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Śāstra is a Sanskrit term used to denote rules in a general sense. The word is generally used as a suffix in the context of technical or specialized knowledge in a defined area of practice; e.g, Vaastu Shastra (architectural science), Shilpa Shastra (science of sculpture) and Artha Shastra (political science). In essence, the shaastra is the knowledge which is based on principles that are held to be timeless.
Shastra is also a by-word used when referring to a scripture. Extending this meaning, the shastra is commonly used to mean a treatise or text written in explanation of some idea, especially in matters involving religion. In Buddhism, a shastra is often a commentary written at a later date to explain an earlier scripture or sutra.
References in the early texts
The term śāstra is found for the first time in Yaska's Nirukta (1.2, 14), where the reference is probably to the science or a text of Nirukta (etymology) (though this term is found in the passage VIII.33.16 of the Ṛgveda also but the meaning of it is far from clear there). Similarly, the Ṛgvedaprātiśākhya (11.36; 14.30) uses the term to refer to the prātiśākhya tradition. Kātyāyana and Patañjali use it with reference to Pāṇini's Aṣṭādhyāyī. Similarly, the Vedāṅgajyotiṣa uses the term to refer astonomical treatises. Significantly, however, this text uses the term vedāṅgaśāstrāṇām, indicating that the śāstra may have been also used as a generic term to cover treatises, which deal with the Vedāṅgas. In the Kātyāyana Śrautasūtra (1.6.21) the term is used to refer to the Veda. The earliest use of the term śāstra with reference to the literature on dharma is found in the vārttika of Kātyāyana, who uses the expression dharmaśāstra1
Notes
- ^ Olivelle, P. (2006). Explorations in the Early History of the Dharmaśāstra in P. Olivelle (ed.) Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE, New York:Oxford Unuiversity Press, ISBN 0 19 568935 6, p.169
See also
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