Dharma Sutras and Dharma Shastra Texts: Manu, Yajnavalkya, Narada, and Others
This domain tests the shift from aphoristic Dharmasutras to verse Dharmashastras, the major authors, and the commentarial tradition.
Dharmasutras
These are prose sutra texts attached to the Kalpa tradition: Apastamba, Baudhayana, Gautama, and Vasishtha are the main surviving examples. They cover achara, vyavahara, and prayashchitta in compressed rules and are older than the verse shastras.
Dharmashastras
- Manu: twelve chapters, about 2,685 verses; covers creation, sources of dharma, varnashrama, raja-dharma, vyavahara, and prayashchitta.
- Yajnavalkya: three khandas-achara, vyavahara, prayashchitta; more systematic on procedure and inheritance.
- Narada: mainly vyavahara, with procedural detail and eighteen titles of litigation.
- Others include Brihaspati, Katyayana, Parashara, Vishnu, and Harita; their texts survive partly in quotations.
Commentaries
Medhatithi comments on Manu; Vijnaneshvara's Mitakshara and Jimutavahana's Dayabhaga interpret Yajnavalkya and shape inheritance law. A shastra verse is read through its commentary, not in isolation.
Worked example. A question asks which text is the principal source for a procedural rule on plaints. Narada is the best answer because his text is vyavahara-centred. If the question asks for a comprehensive achara-vyavahara-prayashchitta scheme, Yajnavalkya fits better. The reasoning turns on genre and structure, not on which text is 'best'.
Traps. Do not call Manu the oldest Dharmasutra; do not say Narada covers all three topics; do not ignore commentaries; do not treat the shastras as a single code.