Sanskrit Law: Excavating Vedic Legal Pluralism
In light of currently developing and purportedly postmodern global comparative legal analysis and recent theoretical writing about the ubiquitous phenomenon of law, this paper critically re-examines our somewhat self-congratulatory assumptions of the advances of postcolonial and postmodern legal sch...
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ftsoaslib:oai:eprints.soas.ac.uk:22055 2023-10-25T01:30:06+02:00 Sanskrit Law: Excavating Vedic Legal Pluralism Menski, Werner F 2010 text https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/22055/ https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/22055/1/Menski_22055.pdf http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1621384 en eng SOAS School of Law Research Paper No. 05-2010 https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/22055/1/Menski_22055.pdf Menski, Werner F (2010) Sanskrit Law: Excavating Vedic Legal Pluralism. London: SOAS School of Law Research Paper No. 05-2010. cc_by_sa_4 KL Asia and Eurasia Africa Pacific Area and Antarctica Monographs and Working Papers NonPeerReviewed 2010 ftsoaslib 2023-09-28T22:52:17Z In light of currently developing and purportedly postmodern global comparative legal analysis and recent theoretical writing about the ubiquitous phenomenon of law, this paper critically re-examines our somewhat self-congratulatory assumptions of the advances of postcolonial and postmodern legal scholarship and demonstrates that legal pluralism is actually nothing new at all. Ancient Sanskrit sources, which can be excavated because somewhat miraculously we still have some of the relevant texts with their many variant readings, indicate that legal pluralism has existed for thousands of years as a basic fact of human life. Thus legal pluralism is not appropriately seen and discussed today as a contested postmodern phenomenon. Rather it seems to be true, as Griffiths declared with some conviction, that legal pluralism is simply a fact. If this is correct, as seems confirmed even by ancient textual evidence, we have been ignoring this ancient truth at our peril and have simply been engaged in re-inventing wheels also in legal pluralism studies, an admittedly exciting but increasingly tired and overworked seam of academic knowledge about law. I myself assumed uncritically for many years that ancient Sanskrit had no proper word for ‘law’, accepting others’ positivistic and orientalising assertions, without conducting research of my own. Once I began to research the grammar of Sanskrit law in the light of legal pluralism theory, however, it became rapidly apparent that early Sanskrit did in fact develop and begin to distinguish an increasingly large number of terms for ‘law’, though notably not for state law. The admittedly difficult language of early Sanskrit reflects a richly patterned and fluidly evolving understanding of legal pluralism within ancient Indic societies and cultures, showing that various interlinked legal phenomena existed and were thought about thousands of years before our time. Since the purported absence of a single key word for ‘law’ in Sanskrit has given rise to rather misguided assumptions ... Book Antarc* Antarctica School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London: SOAS Research Online Pacific |
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School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London: SOAS Research Online |
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English |
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KL Asia and Eurasia Africa Pacific Area and Antarctica |
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KL Asia and Eurasia Africa Pacific Area and Antarctica Menski, Werner F Sanskrit Law: Excavating Vedic Legal Pluralism |
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KL Asia and Eurasia Africa Pacific Area and Antarctica |
description |
In light of currently developing and purportedly postmodern global comparative legal analysis and recent theoretical writing about the ubiquitous phenomenon of law, this paper critically re-examines our somewhat self-congratulatory assumptions of the advances of postcolonial and postmodern legal scholarship and demonstrates that legal pluralism is actually nothing new at all. Ancient Sanskrit sources, which can be excavated because somewhat miraculously we still have some of the relevant texts with their many variant readings, indicate that legal pluralism has existed for thousands of years as a basic fact of human life. Thus legal pluralism is not appropriately seen and discussed today as a contested postmodern phenomenon. Rather it seems to be true, as Griffiths declared with some conviction, that legal pluralism is simply a fact. If this is correct, as seems confirmed even by ancient textual evidence, we have been ignoring this ancient truth at our peril and have simply been engaged in re-inventing wheels also in legal pluralism studies, an admittedly exciting but increasingly tired and overworked seam of academic knowledge about law. I myself assumed uncritically for many years that ancient Sanskrit had no proper word for ‘law’, accepting others’ positivistic and orientalising assertions, without conducting research of my own. Once I began to research the grammar of Sanskrit law in the light of legal pluralism theory, however, it became rapidly apparent that early Sanskrit did in fact develop and begin to distinguish an increasingly large number of terms for ‘law’, though notably not for state law. The admittedly difficult language of early Sanskrit reflects a richly patterned and fluidly evolving understanding of legal pluralism within ancient Indic societies and cultures, showing that various interlinked legal phenomena existed and were thought about thousands of years before our time. Since the purported absence of a single key word for ‘law’ in Sanskrit has given rise to rather misguided assumptions ... |
format |
Book |
author |
Menski, Werner F |
author_facet |
Menski, Werner F |
author_sort |
Menski, Werner F |
title |
Sanskrit Law: Excavating Vedic Legal Pluralism |
title_short |
Sanskrit Law: Excavating Vedic Legal Pluralism |
title_full |
Sanskrit Law: Excavating Vedic Legal Pluralism |
title_fullStr |
Sanskrit Law: Excavating Vedic Legal Pluralism |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sanskrit Law: Excavating Vedic Legal Pluralism |
title_sort |
sanskrit law: excavating vedic legal pluralism |
publisher |
SOAS School of Law Research Paper No. 05-2010 |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/22055/ https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/22055/1/Menski_22055.pdf http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1621384 |
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Pacific |
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Pacific |
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Antarc* Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica |
op_relation |
https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/22055/1/Menski_22055.pdf Menski, Werner F (2010) Sanskrit Law: Excavating Vedic Legal Pluralism. London: SOAS School of Law Research Paper No. 05-2010. |
op_rights |
cc_by_sa_4 |
_version_ |
1780736791236575232 |