Nāradasmṛti

Nāradasmṛti is a part of the Dharmaśāstras, an Indian literary tradition that serves as a collection of legal maxims relating to the topic of dharma. This text is purely juridical in character in that it focuses solely on procedural and substantive law. Known as the "juridical text par excellence," the Nāradasmṛti is the only Dharmaśāstra text to not cover areas such as righteous conduct and penance. Its focused nature has made the text highly valued by rulers and their governments, in Indian subcontinent and southeast Asia, likely as an aid of carrying out their dharma of justly ruling the country.

Today there exist three recognized versions of Naradasmriti, also called Naradiya Dharmasastra. First, there is the “minor” recension, consisting of 879 verses and referred to by the siglum D. Next comes the recension known by the siglum P and consisting originally of 550 verses. Jolly later edited the text to contain verses from the “minor” recension as well, bringing the total to 1028 verses. The third version comes from the Newārī manuscripts and the Nāradīyamanusaṃhitā and goes by the siglum NMS, containing 870 verses. Each recension is unique not only in length, but content as well. For example, in P, an entire chapter is found of which no other manuscript makes mention. One of the most thoroughly studied differences is that of the variation in naming of Ordeals. The NMS, seen as the oldest of the three texts, lists only two ordeals in the standard chapter on “Nonpayment of Debt” but contains an addendum which lists five more ordeals. The Vulgate also lists five ordeals but manuscript P adds two more, bringing the total to seven.

One recension claims that “Manu Prajāpati originally composed a text in 100,000 verses and 1080 chapters, which was successively abridged by the sages Nārada, Mārkandeya, and Sumati Bhārgava, down to a text of 4,000 verses.” Nāradasmṛti, according to this recension's claim, represent the ninth chapter, regarding legal procedure, of Manu’s original text. This connection may enhance the prestige of Nāradasmṛti because some traditional texts state Manu pronouncements on dharma is above challenge. However, Lariviere notes that it is clear from the critical edition and examination of other ancient documents that this explanation of Nāradasmṛti's origin is a myth, and was added later.

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