Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c12.s6.73

c12.s6.73

**Formation of special Law Schools, apart from purely Vedic Schools or Charaṇas, on the basis of Dharma-Śāstras such as those of Manu and Yājñavalkya.** Sacred Law, like Grammar and Astronomy, had also to part company with the Vedic schools in the interests of its own development. It demanded an independent treatment uncontrolled by the needs of Veda-study. Special Law Schools grew up even in the time of the two Dharma-Sūtras of Vasishṭha and Baudhāyana, as we have already seen. The formation of special Law Schools was, however, but the first step : the second step was the composition of Manuals for their use, of that class of secondary Smṛitis the chief surviving representatives of which are the Dharma-śāstras of Manu and Yājñavalkya. The original Dharma-sūtras with which these special Law Schools started offered copious materials for special study, as also grounds for it. Most of their topics were connected with the moral duties of the Āryas, of which detailed rules are given, but the rules are not systematically arranged. They also treat of the legal procedure, the civil and criminal law, but the treatment is unsatisfactory except that of the law of inheritance and partition. From the standpoint of the Vedic Schools a more detailed and orderly treatment of such matters was irrelevant, as they were more concerned with the means of acquiring spiritual merit and warning to pupils against commission of sins. Some of their members might, of course, be called upon to assist the administration as Dharmādhikārins or legal advisers or as judges and to settle the law between man and man, but for this purpose a mere knowledge of the general principles was sufficient in an age which recognized the great authority of local customs. The case, however, was quite different when sacred law came to be studied as a separate science by specialists who would naturally seek to remedy the deficiences of the older books either by remodelling them or composing new works. In general the first alternative would commend itself to them more. Thus the first work of the special Law Schools was the production of the secondary Smṛitis on the basis of older Dharma-sūtras and the consequent conversions of locally authoritative Sūtras of mere School-books into works claiming the allegiance of all Āryans.