DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49827#0054
PRIN C1PAL SMR1T1S.
39
branch of the Yajurveda. The Vishnu-smriti has originated Lecture
probably among the Kathas, one of the earliest Vedic
Schools, whose members had chosen the Kathaka branch
of the Yajurveda for the subject of their special study. The
Gautamas were a school studying the Samaveda. The
Dharmasutra ascribed to Vasishtha seems to have originated
in a school studying the Rigveda.
Of the method of ^instruction followed in these schools Constitu
nothing can give a better idea than the copious rules of
the Apastamba and other Dharmasutras themselves, by of the?
which the conduct to be observed by a pupil towards his schools,
teacher and vice versa is regulated down to the minutest
detail. Every member of the higher castes, and in parti-
cular every Brahman, wals expected to stay for a number of
years with a teacher of the Sacred Science, and the strict
discipline imposed on him during the period of his student-
ship and its long duration corresponds to the really appal-
ling amount of knowledge he was required to master as a
student. The whole system of every teacher was based. #n
that particular branch of the Veda to which he adhered,
and embraced elaborate rules on the performance of sacri-
fices and domestic ceremonies, including investiture, mar-
riage and the other sacraments (Samskaras), an exposition
of the right way to recite and interpret the Veda (Cikslia
and Mimamsa or Nyaya), the doctrines of the Sacred Law
of the Vedas (Dharma), and several other subjects. The
eminently religious character’ of this kind of instruction
accounts sufficiently for the strange mixture of secular and
religious matters which Indian Law exhibits. Civil Law
(Vyavahara) was considered merely as a subordinate part
of the rules of conduct laid down in the Sacred Law for each
of the four castes( Varna) and each ofthe four orders (Agrama),
and consisted of a restricted number of mixed rules on
Civil and Criminal Law and Judicial Procedure, among
which the Law of Inheritance occupies a conspicuous place.
In spite of this undue prevalence o? the religious and y'^".^0
scholastic elements which has stinted the growth of Indian
Law from the very outset, there is no reason to doubt that
the legal rules of the Dharmasutras are based on a large
superstructure of customary law. The sources from which
the Dharmasutras and the Indian law-books generally
profess to have been derived have been stated before. In
the Dharmasutras, the quotations and extracts from the
Vedas occupy a conspicuous place, as is natural in compo-
39
branch of the Yajurveda. The Vishnu-smriti has originated Lecture
probably among the Kathas, one of the earliest Vedic
Schools, whose members had chosen the Kathaka branch
of the Yajurveda for the subject of their special study. The
Gautamas were a school studying the Samaveda. The
Dharmasutra ascribed to Vasishtha seems to have originated
in a school studying the Rigveda.
Of the method of ^instruction followed in these schools Constitu
nothing can give a better idea than the copious rules of
the Apastamba and other Dharmasutras themselves, by of the?
which the conduct to be observed by a pupil towards his schools,
teacher and vice versa is regulated down to the minutest
detail. Every member of the higher castes, and in parti-
cular every Brahman, wals expected to stay for a number of
years with a teacher of the Sacred Science, and the strict
discipline imposed on him during the period of his student-
ship and its long duration corresponds to the really appal-
ling amount of knowledge he was required to master as a
student. The whole system of every teacher was based. #n
that particular branch of the Veda to which he adhered,
and embraced elaborate rules on the performance of sacri-
fices and domestic ceremonies, including investiture, mar-
riage and the other sacraments (Samskaras), an exposition
of the right way to recite and interpret the Veda (Cikslia
and Mimamsa or Nyaya), the doctrines of the Sacred Law
of the Vedas (Dharma), and several other subjects. The
eminently religious character’ of this kind of instruction
accounts sufficiently for the strange mixture of secular and
religious matters which Indian Law exhibits. Civil Law
(Vyavahara) was considered merely as a subordinate part
of the rules of conduct laid down in the Sacred Law for each
of the four castes( Varna) and each ofthe four orders (Agrama),
and consisted of a restricted number of mixed rules on
Civil and Criminal Law and Judicial Procedure, among
which the Law of Inheritance occupies a conspicuous place.
In spite of this undue prevalence o? the religious and y'^".^0
scholastic elements which has stinted the growth of Indian
Law from the very outset, there is no reason to doubt that
the legal rules of the Dharmasutras are based on a large
superstructure of customary law. The sources from which
the Dharmasutras and the Indian law-books generally
profess to have been derived have been stated before. In
the Dharmasutras, the quotations and extracts from the
Vedas occupy a conspicuous place, as is natural in compo-