The ''History of Dharmaśāstra'', with subtitle ''Ancient and Medieval Religious and Civil Law in India'', is a monumental seven-volume work consisting of around 6,500 pages. It was written by
Bharat Ratna
The Bharat Ratna (; ''Jewel of India'') is the highest civilian award of the Republic of India. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conferred in recognition of "exceptional service/performance of the highest order", without distinctio ...
Pandurang Vaman Kane
Pandurang Vaman Kane (pronounced ''Kaa-nay'') (7 May 1880 – 18 April 1972) was a notable Indologist and Sanskrit scholar. He received India's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna in 1963 for his scholarly work that spanned more than 40 years ...
, an
Indologist
Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a subset of Asian studies.
The term ''Indology'' (in German, ''Indologie'') is ...
. The first volume of the work was published in 1930 and the last one in 1962. The work is considered Kane's
magnum opus
A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...
in English.
This work researched the evolution of code of conduct in
ancient
Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cov ...
and mediaeval India by looking into several texts and manuscripts compiled over the centuries. Dr Kane used the resources available at prestigious institutes such as
the Asiatic Society of Mumbai and
Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute
The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) is located in Pune, Maharashtra, India. It was founded on 6 July 1917 and named after Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar (1837–1925), long regarded as the founder of Indology (Orientalism) in Ind ...
, among others. The work is known for its expanse and depth – ranging across diverse subjects such as the ''
Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the s ...
'', the
Puranas and
Chanakya
Chanakya (Sanskrit: चाणक्य; IAST: ', ; 375–283 BCE) was an ancient Indian polymath who was active as a teacher, author, strategist, philosopher, economist, jurist, and royal advisor. He is traditionally identified as Kauṭil ...
– including references to previously obscure sources. The richness in the work is attributed to his in-depth knowledge of
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
. His success is believed to be an outcome of his objective study of the texts instead of deifying them.
Kane wrote the book ''Vyavaharamayukha'' and was in the process of writing an introductory passage on the history of Dharmaśāstra for this book, so that the reader would get an overall idea apart from the subject of the book. One thing led to another and this project snowballed into the major work that it is. All the same, he was categorical in saying that it is difficult to find an English equivalent of the word
dharma. His output in the form of writings across the three languages of English, Sanskrit and
Marathi span nearly 15,000 pages.
References
External links
Biography(Chapter 2.2) (German site, biography in English)
(At the bottom of the article) (German site, chronology in English)
* Scanned volumes at archive.org:
*
Volume 1 Part 1, 1st edition, 1930*
Volume 1 Part 2, 2nd edition, 1975*
Volume 2 Part 1, 1st edition, 1941*
Volume 2 Part 2, 1st edition, 1941*
Volume 3, 2nd edition, 1973 (1st edition 1946)*
Volume 4, 1st edition, 1953*
Volume 5 Part 1, 1st edition, 1958*
Volume 5 Part 2, 1st edition, 1962
{{DEFAULTSORT:History of Dharmasastra
Hindu law
20th-century Indian books
Sahitya Akademi Award-winning works