rules of conduct for various social
groups, moral duties, rights, and obliga-
tions. These were composed as collec-
tions of aphorisms, some so brief that
they virtually presuppose commentary,
and were written between the seventh
and second century B.C.E. According to
theory, the Dharma Sutras were the third
and final part of a Kalpa Sutra (com-
plete handbook of religious practice),
which would also contain prescriptions
for Vedic rituals (Shrauta Sutras) and
domestic rites (Grhya Sutras). Each
Kalpa Sutra was theoretically connected
with one of the four Vedas, the oldest
Hindu religious texts, and was thus the
“family property” of the brahmins
(priests) connected with that Veda. A
particular Dharma Sutra was associated
with a particular group of brahmins and
was primarily intended as a manual for
their behavior.
The real picture is far more complex,
since more than twenty collections of
Dharma Sutras have been identified,
although the most important are attrib-
uted to sages and writers Apastamba,
Gautama, Vasishtha, Baudhayana, and
the god Vishnu. These Dharma Sutras
were an attempt to provide an ordered
way of life by delineating each person’s
rights and duties depending on his or
her social status (varna) and stage of life
(ashrama). These texts were the basis for
the later Dharma Shastras(treatises on
religious duty), which expanded the
sutras, put them into verse, and were
intended to serve as an actual code of
law for the members of the community.
Dharna
Name for a rite intended to compel
another party to address one’s griev-
ances; the rite is usually adopted when
all other options have failed. The word
dharnacomes from the Sanskrit (sacred
language) verb that means “to hold” or
“to maintain.” One element in the dharna
rite is just that—the persistent public
presence of the supplicant in proximity
to the people to whom he or she is
appealing. Thus, an aggrieved civil
servant in modern India may hold a
dharna near the Parliament building
in Delhi, and in some cases people
have camped there for months in an
effort to publicize their plight and
mobilize public opinion. In the same
way, people may hold a dharna at the
temple of a deityto seek guidance or
help; the most prominent example of
this is at the Tarakeshvartemple in the
state of West Bengal.
Aside from persistent presence,
dharna’s other common characteristic is
self-inflicted suffering, usually done
through fasting (upavasa) or other
forms of asceticself-denial. Pilgrims to
Tarakeshvar refrain from eating or
drinking until the god Shivagrants them
a vision, although in practice the temple
priests often limit such exertions to
three days. On the political level,
Mohandas K. Gandhiperfected the “fast
unto death” as a tool to help attain his
political ends. One of the cultural
assumptions that helps make such self-
inflicted suffering persuasive is the
ancient Hindu belief that by voluntarily
enduring physical suffering (tapas) one
can generate spiritual and magical
power. The other working assumption
that makes the dharna effective comes
from the declaration at the rite’s begin-
ning. On the human level, dharnas are
usually undertaken to address very spe-
cific perceived injustices, which are
made public at the start. It is generally
believed that should the person per-
forming dharna die, then the person
against whom the dharna had been held
will be assessed the karmic demerit for
causing that person’s death. Such dhar-
nas are generally only undertaken when
one has no other alternative. Because of
this assumption, they remain a powerful
resource, even in contemporary times.Dhatuvada
Hindu branch of the Indian tradition of
alchemy, which seeks to transform,
transmute, and perfect the body
through the use of various chemicals
with the ultimate goal of rendering theDharna