Studies in Hindu Law and Dharmasastra.

• Author: Michaels, Axel
• Position: Book review

Studies in Hindu Law and Dharmasatra. By LUDO ROCHER. Edited with an introduction by DONALD R. DAVIS, JR. Anthem South Asian Normative Traditions Studies. London: ANTHEM PRESS, 2012. Pp. 759. [pounds sterling]80, $130.

The book Studies in Hindu Law and Dharmasastra is Ludo Rocher's Kleine Schriften. And if there is an Indologist who deserves such a format it is this brilliant and meticulous scholar who has published so many short articles, some of them almost hidden in rare journals and Festschriften and difficult to access. It is therefore extremely punya-ful that Donald R. Davis has edited forty-five masterpieces of Rocher's more than fifty years of research on Dharmasastra and Arthagastra written between 1951 and 1995. His impact on Hindu Law studies is underlined by the fact that several great Dharmasastra scholars like Richard Lariviere (who contributed a foreword) and Patrick Olivelle are among his students (with Davis being in the same parampara).

The editor has grouped the articles in five parts: The Nature of Hindu Law, General Topics of Hindu Law, Hindu Legal Procedure, Technical Studies of Hindu Law, and Anglo-Hindu and Customary Law. Among these are many rare essays but also famous and seminal articles such as "Hindu Conceptions of Law," "The Theory of Proof in Ancient Hindu Law," and "Karma and Rebirth in the Dharmasastra".

Davis proposes that the book is a "nearly comprehensive collection of Rocher's writings on Hindu Law and Dharmasastra" (p. 18). This being true, some articles have not been reprinted, mainly those written in languages other than English or more comprehensive writings such as "Hindu Law of Succession: From the Sastras to Modern Law" (1967), "Caste and Occupation in Classical India: The Normative Texts" (1975), and "Ownership by Birth: The Mitaksara Stand" (2001, co-authored with Rosane Rocher). Also not included are chapters in more general introductions to Hinduism or Indology, e.g., "The Dharmasastra" (ch. 4 in Gavin Flood's The Blackwell Compendium to Hinduism, 2003), and "Gesellschaft, Recht und Staat" ([section][section] 129-133 in Heinz Bechert's and Georg von Simson's Einfuhrung in die Indologie, 1979).

In his insightful introduction Davis wants to "to distill the key contributions he [Rocher] has made" (p. 18) and he successfully carves out three characteristics: "philology, empathy, and reserve" (p. 33). By this he refers to Rocher's precise philological argumentations, his humanistic understanding...