Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c8.2

c8.2

In the modern sense of the term law means a body of rules and regulations made by the sovereign authority for the guidance of the society over which it exercises control. But laws in India had a different character. They were so closely interwoven with religion and ethics that they were largely found in the religious literature of the country. The Vedas are the main source of such laws. Vyavahāra or law as a separate department is not treated of in them; but in as much as they try to regulate the life of the Hindus and prescribe for them punishments for lapses from their prescribed duties, they can be said to contain some portions dealing with law. The Dharma Śāstras also cannot be said to treat exclusively of law, for they are more in the nature of compilations and compositions based on the Vedas and written for the guidance of the Hindu society by jurists like Manu and Nārada. These jurists were, however, only codifiers of existing laws, and not makers of laws. To this class of literature also belong the Purāṇas and the epics like the Mahābhārata which are also considered to be authoritative works dealing with law.