Hinduism as a Legal Tradition
Abstract
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.
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Dharma traditions fundamentally shaped Hinduism and South Asia's political and social structures from the late Vedic period to at least the British period.
“the dharma traditions fundamentally shaped Hinduism and the political and social structures of South Asia, from the late Vedic period to at least the time of the British.”
From Hindu Law and Society (2021) · cites this paper as Davis 2007
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Nemec, J. (2021) · Journal of the American Oriental Society · doi:10.7817/jameroriesoci.140.1.0205
- Authors
- Davis, D. R.
- Affiliations
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Corresponding author
- Davis, Donald R.
- ORCID
- Davis, Donald R.
- Venue
- Journal of the American Academy of Religion
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2007-05-30
- Volume
- 75
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 241-267
- ISSN
- 0002-7189 (ISSN-L)
- 1477-4585
- OpenAlex
- W2003396805
- Cited by
- 56
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 27 · 2018: 2 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 2 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 28.02
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of the American Academy of Religion (publishedVersion)
- Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Indian and Buddhist Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Study and Philosophy of Religion
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Historical Legal Studies and Society
- Keywords
- Hinduism, Hindu law, dharma, Dharmaśāstra, legal rhetoric, religion and law, Islamic law, comparative religion, legal tradition
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