Which of the following can be considered a part of the ancient Indian Smriti Literature? 1. Puranas 2. Ramayana 3. Kalpa-Sutra 4. Vedas Select the answer using the code given below :
- (a)1, 2 and 3 only
- (b)3 and 4 only
- (c)1 and 2 only
- (d)1, 2, 3 and 4
Correct — A, 1, 2 and 3 only. The tradition divides its literature in two. Shruti, 'that which is heard', means the four Vedas together with the Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads attached to them; it is treated as revealed and, in the orthodox account, without a human author. Smriti, 'that which is remembered', is everything of acknowledged human composition that carries authority derived from shruti — and that is where the first three items belong. The Puranas are smriti, eighteen major and many minor, retelling cosmology, genealogy and myth in a form meant to reach beyond the circle that could handle Vedic Sanskrit. The Ramayana is smriti as itihasa, the category it shares with the Mahabharata. The Kalpa-Sutras belong to Kalpa, one of the six Vedangas or limbs of the Veda, and the Vedangas are smriti even though their entire subject is how to use the Veda correctly — the Kalpa texts break down into Shrautasutras for the solemn public rituals, Grihyasutras for domestic ceremonies, Dharmasutras for law and custom and Shulbasutras for the geometry of altar construction. The Vedas at item 4 are the one thing on the list that is not smriti, and that is exactly what the question is checking.
- (b)3 and 4 only — Includes the Vedas, which are shruti and therefore the one item excluded, and drops the Puranas and the Ramayana, both of which are standard smriti.
- (c)1 and 2 only — Right about the Puranas and the Ramayana but leaves out the Kalpa-Sutras. The Vedangas are smriti; being about the Veda does not make a text part of the Veda.
- (d)1, 2, 3 and 4 — The all-of-them pick, and it fails on the single item the whole distinction exists to separate. The Vedas are shruti, never smriti.
Shruti and smriti are the two classes of authoritative text in the Brahmanical tradition. Shruti covers the Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda and Atharvaveda with their Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads. Smriti covers the six Vedangas, the Dharmashastras such as the Manusmriti and the Yajnavalkya Smriti, the two itihasas — the Ramayana and the Mahabharata — and the Puranas. Where the two conflict, shruti prevails; smriti's authority is derivative, which is why the tradition treats it as remembered rather than revealed.
The item is testing one boundary and dressing it up with three items on the same side of it. Once you see that the Vedas are the only shruti in the list, the answer is forced, since every option either includes the Vedas or excludes something that is plainly smriti. The genuinely instructive item is the Kalpa-Sutra, because a text whose subject is Vedic ritual feels as if it ought to be Vedic. It is not: the six Vedangas — Shiksha for phonetics, Kalpa for ritual, Vyakarana for grammar, Nirukta for etymology, Chhanda for metre and Jyotisha for astronomy — are auxiliary disciplines composed to preserve and apply the Veda, and they sit firmly in smriti. One caution on the name: 'Kalpa Sutra' is also the title of a well-known Jain text attributed to Bhadrabahu, which is a different work entirely; in a list beside the Puranas, the Ramayana and the Vedas it is the Vedanga that is meant.
- Shruti comprises the four Vedas with their Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads, and is held to be revealed rather than composed.
- Smriti comprises the six Vedangas, the Dharmashastras, the two itihasas and the Puranas.
- The six Vedangas are Shiksha, Kalpa, Vyakarana, Nirukta, Chhanda and Jyotisha.
- The Kalpa-Sutras divide into Shrautasutras, Grihyasutras, Dharmasutras and Shulbasutras, the last dealing with the geometry of fire-altar construction.
- There are eighteen major Puranas, and the Ramayana and Mahabharata are classed together as itihasa.
Three items are remembered, one is heard. Only the Veda is shruti.
- Counting the Vedangas as part of the Veda because their subject is Vedic ritual; they are smriti.
- Treating the Upanishads as smriti. They close each Veda and belong to shruti.
- Reading 'Kalpa Sutra' as the Jain text of that name when the list is a Brahmanical one.
As a shruti-versus-smriti sorting item like this one, as a question on what the six Vedangas are, or as a match between a class of text and an example.
Which one of the following statements on the issue of ownership according to Smriti literature is not correct?
- (a) The paternal estate was to be divided equally amongst sons.
- (b) Women were allowed to retain the gifts they received on the occasion of their marriage.
- (c) The gifts to women on the occasion of their marriage were known as Stridhana.
- (d) Stridhana was not inherited by the children without the permission of the husband.
Answer(d) Stridhana was not inherited by the children without the permission of the husband.
The same body of literature, read for content rather than classification. Stridhana was a woman's own property, inheritable by her children with no claim by the husband, and the rules on it come out of the Dharmashastra portion of smriti.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following is NOT counted among the six Vedangas?
- (a)Nirukta
- (b)Jyotisha
- (c)Mimamsa
- (d)Chhanda
Answer(c) Mimamsa — one of the six orthodox schools of philosophy, not a Vedanga. The six Vedangas are Shiksha, Kalpa, Vyakarana, Nirukta, Chhanda and Jyotisha.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Shulbasutras, which deal with the geometry required for constructing fire altars, belong to which one of the following Vedangas?
- (a)Shiksha
- (b)Kalpa
- (c)Vyakarana
- (d)Jyotisha
Answer(b) Kalpa — the Shulbasutras are one of the four divisions of the Kalpa-Sutra literature, alongside the Shrauta, Grihya and Dharma sutras.