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tradition perpetuates an ancient Dharma practised by the rest.
The Dharmaśāstras are the concluding portions of the Kalpasūtras. The Kalpa is one of the six Aṅgas of the Vedas. They are Śikṣā or phonetics, Vyākaraṇa or Grammar, Chandas or prosody, Nirukta or derivation and Kalpa or procedure. The whole Kalpa teaches us all the procedure for the Vedic rites, domestic rites and duties to humanity in general. But all Dharmasūtras that we inherit are not the concluding portions of Kalpasūtras. Some Ṛṣis have written complete Kalpasūtras while others wrote only particular portions. To the former class belong the Dharmasūtras of Āpastamba, Hiraṇyakeśin, Bodhāyana and Vaikhānasa. The Dharmasūtras of Gautama and Vasiṣṭha are independent works and no Kalpasūtras by the same authors are available.
The traditonal number of Smṛtis or law books is eighteen. They are (1) Manusmṛti, (2)Parāsarasmṛti, (3) Vasiṣṭhasmṛti, (4)Śaṅkhasmṛti, (5) Likhitasmṛti, (6) Atrismṛti, (7) Viṣṇusmṛti, (8) Hāritasmṛti, (9) Yamasmṛti, (10)Aṅgirassmṛti, (11) Uśanassmṛti, (12) Samvartasmṛti, (13) Bṛhaspatlsmṛti, (14) Kātyāyanasmṛti,(15) Dakṣasmṛti, (16) Vyāsasmṛti, (17) Yājnavalkyasmṛti and (18) Sātātapasmṛti. All these Smṛtis are equally authoritative but the Manusmṛti has commanded universal respect from
the authors of all other Smṛtis and authors of the 52































































































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