[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India)](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930) › v2.c18.4 # History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c18.4 History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c18.4 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c18.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.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\*. - [Previous: v2.c18.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c18.3) - [Next: v2.c18.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c18.5) - [Up: v2.c18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c18) ## Cites (2) - [Mānava Dharmaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.manu.2.25) — Manu & Bhṛgu, Sanskrit - [Yājñavalkyasmṛti](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.yajnavalkya.1.1) — Yājñavalkya, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c18.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c18.4) · Pramāṇa