The ''History of Dharmaśāstra'', with a subtitle "''Ancient and Medieval Religious and Civil Law in India''", is a monumental seven-volume work consisting of around 6,500 pages. It was authored by renowned Indologist
Pandurang Vaman Kane. The first volume of the work was published in 1930 and the final one in 1962. The work is considered Kane's
magnum opus
A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) 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, skill, profundity, or workmanship.
Historically, ...
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 through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient h ...
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
The Asiatic Society of Mumbai (formerly ''Asiatic Society of Bombay'') is a learned society in the field of Asian studies based in Mumbai, India. It can trace its origin to the Literary Society of Bombay which first met in Mumbai on 26 November 1 ...
and
Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute
The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) is a research institute involved in the conservation, preservation, and research of old manuscripts and rare books related to Orientalism, particularly Indology. It is located in Pune, Maharash ...
, among others. The work is known for its expanse and depth – ranging across diverse subjects such as the ''
Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...
'', the
and
Chanakya
Chanakya (ISO 15919, ISO: ', चाणक्य, ), according to legendary narratives preserved in various traditions dating from the 4th to 11th century CE, was a Brahmin who assisted the first Mauryan emperor Chandragupta Maurya, Chandragup ...
– including references to previously obscure sources. The richness in the work is attributed to his in-depth knowledge of
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
. 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
Dharma (; , ) is a key concept in various Indian religions. The term ''dharma'' does not have a single, clear Untranslatability, translation and conveys a multifaceted idea. Etymologically, it comes from the Sanskrit ''dhr-'', meaning ''to hold ...
. His output in the form of writings across the three languages of English, Sanskrit and
Marathi
Marathi may refer to:
*Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India
**Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh
*Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...
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