History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c18.4

v2.c18.4

From this standpoint various divisions of *dharma* were suggested. Dharma was divided into *śrauta* and *smārta*. The first comprised those rites and ceremonies with which the Vedic *Saṁhitās* and *Brāhmaṇas* were chiefly concerned, such as consecration of the three sacred fires, the Full moon and New moon sacrifices, the solemn soma rites &c. The *smārta* comprised those topics that were specially dealt with by the smṛtis and that concerned the various classes and stages of life.¹ The present work will concern itself principally with *smārta dharma* and *śrauta dharma* will be dealt with concisely in an appendix. Some works divide *dharma* into *śrauta* (Vedic), *smārta* (based upon smṛtis) and *śiṣṭācāra* (the actions of the respected in society)². This classification is based on the three sources of *dharma* viz., *śruti*, *smṛti* and *śiṣṭācāra*, as observed by Baudhāyana.³ Another and more comprehensive classification says that *dharma* is sixfold, viz. dharma of *varṇas* (injunctions based on *varṇa* alone such as 'a brāhmaṇa should never drink wine' or 'a brāhmaṇa should not be killed'), *āśramadharma* (such rules as 'begging' and 'carrying a staff' enjoined on a brahmacārī'), *varṇāśrama-dharma* (rules of conduct enjoined on a man because he belongs to a particular class and is in a particular stage of life, such as 'a brāhmaṇa brahmacārī should carry a staff of *palāśa* tree), *guṇadharma* (such as protection of subjects in the case of a crowned king), *naimittika* dharma (such as expiation on doing what is forbidden), *sādhāraṇa dharma* (what is common to all humanity viz., *ahiṁsā* and other virtues).⁴ This classification appears to have been an ancient one. Medhātithi on Manu II. 25 speaks of fivefold dharma (only omitting *sādhāraṇa dharma* from the abovementioned six) and quotes the explanations of them from the expounders of smṛtis. Hemādri (vrata-khaṇḍa p. 5) quotes 16 verses from the Bhaviṣyapurāṇa on the six-fold dharma.⁵ It will be noticed from the above that all matters (except *sādhāraṇa* or *sāmānya dharma*) have *varṇa* and *āśrama* as the pivots round which the whole of dharmaśāstra revolves. It is therefore that in ancient smṛtis like those of Manu (I. 2 and 107) and Yājñavalkya (I. 1) the sages are represented as asking the great expounders of those codes to impart to them instruction in the dharmas of *varṇas* and *āśramas*.