Page 51 - Hinduism

The next authority for our religion is the Dharma Śāstras. They are of two categories, the Sūtras and the Smṛtis. The Sūtras, as their name indicates, are in the form of aphorisms and the Smṛtis are in metrical form. If śruti is what is directly revealed to the Ṛṣis, the Smṛti is what is recollected by them and recorded afterwards. The Dharmaśāstras give the code of conduct applicable to each section of society and to the whole society in common. All that is contained in the Dharmaśāstras is said to be taken from the Vedas which teach fundamental ethical truths and they claim to teach nothing new. If there is any explicit contradiction between what is laid down in the Vedas and what is taught in the Dharmaśāstras, the former are to be followed in preference to thelatter, as they are absolutely and universally true. If there is anything new in the Dharmaśāstras and there is nothing corresponding to it in the available Vedas, we have to suppose that the corresponding portion of the Veda is now extinct but was available to the authors of the Dharmaśāstras. We should not discard what is laid down in the Dharmaśāstras on account of this accident. But when the Dharmaśāstras of two Ṛṣis prescribe different courses of conduct with regard to the same subject, we should not reject either or both as wrong, but it should be understood that we are at liberty to follow either course at our option. But if there is tradition in our family with regard to one of the courses, we should follow that alone as such a
51