texts are suspended. In such cases a ̄paddharma applies: the Brahman is allowed
to pursue a military career, the Ks.atriya may practice the life style normally
reserved for the Vais ́ya, etc.
It cannot be stressed enough that, except for the rules that apply to one and
all, in Hinduism dharma is different for different individuals and under different
circumstances. What is dharma for one individual may constitute a breach of
dharma (adharma) for others; what is adharma under certain circumstances may
bedharma in other situations.
TheDharmasu ̄tras
The term dharmas ́a ̄stra is used with two different meanings. It either encom-
passes both the dharmas ́a ̄stras and the dharmasu ̄tras, i.e. the entire smr.ti, or it is
restricted to the dharmas ́a ̄stras in a narrower sense (see below). Although occa-
sionally mixed with verse, the dharmasu ̄tras are in prose. By definition, a su ̄tra is
a brief, aphoristic statement, in which not a single word or syllable is meaning-
less.Su ̄tras are meant to be learned by heart first, only later to be explained by
means of an oral or written commentary. Typical examples of works written in
su ̄tra style are Pa ̄n.ini’s grammatical treatise (the As.t.a ̄dhya ̄yı ̄), Va ̄tsya ̄yana’s
Ka ̄masu ̄tra, the basic texts of the six systems of Hindu philosophy (dars ́anas), etc.
Note that the meaning of the Sanskrit term su ̄tra in this context is different from
that of the Pa ̄li term suttain the Buddhist texts.
Thedharmasu ̄tras are only a part of a much vaster literature. They are sub-
sumed under the broader category ofkalpasu ̄tras, together with three other kinds
ofsu ̄tras. First, the s ́rautasu ̄tras, which describe major rituals requiring an elab-
orate “altar” (vedi), three sacrificial fires, and the participation of several classes
of priests; the dharmasu ̄tras are often appendages of the s ́rautasu ̄tras. Second, the
gr.hyasu ̄tras, which deal with minor domestic rituals performed on the perpetual
house fire, requiring the service of only a single priest, and the contents of which
partly overlap with those of the dharmasu ̄tras. Third, the s ́ulbasu ̄tras which teach
how properly to construct vedic altars by means of bricks of different geometri-
cal forms, and which contain the earliest Indian statements on mathematics.
One important feature of the kalpasu ̄tras, and hence of the dharmasu ̄tras,is
that they are an integral, though relatively late, part of the Veda. The kalpasu ̄tras
are one of the six veda ̄n.gas“(subsidiary) members of the Vedas.” Each of the four
Vedas, R.gveda,Yajurveda,Sa ̄maveda, and Atharvaveda, more correctly, each of the
several “branches” (s ́a ̄kha ̄) of the four Vedas, is supposed to have had a kalpasu ̄tra
including a dharmasu ̄tra, but not all of these texts have been preserved (Renou
1947). In reality, the connection of some dharmasu ̄tras with the vedic schools is
at best a loose one. Yet, the fact that the dharmasu ̄tras are at least theoretically a
part of vedic literature entails that they are considered to be revealed texts trans-
mitted to humans by ancient sages (r.s.i). The authority of these texts is only
slightly lower than that of the older sam.hita ̄sandbra ̄hman.as: the latter are s ́ruti
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