Dharma: Its Early History in Law, Religion and Narrative by Alf Hiltebeitel, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 747 + xxi

This massive volume wanders far beyond its stated focus on dharma and leaves the reader a bit overwhelmed. The book is at least true to its subtitle in focusing on early history, showing little concern for how ancient meanings impact modern understandings of dharma.

Dharma is a term that still carries many shades of meaning, and it carried many varied meanings in the many changing contexts of ancient India. Hiltebeitel’s study undermines simplistic assumptions about what dharma meant and means. For example, he points out two ways that dharma is misunderstood by reading later meanings back into the Vedic era. One is associating dharma with ṛta, the Vedic term for cosmic order; the other is closely relating dharma and karma (duty and deeds), which are not so related in Vedic contexts (pp. 52f.).

Hiltebeitel’s greatest expertise is in the Mahabharata, and he presents a compelling case for the complexity of meaning of dharma in that great epic. Along the way (one of many, many tangential threads) he presents his case against the Mahabharata being an oral tradition developed over centuries, and suggests it was always a textual tradition. He also at great length examines the dharmic and adharmic behavior of multiple characters, with a full chapter focused on the women of the Mahabharata.

Hiltebeitel suggests that there was a great deal of interaction between Brahmanical and Buddhist thought on dharma (dhamma). Chapter two on Ashoka lays out a strong case that this was a foundation period where dharma got associated with kingship and Vedic ways were undermined. Chapter four looks at dhamma in early Buddhism, and like most chapters in the book the discussion is so much broader than this that one feels this is an introduction to ancient Buddhism rather than a discussion of dhamma. The concluding chapter of the book is an analysis of Asvaghosa’s Buddhacarita, another very technical study that involves relating the Ramayana and Mahabharata to Asvaghosa (as Manusmṛiti had earlier been so compared).

The book ends quite abruptly with no summary or conclusion. This seems intentional as the data presented cannot be woven into any neat summary. Thus, the point of diverse meanings of the term dharma is reinforced. This is not a book for beginners or for the faint of heart; scholars and those probing deep into the histories of Hindu traditions will find much that is highly stimulating.