>Citation bot at 21:27, 13 April 2021

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'''''Gautama Dharmasūtra''''' is a Sanskrit text and likely one of the oldest [[Hinduism|Hindu]] [[Dharmasutras]] (600-200 BCE), whose manuscripts have survived into the modern age.{{Sfn|Robert Lingat|1973|p=19}}{{Sfn|Patrick Olivelle|2006|p=178 with note 28}}{{Sfn|Daniel H.H. Ingalls|2013|p=89}}

The ''Gautama Dharmasutra'' was composed and survives as an independent treatise,{{Sfn|Patrick Olivelle|2006|p=186}} unattached to a complete [[Kalpa (Vedanga)|Kalpa-sūtras]], but like all Dharmasutras it may have been part of one whose Shrauta- and Grihya-sutras have been lost to history.{{Sfn|Robert Lingat|1973|p=19}}{{Sfn|Patrick Olivelle|2006|p=74}} The text belongs to [[Samaveda]] schools, and its 26th chapter on penance theory is borrowed almost completely from Samavidhana [[Brahmana]] layer of text in the [[Samaveda]].{{Sfn|Robert Lingat|1973|p=19}}{{Sfn|Patrick Olivelle|2006|p=74}}

The text is notable that it mentions many older texts and authorities on Dharma, which has led scholars to conclude that there existed a rich genre of Dharmasutras text in ancient India before this text was composed.{{Sfn|Robert Lingat|1973|pp=19-20}}{{Sfn|Timothy Lubin|Donald R. Davis Jr|Jayanth K. Krishnan|2010|p=38}}

==Authorship and dates==
{{Quote box
|quote = '''Testimony during a trial'''
<poem>
The witness must take an oath before deposing.
Single witness normally does not suffice.
As many as three witnesses are required.
False evidence must face sanctions.
</poem>
|source = — ''Gautama Dharmasutras 13.2-13.6'' {{Sfn|Robert Lingat|1973|p=69}}{{sfn|Patrick Olivelle|1999|pp=100-101}}
|bgcolor=#FFE0BB
|align = right
}}
The Dharmasutra is attributed to Gautama, a [[Brahmin]] family name, many of whose members founded the various [[Shakha]]s (Vedic schools) of [[Samaveda]].{{Sfn|Robert Lingat|1973|p=19}} The text was likely composed in the Ranayaniya branch of [[Samaveda]] tradition, generally corresponding to where modern Maratha people reside ([[Maharashtra]]-[[Gujarat]]).{{Sfn|Robert Lingat|1973|p=19}} The text is likely ascribed to revered sage Gautama of a remote era, but authored by members of this Samaveda school as an independent treatise.{{Sfn|Timothy Lubin|Donald R. Davis Jr|Jayanth K. Krishnan|2010|p=40}}

Kane estimated that ''Gautama Dharmasastra'' dates from approximately 600-400 BCE.{{sfn|Patrick Olivelle|1999|p=xxxii}} However, Olivelle states that this text discusses the progeny of Greeks with the word ''Yavana'', whose arrival and stay in substantial numbers in northwest India is dated after Darius I (~500 BCE). The ''Yavana'' are called border people in the Edict of Ashoka (256 BCE), states Olivelle, and given Gautama gives them importance as if they are non-border people, this text is more likely to have been composed after the Ashoka's Edict, that is after mid 3rd century BCE.{{sfn|Patrick Olivelle|1999|p=xxxiii}} Olivelle states that the ''[[Apastamba Dharmasutra]]'' is more likely the oldest extant text in Dharmasutras genre, followed by ''Gautama Dharmasastra''.{{Sfn|Patrick Olivelle|2006|p=178 with note 28}} Robert Lingat, however, states that the mention of ''Yavana'' in the text is isolated, and this minor usage could well have referred to Greco-Bactrian kingdoms whose border reached into northwest Indian subcontinent well before the Ashoka era. Lingat maintains that the Gautama Dharmasastra may well pre-date 400 BCE, and he and other scholars consider it to be the oldest extant Dharmasutra.{{Sfn|Robert Lingat|1973|p=20}}{{Sfn|Daniel H.H. Ingalls|2013|p=89}}

Regardless of the relative chronology, the ancient Gautama Dharmasutra, states Olivelle, shows clear signs of a maturing legal procedure tradition and the parallels between the two texts suggest that significant Dharma literature existed before these texts were composed in 1st millennium BCE.{{sfn|Patrick Olivelle|2005|p=44}}{{Sfn|Robert Lingat|1973|pp=19-22, Quote: The dharma-sutra of Apastamba suggests that a rich literature on dharma already existed. He cites ten authors by name. (...).}}{{Sfn|Timothy Lubin|Donald R. Davis Jr|Jayanth K. Krishnan|2010|p=38}}

The foundational roots of the text may pre-date [[Buddhism]] because it reveres the [[Vedas]] and uses terms such as [[Bhikshu]] for monks, which later became associated with Buddhists, and instead of Yati or [[Sannyasi]] terms that became associated with Hindus.{{Sfn|Robert Lingat|1973|p=20}} There is evidence that some passages, such as those related to castes and mixed marriages, were likely interpolated into this text and altered at the later date.{{Sfn|Robert Lingat|1973|pp=19-20, 94}}

==Organization and content==
The text is composed entirely in prose, in contrast to other surviving Dharmasutras which contain some verses as well.{{Sfn|Robert Lingat|1973|p=20}} The content is organized in the aphoristic [[sutra]] style, characteristic of ancient India's sutra period.{{Sfn|Patrick Olivelle|2006|p=178}} The text is divided into 28 ''Adhyayas'' (chapters),{{Sfn|Robert Lingat|1973|p=20}} with cumulative total of 973 verses.{{Sfn|Patrick Olivelle|2005|p=46}} Among the surviving ancient texts of its genre, the ''Gautama Dharmasutra'' has the largest portion (16%) of sutras dedicated to government and judicial procedures, compared to Apastamba's 6%, Baudhayana's 3% and Vasishtha's 9%.{{Sfn|Patrick Olivelle|2006|pp=186-187}}

The contents of the ''Gautama Dharmasutra'', states Daniel Ingalls, suggest that private property rights existed in ancient India, that the king had a right to collect taxes and had a duty to protect the citizens of his kingdom as well as settle disputes between them by a due process if and when these disputes emerged.{{Sfn|Daniel H.H. Ingalls|2013|p=91-93}}

The topics of this Dharmasūtra are arranged methodically, and resembles the structure of texts found in much later Dharma-related [[Smriti|smṛtis]] (traditional texts).{{Sfn|Patrick Olivelle|2006|p=74}}

{| class="wikitable" align=center style = " background: transparent; "
|+ Gautama Dharmasutras
|-style="text-align: center;"
| width=80px | Chapter
| width= 450px | Topics (incomplete)
| width=80px | Translation<br>Comments
|-
| colspan=3 |
{| class="wikitable collapsible"
! colspan=3 style="background: #ffcd66;" | 1. Sources of Dharma
|-style="text-align: center;"
| width=80px | 1.1-4
| width= 450px style="text-align: left;" | Origins and reliable sources of law
| width=80px | {{sfn|Patrick Olivelle|1999|p=78}}
|}
|-
| colspan=3 |
{| class="wikitable collapsible"
! colspan=3 style="background: #ffcd66;" | 2. Brahmacharya
|-style="text-align: center;"
| width=80px | 1.5-1.61
| width= 450px style="text-align: left;" | Student's code of conduct, insignia, rules of study
| width=80px | {{sfn|Patrick Olivelle|1999|pp=78-80}}
|-style="text-align: center;"
| width=80px | 2.1-2.51
| width= 450px style="text-align: left;" | General rules, conduct towards teachers, food, graduation
| width=80px | {{sfn|Patrick Olivelle|1999|pp=80-83}}
|}
|-
| colspan=3 |
{| class="wikitable collapsible"
! colspan=3 style="background: #ffcd66;" | 3. Stages of life
|-style="text-align: center;"
| width=80px | 3.1-3.36
| width= 450px style="text-align: left;" | Student, monk, anchorite
| width=80px | {{sfn|Patrick Olivelle|1999|pp=83-84}}
|-style="text-align: center;"
| width=80px | 4.1-8.25
| width= 450px style="text-align: left;" | Household, marriage, rituals, gifts, respect for guests, behavior during times of crisis and adversity, interaction between Brahmins and the king, ethics and virtues
| width=80px | {{sfn|Patrick Olivelle|1999|pp=84-91}}{{Sfn|Daniel H.H. Ingalls|2013|pp=89-90}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Kedar Nath Tiwari |title=Classical Indian Ethical Thought |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SNYS_IlSXYsC |year=1998|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-1607-7 |pages=88–90 }}</ref>
|-style="text-align: center;"
| width=80px | 9.1-9.74
| width= 450px style="text-align: left;" | Graduates
| width=80px | {{sfn|Patrick Olivelle|1999|pp=91-93}}
|-style="text-align: center;"
| width=80px | 10.1-10.66
| width= 450px style="text-align: left;" | Four social classes, their occupations, rules of violence during war, tax rates, proper tax spending, property rights
| width=80px | {{sfn|Patrick Olivelle|1999|pp=94-96}}<ref>{{cite journal | last=Penna | first=L. R. | title=Written and customary provisions relating to the conduct of hostilities and treatment of victims of armed conflicts in ancient India | journal=International Review of the Red Cross | publisher=Cambridge University Press | volume=29 | issue=271 | year=1989 | pages=333–348 | doi=10.1017/s0020860400074519 }}</ref>
|}
|-
| colspan=3 |
{| class="wikitable collapsible"
! colspan=3 style="background: #ffcd66;" | 4. Judiciary
|-style="text-align: center;"
| width=80px | 11.1-11.32
| width= 450px style="text-align: left;" | The king and his duties, judicial process
| width=80px | {{sfn|Patrick Olivelle|1999|pp=96- 98}}
|-style="text-align: center;"
| width=80px | 12.1-13.31
| width= 450px style="text-align: left;" | Criminal and civil law categories, contract and debts, theory of punishment, rules of trial, witnesses
| width=80px | {{sfn|Patrick Olivelle|1999|pp=98-101}}{{Sfn|Daniel H.H. Ingalls|2013|pp=89-90}}
|}
|-
| colspan=3 |
{| class="wikitable collapsible"
! colspan=3 style="background: #ffcd66;" | 5. Personal rituals
|-style="text-align: center;"
| width=80px | 14.1-14.46
| width= 450px style="text-align: left;" | Death in a family, cremation, impurities and purification after handling corpses
| width=80px | {{sfn|Patrick Olivelle|1999|pp=101-103}}
|-style="text-align: center;"
| width=80px | 15.1-15.29
| width= 450px style="text-align: left;" | Rites of passage for ancestors and the death of loved ones
| width=80px | {{sfn|Patrick Olivelle|1999|pp=103-106}}
|-style="text-align: center;"
| width=80px | 16.1-16.49
| width= 450px style="text-align: left;" | Self-study of texts, recitation, annual suspension of Vedic readings
| width=80px | {{sfn|Patrick Olivelle|1999|pp=107-108}}
|-style="text-align: center;"
| width=80px | 17.1-17.38
| width= 450px style="text-align: left;" | Food, health, prohibition on killing or harming animals to produce food
| width=80px | {{sfn|Patrick Olivelle|1999|pp=108-109}}
|-style="text-align: center;"
| width=80px | 18.1-18.23
| width= 450px style="text-align: left;" | Marriage, remarriage, child custody disputes
| width=80px | {{sfn|Patrick Olivelle|1999|pp=110-111}}
|}
|-
| colspan=3 |
{| class="wikitable collapsible"
! colspan=3 style="background: #ffcd66;" | 6. Punishment and penances
|-style="text-align: center;"
| width=80px | 18.24-21.22
| width= 450px style="text-align: left;" | Seizure of property, excommunication, expulsion, readmission, sins
| width=80px | {{sfn|Patrick Olivelle|1999|pp=111-115}}
|-style="text-align: center;"
| width=80px | 22.1-23.34
| width= 450px style="text-align: left;" | Penances for killings animals, adultery, illicit sex, eating meat, different types of penances
| width=80px | {{sfn|Patrick Olivelle|1999|pp=115-118}}
|}
|-
| colspan=3 |
{| class="wikitable collapsible"
! colspan=3 style="background: #ffcd66;" | 7. Inheritance and conflicts within law
|-style="text-align: center;"
| width=80px | 28.1-28.47
| width= 450px style="text-align: left;" | Inheritance rights of sons and daughters on man's property, on woman's property, levirate, estates, partition of property between relatives
| width=80px | {{sfn|Patrick Olivelle|1999|pp=118-126}}
|-style="text-align: center;"
| width=80px | 28.48-28.53
| width= 450px style="text-align: left;" | Resolving disputes and doubts within law
| width=80px | {{sfn|Patrick Olivelle|1999|p=126}}
|}
|}

==Commentaries==
{{Quote box
|quote = '''Duties of a graduate'''
<poem>
He should not spend the morning, midday or afternoon fruitlessly,
but pursue [[dharma|righteousness]], [[artha|wealth]] and [[kama|pleasure]],
to the best of his ability,
but among them he should attend chiefly to righteousness.
</poem>
|source = — ''Gautama Dharmasutra 9.46-9.47''{{sfn|Patrick Olivelle|1999|pp=92-93}}
|bgcolor=#FFE0BB
|align = right
}}
Maskarin and Haradatta both commented on ''Gautama Dharmasūtra'' – the oldest is by Maskarin in 900-1000 CE, before Haradatta (who also commented on [[Apastamba]]).{{Sfn|Patrick Olivelle|1999|p=74}}

Olivelle states that Haradatta while writing his commentary on ''Gautama Dharmasutra'' titled ''Mitaksara''{{Sfn|Robert Lingat|1973|p=114}} copied freely from Maskarin's commentary.{{Sfn|Patrick Olivelle|1999|p=74}} In contrast, Banerji states that Haradatta's commentary is older than Maskarin's.<ref name=scbp72>{{cite book|author=Sures Chandra Banerji|title=A Brief History of Dharmaśāstra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hAZ0CAt03_QC |year=1999|publisher=Abhinav Publications |isbn=978-81-7017-370-0 |pages=72–75}}</ref> Asahaya may have also written a commentary on the Gautama text, but this manuscript is either lost or yet to be discovered.<ref name=scbp72/>

==Influence==
[[Daniel H. H. Ingalls, Sr.|Daniel Ingalls]], a professor of Sanskrit at the Harvard University, states that the regulations in the ''Gautama Dharmasutra'' were not laws for the entire society, but were regulations and code of conduct that were developed and applied "strictly to one small group of Brahmins".{{Sfn|Daniel H.H. Ingalls|2013|p=90-91}} The ''Gautama'' text was part of the curriculum of one of the Samaveda schools, and most of the rules, if enforceable, states Ingall, applied to just this group.{{Sfn|Daniel H.H. Ingalls|2013|p=90-91}}

It is quite likely, states [[Patrick Olivelle]], that the ideas and concepts in the ''Gautama Dharmasutra'' strongly influenced the authors of the Manusmriti.{{Sfn|Patrick Olivelle|2006|pp=186-187}}{{Sfn|Patrick Olivelle|2005|pp=44-45}} Medieval texts, such as ''Apararka'', state that thirty six Dharmasastra authors were influenced by ''Gautama Dharmasutras''.{{Sfn|Timothy Lubin|Donald R. Davis Jr|Jayanth K. Krishnan|2010|p=51}}

==See also==
{{Wikiquote}}
*[[Arthashastra]]
*[[Manusmriti]]
*[[Upanishads]]
*[[Vedas]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography===
*{{cite book| author=Daniel H.H. Ingalls |editor=Roy W. Perrett|title=Theory of Value: Indian Philosophy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AQtYAQAAQBAJ |year=2013|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-70357-8 }}
*{{cite book|author1=Timothy Lubin|author2=Donald R. Davis Jr|author3=Jayanth K. Krishnan|title=Hinduism and Law: An Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MtuhClbfL7EC |date=2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-49358-1}}
*{{cite book|author=Patrick Olivelle|title=Dharmasutras: The Law Codes of Ancient India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gnVxqvPg9a0C |year=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-283882-7 }}
*{{cite book|author=Patrick Olivelle |title=Manu's Code of Law |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PnHo02RtONMC |year=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-517146-4 }}
*{{cite book|author=Patrick Olivelle |title=Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=efaOR_-YsIcC |year=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-977507-1 }}
*{{cite book|author=Robert Lingat |title=The Classical Law of India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sauo8iSIj7YC |year=1973 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-01898-3 }}

{{hindudharma}}
[[Category:Dharma Śāstra]]

Gautama Dharmasutra - Revision history

>Citation bot at 21:27, 13 April 2021