Dharmasūtras : the law codes of Āpastamba, Gautama, Baudhaȳana, and Vasiṣṭha / translated from the original Sanskrit and edited by Patrick Olivelle.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Olivelle, Patrick.

Series:

Oxford world's classics (Oxford University Press)

Oxford world's classics

Language:

English

Sanskrit

Subjects (All):

Dharma.

Brahmans.

Law, Ancient.

Brahmanism--Early works to 1800.

Brahmanism.

Law--India--Early works to 1800.

Law.

India.

Physical Description:

xlvi, 434 pages ; 20 cm.

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1999.

Summary:

The Dharmasutras are the four surviving written works of the ancient Indian tradition on the subject of dharma, or the rules of behavior a community recognizes as binding on its members.

Written in a pithy and aphoristic style and representing the culmination of a tong tradition of scholarship, the Dharmasutras record intense disputes and divergent views on such subjects as the education of the young, rites of passage, marriage and marital rights, the proper interaction between different social groups, sins and their expiations, institutions for the pursuit of holiness, crimes and punishments, death and ancestral, rites. In short, these unique documents give us a glimpse of how people, especially Brahmin males, were ideally expected to live their lives within an ordered and hierarchically arranged society.

In this first English translation of the Dharmasutras for over a century, Patrick Olivelle uses the same lucid and elegant style as in his award-winning translation of the Upanisads and incorporates the most recent scholarship on ancient Indian law, society, and religion. Complex material is helpfully organized, making this the ideal edition for the non-specialist as well as for students of Indian society and religion.

Contents:

Guide to the Pronunciation of Sanskrit Words xii

Literary History xxi

Authorship and Dates xxv

Literary Structure xxxiv

Semantics and Sources of Dharma xxxvii

Divergent Voices xlii

Dharmasutras

Apastamba 3

Gautama 74

Baudhayana 127

Vasistha 244

I. Ritual Vocabulary 327

II. Names of Gods, People, and Places 341

III. Fauna and Flora 348

Apastamba 353

Gautama 373

Baudhayana 379

Vasistha 390.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0192838822

OCLC:

42004771