Dharma-śāstra
Dharmaśāstra · dharma-śāstra, “the teaching on dharma”
Smṛti has other meanings too: see all meanings of Smṛti.
Grammar: neuter noun; a compound of dharma (that which upholds, right conduct) and śāstra (a teaching, a body of instruction): “the śāstra of dharma”. The kośa of the Agni Purāṇa gives smṛti and dharmasaṃhitā as words for it (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 360).
Meaning: the body of teaching on dharma, the smṛti, by which right conduct, the duties of each person and the king’s justice are decided.
In the scriptures: at the very opening of the Agni Purāṇa the vidyās are set out in two kinds, parā and aparā, and both are said to be forms of Vishṇu. The aparā vidyā is the four Vedas, the six Vedāṅgas, and the Kośa, Mīmāṃsā, Dharma-śāstra, Purāṇa, Nyāya-śāstra, Āyurveda, Saṅgīta-śāstra, Dhanurveda and Artha-śāstra; the parā vidyā is the vidyā that teaches Brahma (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 1). At the close of the Purāṇa Agnideva tells Vasishṭha the same: chandas, śikshā, vyākaraṇa, nighaṇṭu, jyotisha, nirukta, dharma-śāstra, mīmāṃsā, nyāya, āyurveda, purāṇa, dhanurveda, gāndharva, artha-śāstra, vedānta and the rest are all forms of Hari; this is the aparā vidyā, and the vidyā that teaches the supreme truth of the ātmā is the parā vidyā (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 383).
In the mantras for the abhisheka of a king, which Pushkara teaches Paraśurāma, the fourteen vidyās are asked to protect him: the four Vedas, the six Vedāṅgas, Mīmāṃsā, Nyāya, Dharmaśāstra and Purāṇa, with the upavedas Itihāsa, Āyurveda, Gāndharvaveda and Dhanurveda (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 219). The king guards his son well and trains him in dharma-śāstra, artha-śāstra, kāma-śāstra and dhanurveda, and teaches him the crafts (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 225).
In the king’s court, if the sabhāsads (members of the court), from attachment, greed or fear, give decisions contrary to the dharma-śāstra and ācāra (good custom), the king fines each of them twice the amount in dispute. When a person harmed by another contrary to dharma-śāstra and good custom makes it known to the king, that is a vyavahāra-pada, a matter for the court. When two smṛti sentences or two writings of the dharma-śāstra conflict, the special rule is stronger than the general rule; and when artha-śāstra and dharma conflict, dharma-śāstra is stronger than artha-śāstra. This is the maryādā, the set rule, taught by the munis (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 253).
Among the gifts of learning (vidyā-dāna), by giving the Dharmaśāstra one reaches the presence of Dharma and rejoices (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 211).
Related terms: Dharma · Smṛti · Artha-śāstra · Aparā Vidyā · Vidyā-dāna · Vyavahāra
Sources
- Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 1, 211, 219, 225, 253, 360, 383