Yudhishthira’s concern with truth and
righteousness, which are defining
qualities in his character. These are
not usually considered to be kingly
(kshatriya) values, which stress courage
and martial valor.
Dharmaraja
(“King of Righteousness”) Colloquial
name for Yama, god of death and pre-
siding deityof the underworld. Yama is
responsible for judging and punishing
the dead, and this threat of punishment,
at least in popular belief, makes people
avoid committing evil. This name is also
one of the epithets of Yudhishthira, the
eldest of the five Pandava brothers,
since his father is the god Dharma, the
guardian of righteousness.
Dharmashastra
A general term to denote the study of
dharma (religious duty), whether refer-
ring specifically to the actual texts
(Dharma Shastras), or the treatises on
religious duty or more generally to the
extensive commentary-like literature on
these texts. Although the Dharma
Shastras are generally believed to have
been written between the second
century B.C.E. and the early centuries of
the common era, this literature contin-
ued to be written until modern times.
The literature detailed views on legal
matters, such as crime and punishment,
civil law, contracts, and rules of evi-
dence. It also concerned matters of
social order. The most extensive catalog
of all these sources is a five-volume set
by Pandurang Vaman Kane (trans.), A
History of Dharmasastra, 1968.
Dharma Shastras
(“Treatises on Dharma”) In its most par-
ticular sense, this word refers to a partic-
ular set of Sanskrittexts. These texts
were explicitly written to give guidelines
for the organization of society, and for
correct human behavior in that society.
The Dharma Shastras were written soon
after the Dharma Sutras(aphorisms on
religious duty) and are clearly modeled
on them, but have several important dif-
ferences. With regard to form, the
Dharma Sutras are written in prose,
whereas the Dharma Shastras are writ-
ten in simple verse. The language of the
Dharma Shastras is close to classical
Sanskrit, and the writers were trying to
make their texts clear and easy to under-
stand. In their content, the Dharma
Shastras treat the same general subjects
as the Dharma Sutras, but they place
far more emphasis on working out
the practical details of a social life,
particularly the duties and functions of
the king.
The final difference is their connec-
tion with the earlier Vedic literature. The
Dharma Sutras were conceived as the
final element of a Kalpa Sutra (complete
handbook of religious practice), along
with the Shrauta Sutras(prescriptions
for Vedic rituals) and the Grhya Sutras
(prescriptions for domestic rites). Each
Kalpa Sutra was associated with one of
the Vedas (the oldest sacred Hindu
texts), and thus the “family property” of
the particular brahmins(priests) con-
nected with that Veda. A particular
Dharma Sutra was thus associated with
a particular group of brahmins, and was
primarily intended as a manual for their
behavior. In contrast, the Dharma
Shastras purported to lay down rules for
all members of society. They show little
concern for ritual matters, and no con-
nection with any particular Vedic
school, but rather profess to lay down
universal truths. In keeping with this
emphasis, the surviving Dharma
Shastras are all attributed to mythical
sages—Manu, Yajnavalkya, and
Narada—whereas the Dharma Sutras
are given human authorship. The
Dharma Shastras thus mark the study of
dharma (dharmashastra) as a discipline
distinct from the earlier Vedic literature,
and applied to society as a whole.Dharma Sutras
(“aphorisms on dharma”) The earliest
texts specifically devoted to dharma—Dharma Sutras