Apastamba Dharmasutra

Āpastamba Dharmasūtra (Sanskrit: आपस्तम्ब धर्मसूत्र) is a Sanskrit text and one of the oldest Dharma-post vedic smriti related texts of Hinduism that have survived into the modern age from the 1st millennium BCE.[1] It is one of three extant Dharmasutras texts from the Taittiriya school which is relatively newer in comparison to Maitrayaniya shakha of Krishna Yajurveda, the other two being Baudhayana Dharmasutra and Hiranyakesin Dharmasutra.[2]

The Apastamba Dharmasutra is part of Apastamba Kalpasutra collection, along with Apastamba Shrautasutra and Apastamba Grihyasutra.[2] One of the best preserved ancient texts on Dharma,[3] it is also notable for mentioning and citing views of ten ancient experts on Dharma, which has led scholars to conclude that there existed a rich genre of Dharmasutras text in ancient India before this text was composed.[4][5]

  1. ^ Patrick Olivelle 2006, p. 178 with note 28.
  2. ^ a b Robert Lingat 1973, p. 20.
  3. ^ Patrick Olivelle 1999, pp. xxvi–xxvii with note 5.
  4. ^ Robert Lingat 1973, pp. 19–22, Quote: The dharma-sutra of Apastamba suggests that a rich literature on dharma already existed. He cites ten authors by name. (...)..
  5. ^ Timothy Lubin, Donald R. Davis Jr & Jayanth K. Krishnan 2010, p. 38.