GREAT LEGAL TRADITIONS OF ANCIENT INDIA
- December 31, 2021
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
GREAT LEGAL TRADITIONS OF ANCIENT INDIA
Context:
Recently, Supreme Court judges have expressed the need to ‘Indianise’ the legal system.
DETAILS ABOUT THE GREAT LEGAL TRADITIONS OF ANCIENT INDIA
- MANU – Manu is considered a law giver in the Hindu tradition. Manu Smriti is one of the 18 Smritis. Manu Smriti is one of the oldest and probably the most important of the smritis which contain the laws (conduct in life) that need to be followed in various orders of life and by persons of various tendencies (varnas). It is also known as Manava-dharma-shastra (“The Dharma Text of Manu”)
The law of Manu is still being cited in support of the oppression of women as in Sabrimala Case recently.
About Manusmriti –
- The Manu-smriti prescribes to Hindus their dharma—i.e., that set of obligations incumbent on each as a member of one of the four social classes (varnas) and engaged in one of the four stages of life (ashramas)
- It contains 12 chapters of stanzas, which total 2,694. It deals with cosmogony; the definition of the dharma; the sacraments (samskaras); initiation (upanayana) and the study of the Vedas (the sacred texts of Hinduism); marriage, hospitality, funeral rites, dietary restrictions, pollution, and means of purification; the conduct of women and wives; and the law of kings.
- KAUTILYA – HE was an adviser and a Prime Ministerto the first Maurya Emperor Chandragupta (c. 340-293 B.C.E.), and architect of his rise to power. He is also called Vishnugupta. Chanakya is the author of the Arthaśhāstra, an encyclopedic work on political economy and government.
Kautilya identified seven factors which affected a government’s ability to accomplish these ends: the qualities of the king, his ministers, his provinces, his city, his treasure, his army, and his allies.
In describing an ideal government, Kautilya articulated contemporary assumptions of political and economic theory, providing historical information about the political circumstances of the time.
Two additional works are attributed to Chanakya: Nitishastra, a treatise on the ideal way of life, and ChanakyaNiti, a compilation of his nitis, or policies.
- KATYAYANA – He was was a Sanskrit grammarian, mathematician and Vedic priest who lived in ancient India. He is known for two works:
- The Vārttikakāra, an elaboration on Pāṇini grammar. Along with the Mahābhāṣya of Patañjali, this text became a core part of the Vyākaraṇa (grammar) canon. This was one of the six Vedangas, and constituted compulsory education for students in the following twelve centuries.
- He also composed one of the later Śulbasūtras, a series of nine texts on the geometry of altar constructions, dealing with rectangles, right-sided triangles, rhombuses, etc.
- NARADMUNI – Naradmuni gave the famous Naradsmriti, a part of the Dharmaśāstras, an Indian literary tradition that serves as a collection of legal maxims relating to the topic of dharma. The Nāradasmṛti is the only Dharmaśāstra text to not cover areas such as righteous conduct and penance.
- YAJNAVALKYA – Heis a Hindu Vedic sage figuring in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.Yajnavalkya proposes and debates metaphysical questions about the nature of existence, consciousness and impermanence, and expounds the epistemic doctrine of netineti (“not this, not this”) to discover the universal Self and Ātman.
Texts attributed to him include the Yajnavalkya Smriti, Yoga Yajnavalkya and some texts of the Vedanta school. He is also mentioned in various Brahmanas and Aranyakas.