Evolution of the Smrti Law (A Study in the Factors Leading to the Origin and Development of Ancient Indian Legal Ideas) An Old and Rare Book

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The Smrtis or the Dharmasastras provide a fascinating field of study. Right from the days of the earliest commentators down to the present times, it has drawn the attention of eminent Panatt, jurists and historians with the result that huge material running into thousand of volumes has seen the light of day. But even today all the facets of the Dharma-Sastric investigation have not been covered and there is certainly an important field of the Smrtic studies which has, so far, received but little attention, and deserves investigation.

The problems in Dharmasastric study, though many and varied, may be conveniently classified under three main heads emanating from the three universal interrogations of what, how and why, namely, 'what the Smrti law is', 'how it came to be what it is, and further, 'why it came to be in that way or manner in which it has'. These are the three broad questions which cover the whole field of innumerable and multifarious problems posed and tried to be solved in course of the researches in the Dharmasastras.

The three above questions regarding Smrti law have been possible because its nature is dynamic. Like all other products of the human mind, it has an origin and a growth. It is eternal only in the sense that it has always remained growing and moulding itself in accordance with the ever-changing needs of society throughout its long existence, The commentators and the authors of digests on Smrti literature, who believed generally in its static nature, could remain contented with the problem only of 'what the Smrti law is.

For them, the next problem of 'how it came to be what it is did not arise, But, the modern Dharmasastric scholarship has accepted the dynamic character of the Smrtis and, there-fore, it has extended its investigations into the field of its history as well. The modern researchers have tried to illustrate the mode or manner in which the development of the Smrti law has taken place. But, they too have seldom dilated upon the third aspect of the three-dimensional problem of the smrti law. The third question still demands an answer. The field of Dharmasastric study, which analyses Smrti law into constants and variables and which probes into the factors that have led to the formation of these constants and which determines the causes that have produced variations, is still not completely explored. It is with this particular facet of the Smrtic studies with which we shall be concerned in these pages.

It may appear, at the first sight, that a metaphysical problem has been placed before us but, as would be evident subsequently, it is not so. A study in the factors or causes leading to the evolution of Smrti law is primarily a methodological and scientific problem in the domain of social history. It is in itself an angle to look at the history of Smrti law and to interpret the evolution accordingly. Since the Smrti law has been evolving, growing and changing, in short, since it has been 'a going concern', it must have certain factors which have moulded its career, which have given direction to its motion and which have created, shaped and modified its contents. There must have been factors external or environ-mental, that is, lying outside the system as, for example, climate or geography or density of population.

I am under deep obligations to several of my elders, well-wishers and friends who helped me in numerous ways in the completion of the present work. It is my pleasant duty to place on record my profound sense of gratitude to all of them and offer them my most sincere thanks. But for their willing co-operation and encouragement, it would have not been possible for me to maintain my spirits through the trials and turmoils to which 1 was occasionally subjected during the nine years of my present research-work. In this connection, I should like to make special mention of the help given by:

Professor C.D Chatterji, Ex-Professor of Ancient History, Archaeology and Culture, University of Gorakhpur, who supervised my work to its completion and who, despite his heavy engagements, was always ready to go through the manuscript, and offered constructive suggestions;

Late Dr. R.B. Pandey, Ex-Vice-Chancellor, University of Jabalpur, formerly Professor of Ancient Indian History and Culture, Banaras Hindu University, who initiated me in the subject of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology and particularly in the Smpti studies and who was the first to provide me his kind supervision whiie I was working as a Research Fellow in the College of Indology, Banaras Hindu University;

Dr. G.D. Pande, Tagore Professor of Indian History and Culture, University of Rajasthan, who was kind to supervise the present work for several years before his departure from the University of Gorakhpur and who initiated me in the sociologico-anthropological approach followed in these lines; Dr. V.S. Pathak, Professor of Ancient History, Archaeology and Culture, who took keen interest in the progress of this work and who, even while he was at the Banaras Hindu University, gave me several hours regularly for days together to go through my work;

Dr. R.B. Singh, Reader in Ancient History, Archaeology and Culture, University of Gorakhpur, who has always treated me as his younger brother and who could find time to go through several chapters of my work despite his heavy engagements; Shri Lalit Narain Sahi, of 'Lalit-Niketan', Nawabganj, Varanasi who gave me affection and encouragement and who obliged me by hospitality during my stay at Varanasi; Sdr. P. Sujata, the Indonesian scholar at B.HU., who obliged me by her hospitality during my stay at Calcutta;

Shri S.B. Singh, my cousin, who is more than a Sahodara to me and who relieved me of all family anxieties during my long stays at different libraries out of Gorakhpur;

Uma, my wife who shouldered the responsibilities of the family singly while I was busy with my research-work.