History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c18.10.1

v2.c18.10.1

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.