About Vedas - Part III

As mentioned in previous articles, Veda (four Vedas together) is a main scripture and other scriptures are its limbs. We covered in previous article, Puranas, which is considered as magnifying glass of Vedas.

In this article we are attempting to provide information about another limb of Vedas - Dharmashastra.

Every individual has so many responsibilities towards his family and society. While executing all responsibilities how one can follow a routine that can help to live principles of Vedas. Though Vedas contain lofty principles and Puranas elaborate on them they do not prescribe orderly way of doing things in daily routine so that one can achieve what is stated in Vedas. This is what Dharmashastras do. They prescribe an orderly way of doing things regarding household and personal matters. They were written by sages from their memories (smruti) of Vedas. That's why the text of Dharmashastra comes from smrutis, for example Manusmruti i.e. written by Manu from his memory of Vedas. These shastras were written by sages such as Manu, Yaajnavalkya, Parasara and others. They are all based on Vedas and hence we find least discrepancies in them. These are known as Nibandana (conditional) Granthas. They were written according to the country, time and people.

These Dhamashastras describe forty samskaras prescribed for every human being. Some of these samskaras are to be performed by parents e.g. garbhadhana, namakarana, upanayana etc and after vivah (marriage) samskara most of remaining major samskaras are to be performed by individual during grihastha (householder) phase of life. 

Dharmashastras also have branches, for example Darshana Grantha. They are 12 in numbers and

differentiated into Aastika Darshan and Nastika Darshan. These include 4 on Buddhism and 1 on Jainism. Nastika Granthas are also known as Charvaka (those who speak sweetly). Those who do not accept the existence of God and Veda are known as Nastikas whereas those who accept the existence are known as Aastikas.

Saankhya Shastra includes text on Saankhya and Yoga. Text on Nyaya and Vaisheshika are generally known as Tarka Shastra. Mimansa and Vedanta texts are known as Mimansa Shastra. The above texts were scripted by Aastikas. Jains, Buddhists and Charvaka granthas were scripted by Nastikas and they are known as Nastik Shadadarshana. The texts written by Aastikas are known as Aastika Shadadarshana. The 12 texts mentioned are known as Philosophical texts.

Besides these there are infinite number of other texts (Shastras) which enumerate the details such as  –

1. Developments (Constructions) of villages and towns
2. Construction of temples
3. Shilpa-shastra i.e. construction of Statues, idols etc
4. Those which explain the details regarding idol prana-pratishtha, worship of idols and methods of performing Poojas and festivals. These texts can be classified as
• Shiva-agama
• Vaishnava-agama
• Shakta-agama

There are thousands of other texts dealing in sculpture, law and experiences of great sages during their spiritual path and the method by which they achieved their successes etc. Almost all texts are in Sanskrit language.

We attempted to provide this information based on our limited knowledge. Apologies for omissions and mistakes.