Narada Smriti
Topic: Society in Early India: Kinship, Varna-Jati, Women · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Narada Smriti is a Sanskrit Dharmashastra (law book) from about the Gupta period. Most Dharmashastras mix law with rituals, religious duties and penance. The Narada Smriti deals almost only with law and how courts should work. This makes it an important source on legal and economic life in early India.
Example
The Narada Smriti covers topics such as debts, deposits, partnership, wages and disputes over boundaries. It is also well known for allowing a woman to remarry in certain cases, for example if her husband was lost, dead, had become an ascetic, or was cast out of his caste.
Don't confuse with
- Manusmriti: an earlier and broader text (c. 200 BCE – 200 CE) that covers varna duties, marriage, rituals and penance as well as law. The Narada Smriti is focused mainly on law and court procedure.
Related concepts
- Dharmasutras
- Dharmashastras
- Manusmriti
- Yajnavalkya Smriti
- Mahabharata
- Critical Edition of the Mahabharata
- V.S. Sukthankar
- Dharma