Hinduism as a Legal Tradition

• Published in: Journal of the American Academy of Religion Vol. 75; no. 2; pp. 241 - 267
• Main Author: Davis, Donald R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cary, NC Oxford University Press 01-06-2007; American Academy of Religion, Oxford University Press; Oxford Publishing Limited (England)
• Subjects: Asian religions; Bhakti; Buddhism; Dharma; Hinduism; Hindus; History and sciences of religions; Islam; Islamic law; Krishna; Law; Religious laws; Religious literature; Theology; Vedic religions. Hinduism. Jainism. Sikhism; Dharma; Hinduism; Law; Rhetorics
• ISSN: 0002-7189; 1477-4585
• DOI: 10.1093/jaarel/lfm004

The role of law in Hinduism and the value of law as a category of Hindu studies have been underestimated. After making an initial case for the connection of dharma and law in the treatises on religious and legal duty known as Dharmaśāstra, this essay examines the role of dharma as law in other Hindu texts in order to show the possible horizons of understanding yielded by an incorporation of law into Hindu studies. Dharmaśāstra, it is argued, should be viewed as a form of legal rhetoric and its formulations of dharma understood as paradigmatic for the Hindu tradition as a whole. Finally, through a comparison with Islam and Islamic studies, the mutual modulations of law and Hinduism are examined in order to see the consequences of juxtaposing these two categories.