Essay name: Vishnu Smriti (Study)
Author:
Minu Bhattacharjee
Affiliation: Gauhati University / Department of Sanskrit
This is an English study of the Vishnu-Smriti: an ancient Sanskrit Sutra dealing with the rules of various traditions and customs such as Dharmashastra, Caste, Monarchy, Law, Penances and Asceticism. The Vishnu-smriti in one hundred chapters is presented in the form of a dialogue between Vishnu and Prithvi (the goddess Earth).
Preface
1 (of 2)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
Download the PDF file of the original publication
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
PREFACE
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The Dharmasastra or Smrti literature is one of the
S
most important and interesting branch of Sankrit literature.
The Smrtis reflect the religio-social life of the Hindus of
different periods. The 艣rauta and the Crhyas奴tras have direct
relations with any of the Veda s盲kh膩s. On the other hand the
Sm峁泃is have no direct relation with any of the veda艣膩kh膩 yet
the smrtis are based on 艣rauta systems. The subject matter,
of the Dharmasutras and the Dharmasastras or the Smrtis, is
fundamentally similar. The Dharmasutras are not systematic
in dealing with the subjects while the Dharmasastras or the
Sm峁泃is are systematic in dealing with the different topics.
The Dharmas奴tras are composed in terse aphoristic style.
on the otherhand the Dharma艣膩stras or the Smrtis are composed
in metrical sanskrit with a leaning to classical Sanskrit.
It is found that the Dharmasastras or the smrtis have recog-
nised the customs as a source of Dharma. The Dharmasastras
and the Sm峁泃is, therefore, deal with var峁嘺dharma, Asramadharma,
Kuladharma, J膩tidharma, De艣adharma, Mlecchadharma, Rajadharma
etc. The Dharmasutras as well as the Dharmas膩stras and the
Sm峁泃is deal with Vyavah膩ra i.e. eighteen titles of litigation
also.
