A Dharma Reader

Classical Indian Law
Erscheinungsjahr 2016
ISBN: 978-0-231-17956-0
Verlag: Columbia University Press

Buch, Englisch, 424 Seiten, Format (B × H): 187 mm x 261 mm, Gewicht: 928 g

Reihe: Historical Sourcebooks in Classical Indian Thought

Whether defined by family, lineage, caste, professional or religious association, village, or region, India's diverse groups did settle on an abstract concept of law in classical times. How did they reach this consensus? Was it based on religious grounds or a transcendent source of knowledge? Did it depend on time and place? And what apparatus did communities develop to ensure justice was done, verdicts were fair, and the guilty were punished?

Addressing these questions and more, A Dharma Reader traces the definition, epistemology, procedure, and process of Indian law from the third century B.C.E. to the middle ages. Its breadth captures the centuries-long struggle by Indian thinkers to theorize law in a multiethnic and pluralist society. The volume includes new and accessible translations of key texts, notes that explain the significance and chronology of selections, and a comprehensive introduction that summarizes the development of various disciplines in intellectual-historical terms. It reconstructs the principal disputes of a given discipline, which not only clarifies the arguments but also relays the dynamism of the fight. For those seeking a richer understanding of the political and intellectual origins of a major twenty-first-century power, along with unique insight into the legal interactions among its many groups, this book offers conceptual detail, historical precision, and expository illumination unlike any other volume.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Olivelle, Patrick

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Theologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Religionssoziologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsgeschichte
• Rechtswissenschaften Recht, Rechtswissenschaft Allgemein Rechtsgeschichte, Recht der Antike
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Hinduismus

Inhaltsverzeichnis

PrefaceList of AbbreviationsIntroductionPart I: Nature and Epistemology of LawChapter One: Early ThinkersChapter Two: Later Aphoristic Texts on DharmaChapter Three: Perspectives from Political Science: Kautilya (First–Second Century C.E.)Chapter Four: Innovations of Manu (Mid-Second Century C.E.)Chapter Five: Developments After ManuChapter Six: The School of Vedic ExegesisChapter Seven: Early CommentatorsChapter Eight: Medieval Commentators and SystematizersPart II: Courts of Law and Legal ProcedureChapter Nine: The BeginningsChapter Ten: The Early TheoristsChapter Eleven: The Mature PhaseChapter Twelve: Early CommentatorsChapter Thirteen: Medieval Commentators and SystematizersNotesGlossaryBibliographyIndex

Über Autor(innen)

Patrick Olivelle is professor emeritus of Sanskrit and Indian religions at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author and editor of a number of books, including Dharmasutras: The Law Codes of Ancient India (1999), Manu's Code of Law: A Critical Edition and Translation of the Manava-Dharmasastra (2005), Dharma: Studies in Its Semantic, Cultural, and Religious History (2009), Visnu's Code of Law: A Critical Edition and Translation of the Vaisnava Dharmasastra (2009), and King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India (2013).