Smṛti (Sanskrit Sanskrit , is an historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism,[note 1] and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is a classical language of India, others being Tamil, Kannada and Telugu: स्मृति), literally "that which is remembered," refers to a specific body of Hindu Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of South Asia. Hinduism is often referred to as Sanātana Dharma by its adherents. Generic "types" of Hinduism that attempt to accommodate a variety of complex views span folk and Vedic Hinduism to bhakti tradition, as in Vaishnavism. Hinduism also includes yogic traditions religious Religion (from O.Fr. religion "religious community," from L. religionem "respect for what is sacred, reverence for the gods," "obligation, the bond between man and the gods" is the belief in and worship of a god or gods, or more in general a set of beliefs explaining the existence of and giving meaning to the universe, scripture Scripture is that portion of literature deemed authoritative for establishing instructions within any of a number of specific religious traditions, especially the Abrahamic religions. Such bodies of writings are also sometimes known as the canon of scripture. They are often associated with the belief that they were either given directly, or, and is a codified component of Hindu customary law In law, custom can be described as the established patterns of behavior that can be objectively verified within a particular social setting. A claim can be carried out in defense of "what has always been done and accepted by law." Generally, customary law exists where:. Smṛti also denotes non-Shruti texts and is generally seen as secondary in authority to Shruti. The literature which comprises the Smriti was composed after the Vedas The Vedas are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism around 500 BCE. Smriti also denotes tradition in the sense that it portrays the traditions of the rules on dharma Dharma (Sanskrit: dhárma, Pāḷi dhamma) is a multivalent term of great importance in Indian philosophy and religions. In the context of Hinduism, it means one's righteous duty, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, class, occupation, and gender. In modern Indian languages it can be equivalent simply to religion, depending on, especially those of lawful virtuous persons. This is understood by looking at traditional texts, such as the Ramayana The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is attributed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon (smṛti). The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India, the other being the Mahabharata. It depicts the duties of relationships, portraying ideal characters like the ideal servant, the ideal brother, the ideal, in which the traditions of the main characters portray a strict adherence to or observance of dharma.[1]

Contents

Role of Smriti within Hindu law

Smriti is the second source of authority for dharma Dharma (Sanskrit: dhárma, Pāḷi dhamma) is a multivalent term of great importance in Indian philosophy and religions. In the context of Hinduism, it means one's righteous duty, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, class, occupation, and gender. In modern Indian languages it can be equivalent simply to religion, depending on. The first source of dharma is Sruti Śruti , often spelled shruti or shruthi, is a term that describes the sacred texts comprising the central canon of Hinduism and is one of the three main sources of dharma and therefore is also influential within Hindu Law. These sacred works span the entire history of Hinduism, beginning with some of the earliest known Hindu texts and ending in: the Vedas or Revelation. With regards to Hindu law Hindu law in its current usage refers to the system of personal laws applied to Hindus, especially in India. Modern Hindu law is thus a part of the law of India established by the Constitution of India (1950), scholars have commonly translated Smriti as “tradition”. Although Smriti is also considered a written source; it differs from Sruti in that Smriti does not have divine origins. Smriti’s literal translation, “to remember” explains this. In a sense, Smriti consists of the memories of wisdom that sages have passed on to their disciples. These memories consist of traditions. It is these memories that make up the second source of dharma and consequently have been recorded to become a written source; commentaries such as Laws of Manu, for example. The Smrti texts have become a binding of “sacred literature” which includes the six Vedangas, the epics: the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, as well as, the Puranas [2] It is within all of these works that the rules of dharma remain and are passed down. However, Smriti is still only considered a second authority after Sruti and becomes relevant only when Sruti provides no answer.

Smriti as Tradition

The history of smrti begins around 500 BCE. Some scholars argue that the original meaning of smrti differs from the medieval Sanskrit commentators’ understanding of smrti. This is understood by looking at passages where the word smriti appears. It is from the context in which the word is used that scholars find evidence for a switch in the meaning and understanding of the term. The present general understanding of smrti consists of non-Vedic literatures that portray the rules of dharma; for example, the Dharmasastra, Itihasa, and Purana. Some scholars argue that this general understanding is inaccurate.[4] The view of Smriti as literature, specifically that of Dharmasastra texts, has created this notion of Smriti as Traditional texts. However, some scholars argue that the original meaning of Smriti was used to refer to tradition in its simplest understanding and not to texts.[5] This process looks at the textualization of tradition and examines passages where smrti refers to literature in contrast to passages where there are no connections between smrti and literature. The earliest texts where the term smriti is used are also examined. By a process of looking at the context of what is being stated within the passage, a scholar is able to better derive the correct definition. Scholars also argue about Smriti in terms of it meaning “specifically ‘Brahmanical tradition’”.[6]

Smriti as Texts

The smṛtis are metrical texts. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of texts that fall into this category and it is remarkable how consistent the topics and reasoning used in these texts are. Though the smṛti texts acknowledge variability in regional religious and legal practices, their principal concern is to explain dharma. This unity of purpose led to a standardization of topics dealt with by the texts, even though the texts still exhibit differences between them. Whether these differences can be attributed to differences in the provenance or time period of the texts, to ideological or other disagreements between authors, or to some other factor is an issue open to debate.

The most famous and the earliest known smṛti text is the Laws of Manu, which dates to approximately the first century AD. The Laws of Manu, or Mānavadharmaśāstra, has recently been critically edited and translated by Patrick Olivelle (2004, 2005). His introduction and translation are perhaps the best starting points for understanding the nature of Dharmaśāstra and its contents. A major piece of the Hindu law tradition is, however, not represented in the main body of this translation, but rather in its footnotes - namely, the commentarial or scholastic tradition that took texts like the Laws of Manu and explained and elaborated upon them in an unbroken tradition that extended at least up to the time of the British and in some ways beyond. Similar to other scholastic traditions of religious law, the Dharmaśāstra commentators' first concern was to explain the sacred legal texts precisely, with careful attention to word meanings, grammatical structures, and principles of legal hermeneutics.

Styles of Memorization

Prodigious energy was expended by ancient Indian culture in ensuring that these texts were transmitted from generation to generation with inordinate fidelity.[7] For example, memorization of the sacred Vedas The Vedas are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism included up to eleven forms of recitation of the same text. The texts were subsequently "proof-read" by comparing the different recited versions.

word1word2, word2word1, word1word2; word2word3, word3word2, word2word3; ... word1word2, word(N-1)wordN; word2word3, word(N-3)word(N-2); ...; word(N-1)wordN, word1word2; word1word2, word2word1, word1word2word3, word3word2word1, word1word2word3; word2word3, word3word2, word2word3word4, word4word3word2, word2word3word4; ...

That these methods have been effective, is testified to by the preservation of the most ancient Indian religious text, the Ṛgveda The Rigveda is an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns. It is counted among the four canonical sacred texts (śruti) of Hinduism known as the Vedas. Some of its verses are still recited as Hindu prayers, at religious functions and other occasions, putting these among the world's oldest religious texts in continued use (ca. Circa means "approximately", usually referring to a date 1500 BCE), as a single text, without any variant readings.[8] Similar methods were used for memorizing mathematical texts, whose transmission remained exclusively oral until the end of the Vedic period The Vedic Period is the period during which the Vedas, the oldest sacred texts of the Indo-Aryans, were being composed. Scholars place the Vedic period in the second and first millennia BCE continuing up to the 6th century BCE based on literary evidence (ca. 500 BCE).

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Davis, Jr. Donald R. The Spirit of Hindu Law. Ch. 1.
  2. ^ Lingat, Robert. 1973. Ch. 1, pp. 9-10.
  3. ^ Lingat, Robert. 1973. Ch. 1, pp. 13.
  4. ^ Brick, David. 2006. pp. 287.
  5. ^ Brick, David. 2006. pp. 301.
  6. ^ Brick, David. 2006. pp. 295.
  7. ^ (Staal 1986)
  8. ^ a b c (Filliozat 2004, p. 139)

References

  1. Brick, David. “Transforming Tradition into Texts: The Early Development of Smrti.” ‘‘Journal of Indian Philosophy’’ 34.3 (2006): 287-302.
  2. Davis, Jr. Donald R. Forthcoming. The Spirit of Hindu Law.
  3. Lingat, Robert. 1973. The Classical Law of India. Trans. J. Duncan M. Derrett. Berkeley: University of California Press.
  4. Rocher, Ludo. “Hindu Conceptions of Law.” ‘‘Hastings Law Journal’’ 29.6 (1978): 1284-1305.

External links

Hindu Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of South Asia. Hinduism is often referred to as Sanātana Dharma by its adherents. Generic "types" of Hinduism that attempt to accommodate a variety of complex views span folk and Vedic Hinduism to bhakti tradition, as in Vaishnavism. Hinduism also includes yogic traditions deities Within Hinduism a large number of personalities, or 'forms', are worshipped as murtis. These beings are either aspects of the supreme Brahman, avatars of the supreme being, or significantly powerful entities known as devas. The exact nature of belief in regards to each deity varies between differing Hindu denominations and philosophies. Often and texts Literature regarded as central to the Vedic Hindu literary tradition was predominantly composed in Sanskrit. Indeed, much of the morphology and linguistic philosophy inherent in the learning of Sanskrit is inextricably linked to study of the Vedas and other Vedic texts
Gods Deva Deva is the Sanskrit word for "god, deity". It can be variously interpreted as a god, angel, demigod, or any supernatural being of high excellence, and is thus comparable to the Hebrew Elohim. The devas in Hindu mythology are often juxtaposed to the usually demonic Asuras · Brahma Brahma is the Hindu god (deva) of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. According to the Brahma Purana, he is the father of Mānu, and from Mānu all Hindus are descended. In the Ramayana and the Mahābhārata, he is often referred to as the progenitor or great grandsire of all human beings. He is not to be confused · Vishnu Vishnu is the Supreme God in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God · Shiva Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and the Destroyer or transformer of the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the Supreme Being. In the Smarta tradition, he is regarded as one of the five primary forms of God · Rama Rama or Ramachandra रामचंद्र, రామచంద్ర is the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a legendary king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian mythology · Krishna Krishna is a deity worshipped across many traditions in Hinduism in a variety of perspectives. While many Vaishnava groups recognize Krishna as an avatar of Vishnu, other traditions within Krishnaism consider him to be svayam bhagavan, or the Supreme Being · Ganesha Ganesha (Sanskrit: गणेश; IAST: Gaṇeśa; listen ), also spelled Ganesa or Ganesh, also known as Ganapati (Sanskrit: गणपति; IAST: gaṇapati), Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the deities best-known and most widely worshipped in the Hindu pantheon. His image is found throughout India and Nepal. Hindu sects worship him · Murugan Murugan or Mayuri Kandasamy called Subrahmanya (Kannada: ಸುಬ್ರಹ್ಮಣ್ಯ,Telugu: సుబ్రమణ్య స్వామి) is a popular Hindu deity among Tamil Hindus, and is worshipped primarily in areas with Tamil influence, especially South India, Singapore , Sri Lanka , Malaysia and Mauritius . But in Sri Lanka, Hindus · Hanuman Hanuman is a Hindu deity, who is an ardent devotee of Rama, a central character in the Indian epic Ramayana. A general among the vanaras, an ape-like race of forest-dwellers, Hanuman is an incarnation of the divine, whose fate it is to aid the hero Rama in the struggle against the demon king Ravana. His exploits are much celebrated in a variety of · Indra Indra is the King of the gods or Devas and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hindu mythology, and also he is the God of War, Storms, and Rainfall · Surya In Hinduism, Surya (Devanagari: सूर्य, sūrya ; Malay: Suria; Thai: พระอาทิตย์ Suraya, Suriya or Phra Athit) is the chief solar deity, one of the Adityas, son of Kasyapa and one of his wives, Aditi; of Indra; or of Dyaus Pitar (depending by the version). The term Surya also refers to the Sun, in general. Surya has · more Categories: Asian gods | Gods by culture | Hindu deities
Goddesses Devi Devi is the Sanskrit word for Goddess, used mostly in Hinduism. Devi is synonymous with Shakti, the female aspect of the divine, as conceptualized by the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. She is the female counterpart without whom the male aspect, which represents consciousness or discrimination, remains impotent and void. Goddess worship is an · Saraswati In Hinduism Saraswati is the goddess of knowledge, music and the arts. She is the consort of Brahma. Saraswati is considered to be the "mother of the Vedas" · Lakshmi Lakshmi Tamil:லட்சுமி (letchumi)) is the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity (both material and spiritual), light, wisdom, fortune, fertility, generosity and courage; and the embodiment of beauty, grace and charm. Representations of Lakshmi are also found in Jain monuments. Mahalakshmi brings good luck to her devotees. She is · Sati Satī or Dākshāyani is a Hindu goddess of marital felicity and longevity; she is worshipped particularly by Hindu women to seek the long life of their husbands. An aspect of Devi, Dākshāyani is the first consort of Shiva, second being Parvati, her reincarnation. In Hindu Mythology, Sati plays the role of luring Shiva from ascetic isolation · Parvati Parvati is a Hindu goddess. Parvati is also regarded as a representation of Shakti, albeit the gentle aspect of that goddess because she is a mother goddess. Parvati is considered by some schools of Hinduism as the supreme Divine Mother or Lordess and all other goddesses are referred to as her incarnations or manifestations. Shaktas consider her · Durga In Hinduism, Durga or Maa Durga (Mother Durga) "one who can redeem in situations of utmost distress".[citation needed] Durga is a form of Devi, the supremely radiant goddess, depicted as having ten arms, riding a lion or a tiger, carrying weapons and a lotus flower, maintaining a meditative smile, and practicing mudras, or symbolic hand · Shakti Shakti from Sanskrit shak - "to be able," meaning sacred force or empowerment, is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that move through the entire universe. Shakti is the concept, or personification, of divine feminine creative power, sometimes referred to as 'The Great Divine Mother' in Hinduism. On the · Kali Kali , also known as Kalika (Bengali: কালিকা, Kālikā), is the Hindu goddess associated with eternal energy. The name Kali comes from Kāla which means black, time, death, lord of death, Shiva. Kali means "the black one". Since Shiva is called Kāla - the eternal time, Kālī, his consort, also means "the Time" or & · Sita Sita or Seeta is the wife of Rama, the seventh avatāra of Vishnu in the Hindu tradition. Sita is one of the principal characters in the Ramayana, a Hindu epic named after her husband Lord Rama. Goddess Sita was born in Sitamarhi (Punaura) in Bihar (India) and soon after her birth, taken to Janakpur in present day Nepal by her father, King Janak · Radha Radha , also called Radhika, Radharani and Radhikarani, is the childhood friend and lover of Krishna in the Bhagavata Purana, and the Gita Govinda of the Vaisnava traditions of Hinduism. Radha is almost always depicted alongside Krishna and features prominently within the theology of today's Gaudiya Vaishnava religion, which regards Radha as the · Mahavidya Mahavidyas or Dasa Mahavidyas are a group of ten aspects of the Divine Mother or Devi in Hinduism. The Ten Mahavidyas are Wisdom Goddesses, who represent a spectrum of feminine divinity, from horrific goddesses at one end, to the ravishingly beautiful at the other · Navadurga Navadurga , which literally means nine Durgas, constitute, according to Hindu mythology, the manifestation of Durga in nine different forms. These nine forms of manifestation are Śhailaputrī, Brahmachāriṇī, Chandrakaṇṭā, Kuṣhmāṇḍā, Skandamātā, Kātyāyanī, Kālarātrī, Mahāgaurī and Siddhidātrī, together worshipped · Matrikas Matrikas , also called Matara (Sanskrit: mātaraḥ, मातरः) and Matris (mātṛs, मातृ), are a group of Hindu goddesses who are always depicted together. Since they are usually depicted as a heptad, they are called Saptamatrikas (Sanskrit: saptamātṝkās, सप्तमातृका, "seven mothers"): Brahmani, · more Categories: Asian goddesses | Goddesses by culture | Hindu deities | Shaktism
Text Vedas The Vedas are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism · Upanishads The Upanishads are Hindu scriptures that constitute the core teachings of Vedanta. They do not belong to any particular period of Sanskrit literature: the oldest, such as the Brhadaranyaka and Chandogya Upanishads, date to the late Brahmana period (around the middle of the first millennium BCE), while the latest were composed in the medieval and · Puranas The Puranas are a genre of important Hindu (or Jain and Buddhist) religious texts, notably consisting of narratives of the history of the universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography · Ramayana The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is attributed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon (smṛti). The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India, the other being the Mahabharata. It depicts the duties of relationships, portraying ideal characters like the ideal servant, the ideal brother, the ideal · Mahabharata · Bhagavad Gita · more
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