thought, word and deed, good will and charity are the eternal dharma of the good.¹³ The Gautama-dharmasūtra (VIII. 24-26) holds that *dayā* (compassion or love for all beings), *kṣānti* (forebearance), *anasūyā* (freedom from envy), *śauca* (purity of body, speech and thought), *anāyāsa* (absence of painful efforts or ambitions), *maṅgala* (doing what is commended), *akārpaṇya* (not demeaning oneself before others), *aspṛhā* (not hankering after sensual pleasures or the possessions of others)¹⁴ are the qualities of the soul and remarks that the person who has these eight qualities realizes non-difference from Brahma and reaches the world of Brahma, though he may not have all the other forty *saṁskāras*, while he who has all the forty saṁskāras but is not possessed of these eight qualities does not reach the world of Brahma.¹⁵ Vasiṣṭha (X. 30) says that avoiding back-biting, jealousy, pride, egoism, unbelief, crookedness, self-praise, abuse of others, deceit, covetousness, delusion, anger and envy is the dharma of all āśramas and further (XXX. 1) he delivers a fine exhortation 'practise dharma (righteousness) and not adharma; speak the truth and not untruth; look far ahead, not near; look at what is highest, not at what is not highest'. Āpastamba Dh. S. (I. 8. 23.
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3-6) calls upon all āśramas to eradicate faults that tend to destruction and to cultivate the opposite virtues (and gives long lists of both). This shows that in the scale of values mere performance of sacrifices and purificatory and other religious ceremonies ranked according to Gautama and other writers very low and the highest value attached to the moral qualities of the soul. There is no elaborate discussion of the questions as to why a man should tell the truth or abstain from *hiṁsā* (injury to sentient beings) and cultivate other high moral qualities. But it should not be supposed that no indications whatever are given of the reasons why this should be done. Two principles emerge if we closely examine the texts. In the midst of countless rules of outward conduct there is always insistence on the necessity to satisfy the inner man (āntara-puruṣa) or conscience. Manu IV. 161 says 'assiduously do that which will give satisfaction to the antarātman' (inner self); IV. 239 says 'No parents, nor wife nor sons will be a man's friends in the next world; but only righteousness.' 'Gods and the inner man mark the sinful acts' Vanaparva 207·54 and Manu VIII. 85, 91-92. Vide also Ādiparva 74. 28-29, Manu VIII. 86, Anuśāsana 2. 73-74. The reason given for cultivating such virtues as *dayā*, *ahiṁsā* is based upon the philosophical doctrine of the one Self being immanent in every individual as said in the words 'tat tvam-asi'.
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This is the highest point reached in Indian metaphysics and combines morality and metaphysics. That doctrine requires us to regard the goodness or badness of one's actions from the standpoint of other individuals who will be affected by such actions. Dakṣa (III. 22) declares¹⁶ 'one who desires happiness should look upon another just as he looks upon himself. Happiness and misery affect one's self and others in the same way'. Devala says that the quintessence of dharma is that one should not do to others what would be disliked by one's self.¹⁷ Therefore our texts lay down two seats of authority in morals viz., the revealed truth (śruti) that 'All this is brahma' and the inner light of conscience. Another reason for cultivating high moral qualities is found in the doctrine of the goals or ends of human existence (*puruṣārtha*). From very ancient times they are said to be four, *dharma* (right conduct), *artha* (economic interests), *kāma* (satisfaction of sexual, emotional and artistic life), *mokṣa* (liberation of the spirit). The last is said to be the supreme end and to be attained only by the few and the vast majority can only place it as an ideal to be attained in the most distant future. As regards the other three, there is a gradation of values.
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*Kāma* is the lowest of all and only fools regard it as the only end.¹⁸ The Mahābhārata says: 'A wise man tries to secure all three, but if all three cannot be attained, he secures dharma and artha or only dharma if he has a choice of only one from among the three. A man of middling discipline prefers artha to the other two; dharma is the source of both artha and kāma.' The dharmaśāstra writers did not condemn kāma altogether, they recognise that kāma has a place as a motive urging men to be active but they assigned it a low place. They recognised that a man shares with lower beings the impulses and emotions of sex, but that the satisfaction of these impulses is of lower values than the moral and spiritual ends proper for a developed human personality and therefore insist that it should be subordinated to *artha* and *dharma*. Gautama (IX. 46-47) says 'one should not allow the morning, midday and evening to remain fruitless so far as dharma, artha and kāma are concerned. But among these three one should attach most importance to dharma.' Yāj. I. 115 says practically the same thing. Āp. Dh. S. (II. 8. 20. 22-23) declares that 'a man should enjoy all such pleasures as are not opposed to dharma. In this way one secures both worlds'.¹⁹ In the Bhagavadgītā (VII. 11) Kṛṣṇa identifies himself with *kāma* that is not opposed to dharma.
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Kauṭilya says²⁰ 'one may enjoy *kāma* provided there is no conflict with dharma and artha, one should not lead a life of no pleasures' and then true to his role of a writer on arthaśāstra, he proclaims that his own opinion is that *artha* is the principal of the three, as *dharma* and *kāma* both spring from *artha.*' Manu (II. 224)²¹ after setting out several views about which of the three is principal states it as his own opinion that one should strive for all the three, but adds that if *artha* or *kāma* is in conflict with *dharma* one should give up *artha* or *kāma* as the case may be. Viṣṇu Dh. S. (71. 84) and Bhāgavata I. 2. 9 say the same. The Kāmasūtra²² of Vātsyāyana defines the three and says that out of dharma, artha and kāma each preceding one is superior to each following one and that to the king artha should be the highest goal. This teaching shows that there are proximate ends or motives and ultimate ends or motives, that the ultimate ends are really the most valuable and that the whole teaching of dharmaśāstra points to this that all higher life demands discipline both of body and mind and requires the subjection of lower aims to aims of higher value. Manu II. 4 (like Aristotle in the first sentence of his Politics) says that the end of all activity is some presumed good. Manu further says (V.
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56) that the natural proclivity of all beings is to hanker after the satisfaction of the common and lower desires of hunger, thirst and sexual gratification and therefore no stress is to be placed on them but on the cessation or curbing of these. The Upaniṣads²³ recognise the distinction between what is beneficial (*hita*) and what is most beneficial (*hitatama*). Śāntiparva (288. 20 and 330. 13) declares that what conduces to the greatest good of beings is 'satya.'