Dharmasutra Parallels.

PositionBrief article - Book review

Dharmasutra Parallels: Containing the Dharmasutras of Apastambha, Gautama, Baudhayana, and Vasistha. Edited and translated by PATRICK OLIVELLE. Delhi: MOTILAL BANARSIDASS. 2005. Pp. 230. Rs. 29700.

This extremely useful work lays out, in synoptic fashion, the parallel passages found in the early dharmasutras--the legal treatises, mostly in prose, associated with particular Vedic schools, that precede the major dharmasastras, especially the Manava Dharma Sastra, the law code of Manu. It is organized by topic, from "Sources of Dharma" through "Legitimate Seizure of Property"; there are thirty main headings, each with a number of subheadings. For each topic the treatments of each text, in both Sanskrit and English translation, are arranged in tabular form, allowing easy comparison of provisions and wording across texts. This layout also allows one easily to see when a particular text does not treat a particular topic, a lacuna that can be almost as interesting as the treatment itself. Though the passages from the...

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