DHARMA IN THE VEDA AND THE DHARMAŚĀSTRAS

• Published in: Journal of Indian philosophy 2004-12, Vol.32 (5/6), p.629-654
• Main Author: WEZLER, ALBRECHT
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Asian religions; Brahmins; Buddhism; Cultural customs; Dharma; Hinduism; Hindus; History; History and sciences of religions; India; Indian culture; Law; Memory; Metaphor; Philosophy; Religion; Religious rituals; Religious texts; Social norms; South Asian studies; Vedas; Vedic religions. Hinduism. Jainism. Sikhism
• ISSN: 0022-1791; 1573-0395
• DOI: 10.1007/s10781-004-8638-1

Hacker characterizes the Hindu concept of dharma as radically empirical,4 without the necessary addendum that for the community whose views Hacker quotes the Veda is an eternal transcendental entity in contrast to the other sources of Dharma. [...]he does not address the issue that in one case instructions and prescriptions are explicitly expressed in the Vedic texts, while in the other case the behavior of a specic group of people is taken as a model from which instructions can be secondarily deduced.This question bothers me even today, and it appears the time has come to raise it publicly in other and more denitive terms. With reference to GautDhS 1.2, one might reasonably take the meaning habitual behavior that reveals ones character as a basis. [...]habit should be understood as (good) conduct which roots in certain (positive) qualities of ones character and which has become a natural behavior in daily life through frequent and constant repetition possibly practiced, however, only by rote or unconsciously.Semantically, the term s ila is thus not very dierent31 from the term vr: smr teh:),: tta in ApDhS 1.7.20.8 and to a great extent identical with the term acara, which in turn often replaces it in the younger works of the Dharmasastra whenever the sources are mentioned (Lingat, 1973, 14). Presumably, it also alludes to the procedural character of nding out from these roots what dharma is with regard to the particular case as well as in general, and with regard to frequent inquiry and consultation about dharma in the continuum of time. [...]the metaphor: a and thus species the meaning.39 Certainly,pramanDHARMA 639might allude to the fundamental persistence of the inquiry into the realm of dharma even beyond the lifetime of the authors; a pattern also for future times. Ultimately, they might have wanted to accomplish such a form of legitimacy that any serious challenge by a worldly ruler, for example would appear to be impossible. [...]Gautamas statement is to be understood not necessarily in the sense that the dharma was to be found in the Veda in the form of clearly formulated law phrases; on the contrary, this is denitely the least probable assumption.It becomes apparent that it is not at all easy to expose the old and not yet radicalized vedamulatva claim as pure ction and to strengthen this undoubtedly legitimate suspicion.Vedication is clearly visible, however, in the above-mentioned GautDhS 1.2 tadvidam: ca smr tis ile.