Dharmasutra

Dharmasutra refers to a class of ancient Indian treatises that lay down dharma, or duty and law, in concise aphorisms. They form an early strand of Dharma Shastra literature and are not a single unified work. Instead, multiple sages and schools produced their own Dharmasutras, often organized as sutras (short, rule-like statements) to guide conduct, ritual practice, and social roles.

The most well-known Dharmasutras come from several Vedic schools and include the Baudhayana Dharmasutra, the Apastamba Dharmasutra, the Vasishtha Dharmasutra, the Vishnu Dharmasutra, and the Sumantu Dharmasutra, among others. These texts are generally dated from approximately the late first millennium BCE to the early centuries CE, though exact chronology is debated. They were later complemented by other law and ethical treatises, and their content influenced subsequent works in the broader Dharma Shastra tradition, including the Manu-Smriti.

Content and aims include delineating duties for different groups within society and stages of life. Key topics typically address the four varnas (castes), the four ashramas (stages of life: student, householder, forest-dweller, renouncer), duties of students and householders, marriage, inheritance, property, and ritual observances. They also prescribe penalties and procedures for ethical and legal transgressions and emphasize ritual purity and social order as central concerns.

Influence and legacy: Dharmasutras provided early legal and normative frameworks that shaped later Hindu law and social norms. Their aphoristic style and school-specific perspectives informed subsequent Dharma Shastra works, while also highlighting the diversity of practices across different Vedic traditions.