Dharmashastras

ancient Indian religious and legal treatises. Written by various theological schools, the dharmashastras were not a collection of legal canons having the force of law. They were rather collections of rules and prescriptions regulating the social and personal life of individuals, depending on class and caste, and contained not only legal but also religious, moral and ethical, and other standards of conduct considered virtuous by Brahmanism. Most of the best-known dharmashastras were written from the first to the fourth centuries A.D. The dharmashastras contain valuable information about the life of ancient Indian society. The best-known dharmashastras are the Manava Dharmashastra (Code of Manu), the Yajnavalkya Smriti, and the Narada Smriti. A total of more than 20 dharmashastras are known, either in fragments or in their entirety.