History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.659.3

v4.c63.t2.659.3

6 expressly state that dharma is threefold viz. that declared in the Veda, that declared in the smṛtis and the third is what is practised by śiṣṭas. Sumantu¹⁷¹¹ emphatically declares that family usage should be preferred to the prescriptions of śāstra. The Kūrmapurāṇa¹⁷¹² (Uttarārdha 15. 19) appears to support the 2nd interpretation when it says, 'one should observe that ācāra which is declared by the śruti and smṛti and which is rightly followed by the good'. The exact import of the word ācāra (or sadācāra) has been shifting from age to age and among commentators. In the earliest days, as shown by the Tai. Up., Gaut. (28. 48, 51), Baud. Dh. S. I. 1. 4-9, Manu XII. 108-109, Vas. I. 6, the ācāra to be followed was that observed or declared by learned brāhmaṇas who were highly moral and selfless (the śiṣṭas). Medhātithi on Mann II. 6 states that binding ācāra is that of śiṣṭas learned in the Vedas. Gradually every usage that had no visible secular purpose came to be looked upon as binding and lastly the usages of śūdras, of *pratiloma* castes and even of heterodox sects became, as will be shown in the sequel, enforceable by the king. As observed in 39 Mad. 298, 301 the commentaries indicate an attempt to reconcile the text law with the actual usages of the people.