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==The Structure of Smriti Texts ==

==The Structure of Smriti Texts ==

The ''Smrti'' texts structurally branched, over time, from so-called the "limbs of the Vedas", or auxiliary sciences for perfecting grammar and pronunciation (part of Vedāngas).<ref name=gavinflood>Gavin Flood (1996), An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521438780, pages 53-56</ref> For example, the attempt to perfect the art of rituals led to the science of ''Kalpa'', which branched into three Kalpa-sūtras: Srauta-sūtras, Grhya-sūtras, and Dharma-sūtras (estimated to have been composed between 600-200 BCE).<ref>John E. Mitchiner (2000), Traditions of the Seven Rsis, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120813243, page xviii</ref> The Srauta-sutras became texts describing the perfect performance of public ceremonies (solemn community [[yajna]]s), the Grhya-sutras described perfect performance of home ceremonies and domestic rites of passage, and Dharma-sutras described jurisprudence, rights and duties of individuals in four [[Ashrama (stage)|Ashrama]] stages of life, and social ethics.<ref name=gavinflood/> The Dharma-sūtras themselves became the foundations for a large canon of texts, and branched off as numerous Dharma-sastra texts.<ref name=gavinflood/>

The ''Smrti'' texts structurally branched, over time, from so-called the "limbs of the Vedas", or auxiliary sciences for perfecting grammar and pronunciation (part of Vedāngas).<ref name=gavinflood>Gavin Flood (1996), An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521438780, pages 53-56</ref> For example, the attempt to perfect the art of rituals led to the science of ''Kalpa'', which branched into three Kalpa-sūtras: Srauta-sūtras, Grhya-sūtras, and Dharma-sūtras <ref>John E. Mitchiner (2000), Traditions of the Seven Rsis, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120813243, page xviii</ref> The Srauta-sutras became texts describing the perfect performance of public ceremonies (solemn community [[yajna]]s), the Grhya-sutras described perfect performance of home ceremonies and domestic rites of passage, and Dharma-sutras described jurisprudence, rights and duties of individuals in four [[Ashrama (stage)|Ashrama]] stages of life, and social ethics.<ref name=gavinflood/> The Dharma-sūtras themselves became the foundations for a large canon of texts, and branched off as numerous Dharma-sastra texts.<ref name=gavinflood/>

Jan Gonda states that the initial stages of Smriti texts structurally developed in the form of a new prose genre named Sūtras, that is "aphorism, highly compact precise expression that captured the essence of a fact, principle, instruction or idea".<ref name=jangonda/> This brevity in expression, states Gonda, was likely necessitated by the fact that writing technology had not developed yet or not in vogue, in order to store growing mass of knowledge, and all sorts of knowledge was transferred from one generation to the next through the process of memorization, verbal recitation and listening in the 1st millennium BCE. Compressed content allowed more essential, densely structured knowledge to be memorized and verbally transferred to the next generation in ancient India.<ref name=jangonda>Jan Gonda (1977), The Ritual Sutras, in A History of Indian Literature: Veda and Upanishads, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN 978-3447018234, pages 466-474</ref>

Jan Gonda states that the initial stages of Smriti texts structurally developed in the form of a new prose genre named Sūtras, that is "aphorism, highly compact precise expression that captured the essence of a fact, principle, instruction or idea".<ref name=jangonda/> This brevity in expression, states Gonda, was likely necessitated by the fact that writing technology had not developed yet or not in vogue, in order to store growing mass of knowledge, and all sorts of knowledge was transferred from one generation to the next through the process of memorization, verbal recitation and listening in the 1st millennium BCE. Compressed content allowed more essential, densely structured knowledge to be memorized and verbally transferred to the next generation in ancient India.<ref name=jangonda>Jan Gonda (1977), The Ritual Sutras, in A History of Indian Literature: Veda and Upanishads, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN 978-3447018234, pages 466-474</ref>