History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c18.2

v2.c18.2

Manifold are the topics that have been included under Dharmaśāstra from very ancient times. The Dharma-sūtras of Gautama, Baudhāyana, Āpastamba and Vasiṣṭha deal in greater or less detail principally with the following subjects: the several *varṇas* (classes), *āśramas* (stages of life), their privileges, obligations and responsibilities; the *saṁskāras* performed on an individual (from *garbhādhāna* to *antyeṣṭi*); the duties of the *brahmacārin* (the first āśrama); *anadhyāyas* (holidays on which Vedic study was stopped); the duties of a *snātaka* (one who has finished the first stage of life); *vivāha* (marriage) and all matters connected therewith; the duties of the *gṛhastha* (house-holder's stage); *śauca* (daily purification of body); the five daily *yajñas*; *dāna* (gifts); *bhakṣyābhakṣya* (what food should one partake of and what not); *śuddhi* (purification of persons, vessels, clothes &c.); *āśauca* (impurity on birth and death); *antyeṣṭi* (rites on death); *śrāddha* (rites performed for the deceased ancestors and relatives); *strīdharma* (special duties of women) and *strīpuṁdharma* (duties of husband and wife); dharmas of *kṣatriyas* and of kings; *vyavahāra* (judicial procedure, and the sphere of substantive law such as crimes and punishments, contracts, partition and inheritance, adoption, gambling &c.); the four principal classes, mixed castes and their proper avocations; *āpaddharma* (actions and avocations permitted to the several castes in extreme difficulties); *prāyaścitta* (sins and how to expiate them); *karmavipāka* (results of evil deeds done in past lives); *śānti* (rites on the happening of portents or for propitiating the planets &c.); duties of *vānaprastha* (forest hermit) and *saṁnyāsin* (ascetic). All these subjects are not treated in any fixed or settled order in the sūtra works. To take only one example, the subject of partition and inheritance occurs at the end of the dharmasūtra of Gautama, while Vasiṣṭha places the same subject in the middle of his work (17th chapter) and Āpastamba deals with those topics after finishing three-fourths of his work (in II. 6. 14). Further, some works on *dharmaśāstra* give very elaborate treatment of certain topics of which only faint traces are found in the ancient dharmasūtras and metrical smṛtis. Such topics are *vratas* (which may be looked upon as extensions of the subject of gifts), *utsarga* and *pratiṣṭhā* (dedication of works of public utility and of temples and shrines), *tīrtha* (sacred places and pilgrimages to them), *kāla* (auspicious times, festivals &c.).