whom the Maha ̄bha ̄rata describes as brothers. Kane collected and edited 463
fragments, both in prose and in verse (1926–7, 101–228; 1927–8, 93–132).
Karl Scriba edited and translated passages from the Pı ̄tamahadharmasu ̄tra (Berlin
1902). Fragments of a Pa i t.hı ̄nasidharmasu ̄tra were collected and edited by T. R.
Cintamani (1939). Fragments of several other lost dharmasu ̄tras are discussed by
Kane (1968: 261–9).
TheDharmas ́a ̄stras
Differently from the dharmasu ̄tras, the dharmas ́a ̄stras (in the narrow sense of the
word, see above) are entirely in verse. They are composed nearly exclusively in
the same anus.t.ubhors ́lokameter (4 times 8 syllables to the stanza) that is famil-
iar from the epics (Maha ̄bha ̄rata andRa ̄ma ̄yana), from the Pura ̄n.as, and from
other types ofs ́a ̄straliterature. The dharmas ́a ̄stras deal with the same subject
matter as the dharmasu ̄tras, and, even though they are held to be more recent
and no longer attached to specific vedic schools, they too are part of the revealed
and eternally valid smr.ti. Even as the dharmasu ̄tras, the dharmas ́a ̄stras are attrib-
uted to ancient Sages.
Few versified dharmas ́a ̄stras have been preserved in their entirety; they are
attributed to Manu, Ya ̄jñavalkya, Na ̄rada, and Para ̄s ́ara.
Traditionally the Manusmr.tior Ma ̄navadharmas ́a ̄stra is recognized as the
oldest and most important of all versified dharmasu ̄tras. The theory that it was
based on an older and lost Ma ̄navadharmasu ̄tra – even Gautama refers to Manu
- has no longer any followers. It was the first dharmas ́a ̄stra to become known in
Europe, in William Jones’s English translation (London 1794). It has been trans-
lated several times since then, most authoritatively, with an elaborate introduc-
tion and abundant references to the commentaries, by Bühler, in volume XXV
of the Sacred Books of the East (1886), and most recently by Wendy Doniger and
Brian K. Smith, in the Penguin Books series (1991). The Manusmr.tiis divided
into 12 chapters (adhya ̄yas), ranging from 97 (chapter 6) to 420 (chapter 8)
verses. One of the most enduring features of the Manusmr.ti, throughout the
later dharmas ́a ̄stras, the commentarial literature, into modern times, has been
its subdivision of substantive law into 18 – an important number in Hinduism,
Buddhism, and Jainism – viva ̄dapadas “heads/titles of litigation.”
TheYa j n.avalkyasmr.ti largely deals with the same subject matter as the
Manusmr.ti, but in a more systematic way. The text is divided into three chapters,
ona ̄ca ̄ra (proper behavior; 367/368 verses), vyavaha ̄ra (law; 307 verses), and
pra ̄yas ́citta(penance; 334/335 verses). There is no complete translation of the
Ya j n.avalkyasmr.tiinto English, even though Adolf Friedrich Stenzler edited and
translated the text into German as early as 1849. There is general agreement
that the Ya j n.avalkyasmr.tiis more recent than the Manusmr.ti. More than any
otherdharmas ́a ̄stra text, the Ya j n.avalkyasmr.ti, through its commentary Mita ̄ks.ara ̄
by Vijña ̄nes ́vara (eleventh century ce) on the subject of inheritance, has become
the dharmas ́a ̄stras 107