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{{Short description|Sanskrit term for precepts and treatises}}
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'''''Śāstra''''' ({{Langx|sa|शास्त्र|translit=Śāstra}} {{IPA|sa|ɕaːstrɐ|pron}}) is a [[Sanskrit]] word that means "precept, rules, manual, compendium, book or treatise" in a general sense.<ref name=monierwilliamszastra>Monier Williams, Monier Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary, [[Oxford University Press]], Article on '''[http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/scans/MWScan/tamil/index.html zAstra]'''</ref> The word is generally used as a suffix in the [[India]]n literature context, for technical or specialized knowledge in a defined area of practice.<ref name=lochtefeldshastra626/>

''Śāstra'' has a similar meaning to English ''-logy'', e.g. ecology, [[psychology]], meaning scientific and basic knowledge on a particular subject. Examples in terms of modern neologisms include
# {{IAST|bhautikaśāstra}} 'physics', 
# [[Rasashastra|{{IAST|rasaśāstra}}]] 'chemistry', 
# {{IAST|jīvaśāstra}} 'biology', 
# [[Vastu shastra|{{IAST|vāstuśāstra}}]] 'architectural science', 
# [[Shilpa shastras|{{IAST|śilpaśāstra}}]] 'science of mechanical arts and sculpture',
# [[Arthashastra|{{IAST|arthaśāstra}}]] 'science of politics and economics',<ref name="Boesche2003">{{cite journal |author-link=Roger Boesche |last=Boesche |first=Roger |date=January 2003 |title=Kautilya's ''Arthaśāstra'' on War and Diplomacy in Ancient India |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/40432 |journal=The Journal of Military History |publisher=Society for Military History |volume=67 |issue=1 |pages=9–37 |doi=10.1353/jmh.2003.0006 |issn=0899-3718 |doi-access=free }}</ref> 
# {{IAST|nītiśāstra}} 'compendium of ethics or right policy', and
# [[Natya Shastra|n''atyasāstra'']] 'art of performing arts.'

In Western literature, ''Śāstra'' is sometimes spelled as '''Sastra''',<ref>JDM Derrett (1973), Geschichte, Volume 1, Series Editor: [[Jan Gonda]], Brill, {{ISBN|978-9004037403}}, pages 34–36</ref> reflecting a misunderstanding of the IAST symbol 'ś', which corresponds to the English 'sh'.

==Etymology ==
The word ''Śāstra'' literally means "that which has been instructed/decreed", from the root √śās- which means "instruction/decree" combined with the ''ṣṭra-suffix''.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://sanskrit.uohyd.ac.in/cgi-bin/scl/amarakosha/noun_gen.cgi?encoding=Unicode&rt=शास्त्र&gen=नपुं&jAwi=nA&level=1 |title=Knowledge-Net of Amarakosha (अमरकोश-ज्ञान-जालम्) }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=शासना at Spokensanskrit.org | url=https://spokensanskrit.org/index.php?mode=3&direct=au&script=hk&anz=all&tran_input=शासना+}}</ref>

===Terminology===
''Śāstra'' commonly refers to a treatise or text on a specific field of knowledge. In early [[Vedas|Vedic]] literature, the word referred to any precept, rule, teaching, ritual instruction or direction.<ref name=monierwilliamszastra/> In late and post Vedic literature of [[Hinduism]], ''Śāstra'' referred to any treatise, book or instrument of teaching, any manual or compendium on any subject in any field of knowledge, including religious.<ref name=monierwilliamszastra/> It is often a suffix, added to the subject of the treatise, such as 
# [[Yoga]]-śāstra
# [[Nyāya]]-śāstra
# [[Dharma]]-śāstra
# Koka- or [[Kāma]]-śāstra,<ref>Alex Comfort and Charles Fowkes (1993), The Illustrated Koka Śāstra: Medieval Indian Writings on Love Based on the Kāma Sūtra, Simon & Schuster, {{ISBN|978-0684839813}}</ref> 
# [[Mokṣa]]-śāstra
# [[Artha]]-śāstra
# Alaṅkara-śāstra (rhetoric)
# Kāvya-śāstra (poetics)
# [[Sangeet (music)|Saṅgīta]]-śāstra (music)
# [[Nāṭya]]-śāstra (theatre & dance)
# Vyākaraṇa-śāstra (Sanskrit grammar), and others.<ref name="monierwilliamszastra" /><ref name="lochtefeldshastra626">James Lochtefeld (2002), "Śāstra" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 2: N-Z, Rosen Publishing, {{ISBN|0-8239-2287-1}}, page 626</ref>

In [[Buddhism]], a "śāstra" is often a commentary written at a later date to explain an earlier scripture or [[sutra]]. For example, Yutang Lin says that a text written by him and not given by Buddha, cannot be called a "Sūtra"; it is called a "Śāstra". In Buddhism, Buddhists are allowed to offer their theses as long as they are consistent with the Sūtras, and those are called "Śāstras."<ref>[http://www.yogichen.org/gurulin/efiles/e0/e0103.html The Unification of Wisdom and Compassion Dr. Yutang Lin]</ref>

In [[Jainism]], the term means the same as in [[Hinduism]]. An example of Jaina Śāstra is the 12th-century ''Yoga Śāstra of Hemchandracharya''.<ref>Amritlal Savchand Gopani (1989), The Yoga Śāstra of Hemchandracharya: A 12th Century Guide to Jain Yoga, Prakrit Bharti Academy, {{oclc|21760707}}</ref>

Śāstra is sometimes the root of compounded Sanskrit words. A custodian of ''Śāstra'', for example, is called ''Śāstradhāri'' ([[Sanskrit]]: शास्त्रधारी).<ref>[http://dict.hinkhoj.com/words/meaning-of-SHASTRADHARI-in-english.html disctionary meaning of Śāstradhāri]</ref>

==References in the early texts==
The term is found in several passages of the Rigveda (2nd millennium BCE), such as in hymn VIII.33.16.

{{Blockquote|
<poem>
नहि षस्तव नो मम '''शास्त्रे''' अन्यस्य रण्यति ।
यो अस्मान्वीर आनयत् ॥१६॥
</poem>
|[[Rigveda]] 8.33.16|<ref>{{translation|"''Neither in thy '''decree''' nor mine, but in another's he delights,The man who brought us unto this.''"}} [https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/ऋग्वेद:_सूक्तं_८.३३ Rig Veda ऋग्वेदः मण्डल ८] Wikisource</ref>}}

In this Rigvedic verse, the term means rule or instruction.

The Maitri Upanishad (mid to late 1st millennium BCE), similarly, mentions the materialist [[Charvaka]]s and Brihaspati who disagreed that the Vedas are a treatise of knowledge, proposing relativism instead, in the following passage:<ref name=mullermaup79/>

{{Blockquote|
<poem>
बृहस्पतिर्वै शुक्रो भूत्वेन्द्रस्याभयायासुरेभ्यः क्षयायेमामविद्यामसृजत्
तया शिवमशिवमित्युद्दिशन्त्यशिवं शिवमिति वेदादि'''शास्त्र'''हिंसकधर्माभिध्यानमस्त्विति
</poem>
|[[Maitri Upanishad]] 7.9|<ref name=mullermaup79>Max Muller, [https://archive.org/stream/upanishads02ml#page/342/mode/2up Maitri Upanishad 7.9], Oxford University Press, page 342</ref><ref>[https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/मैत्रायणि_उपनिषद् Maitri Upanishad 7.9] Wikisource</ref>}}

The term is found in other Upanishads as well as in [[Bhagavad Gita]] such as in verses 15.20, 16.23–16.24, and 17.1.<ref>Sanskrit: इति गुह्यतमं '''शास्त्र'''मिदमुक्तं मयानघ । एतद्बुद्ध्वा बुद्धिमान्स्यात्कृतकृत्यश्च भारत ॥ १५-२०॥;<br />English Translation: Winthrop Sargeant (2009), The Bhagavad Gita: Twenty-fifth–Anniversary Edition, State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0873958318}}</ref>

The ''{{IAST|Ṛigvedaprātiśākhya}}'' (11.36; 14.30) uses the term ''Shastra'' to refer to the ''{{IAST|prātiśākhya}}'' tradition. {{IAST|Kātyāyana}}, {{IAST|Patañjali}} and {{IAST|Pāṇini}}'s ''{{IAST|Aṣṭādhyāyī}}'' use the term. Similarly, the ''{{IAST|Vedāṅgajyotiṣa}}'' uses the term to refer to astronomical treatises. The term ''{{IAST|vedāṅgaśāstrāṇām}}'', refers to the ''{{IAST|śāstra}}'' of the ''{{IAST|Vedāṅga}}''s.

The term "''{{IAST|śāstra}}''" is found in [[Yaska]]'s ''[[Nirukta]]'' (1.2, 14), where the reference is to ''Nirukta'' (etymology). An early use of the term ''{{IAST|śāstra}}'' with reference to the literature on ''dharma'' is found in the ''{{IAST|vārttika}}'' of {{IAST|Kātyāyana}}, who uses the expression ''{{IAST|dharmaśāstra}}''<ref>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</ref>

==Chronology and authenticity==
Shastras are predominantly post-Vedic literature, that is after about 500 BCE. However, it is unclear when various Shastras were composed and completed. The authenticity of the manuscripts is also unclear, as many versions of the same text exist, some with major differences. [[Patrick Olivelle]], credited with a 2005 translation of Manu Dharma-sastra, published by the Oxford University Press, states the concerns in [[postmodern]] scholarship about the presumed authenticity and reliability of manuscripts as follows (abridged):<ref name=olivellecriticaledition/>

{{Blockquote|
The ''MDh'' ([[Manusmriti]]) was the first Indian legal text introduced to the western world through the translation of Sir William Jones in 1794. (...) All the editions of the ''MDh'', except for Jolly's, reproduce the text as found in the [Calcutta] manuscript containing the commentary of Kulluka. I have called this as the "[[vulgate]] version".  It was Kulluka's version that has been translated repeatedly: Jones (1794), Burnell (1884), Buhler (1886) and [[Wendy Doniger|Doniger]] (1991). (...) The belief in the authenticity of Kulluka's text was openly articulated by Burnell (1884, xxix): "There is then no doubt that the textus receptus, viz., that of Kulluka Bhatta, as adopted in India and by European scholars, is very near on the whole to the original text."<br />This is far from the truth. Indeed, one of the great surprises of my editorial work has been to discover how few of the over fifty manuscripts that I collated actually follow the vulgate in key readings.
|[[Patrick Olivelle]]|Manu's Code of Law (2005)<ref name=olivellecriticaledition>Patrick Olivelle (2005), Manu's Code of Law, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, pages 353–354, 356–382</ref>}}

The literature of late 1st millennium BCE such as [[Arthashastra]],<ref>Patrick Olivelle (2013), King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India: Kauṭilya's Arthaśāstra, Oxford UK: Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0199891825}}, pages 30–32</ref> and Shastras of various fields of knowledge from the early 1st millennium period is of great interest as it helped the emergence of diverse schools and the spread of Indian religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism in and outside [[South Asia]].<ref name="Boesche2003" /><ref>Robert Lingat (1973), The Classical Law of India, University of California Press, {{ISBN|978-0520018983}}, page 77;<br />Steven Collins (1993), The discourse of what is primary, Journal of Indian philosophy, Volume 21, pages 301–393</ref><ref>Keay, John, India, A History, New York, Grove Press, 2000</ref>

The shastras are both descriptive and prescriptive. Among the various Shastras, Manu's code of law has been among the most studied as the colonial British government attempted to establish different laws in British India based on [[Sharia]] for Muslims and Manu's code of law.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rudolph |first1=Susanne Hoeber |last2=Rudolph |first2=Lloyd I. |date=August 2000 |title=Living with Difference in India |journal=The Political Quarterly |publisher=Wiley |volume=71 |issue=s1 |pages=20–38 |doi=10.1111/1467-923X.71.s1.4}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Gaborieau |first=Marc |date=June 1985 |title=From Al-Beruni to Jinnah: Idiom, Ritual and Ideology of the Hindu-Muslim Confrontation in South Asia |journal=Anthropology Today |publisher=Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=7–14 |doi=10.2307/3033123 |jstor=3033123}}</ref><ref>Pollock, Sheldon, From Discourse of Ritual to Discourse of Power in Sanskrit Culture, Journal of Ritual Studies 4:2, 1990, 315-45</ref>

The shastras are not consistent or single-consensus documents. Dharma-sastras, for example, contain opposing views and contradictory theories. This is in part because they represent an ideal of human behaviour, while at the same time recognising the need to account for likely failings.  The shastras do not present  life as it was lived. Rather they reveal an idea of what life should be. The shastra texts constitute one of the great bodies of literature of the ancient world.<ref>Doniger, Wendy, The Hindus, An Alternative History, Oxford University Press, 2010, {{ISBN|978-0-19-959334-7}} pbk</ref>

==Sutra==

{{main|Sutra}}

Sutras are another genre of Indian texts that emerged in the 1st millennium BCE, particularly after the 600 BCE.<ref>[[Arvind Sharma]] (2000), Classical Hindu Thought: An Introduction, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195644418}}, page 205-206</ref> ''Sutra'' (literally "binding thread") denotes a type of literary composition distinct from Shastra. In Sanskrit, "sutra" typically referred to one or more [[aphorisms]]; hence sutras use short, aphoristic, evocative statements. In contrast, a Shastra is typically longer, with more detail and explanations. An example of a Sutra is [[Patanjali]]'s [[Yogasutra]]s (considered a classic Hindu treatise), while an example of Shastra is [[Hemachandra]]'s Yogasastra (considered a classic [[Śvētāmbara|Svetambara Jain]] treatise), both on [[yoga]].<ref>Olle Quarnström (2002), The Yogaśāstra of Hemacandra: A Twelfth Century Handbook of Śvetāmbara Jainism, Harvard University Press, {{ISBN|978-0674009349}}</ref>

Shastras and Sutras are among the numerous other genres of literature that have survived from [[ancient India|ancient]] and [[medieval India]]. Other genres include [[Vedas]], [[Upanishads]], [[Vedangas]], [[Itihasa]], [[Puranas]], [[Bhasya]]s, and [[Subhashita]]s.<ref>Ludwik Sternbach (1973), Subhashita – A forgotten chapter in the histories of Sanskrit literature, in Indologica Taurinensia, Torino, Vol I, pages 169–254</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Major Shastras by Topics
! Topic !! Name of Shastra !! Authorship Date !! Author !! Language !! Description/Comments/References
|-
| Architecture || [[Vastu Shastra]] || Ancient || Various || Sanskrit || Treatise on architecture and design.
|-
| Science (Aviation) || [[Vaimānika Shāstra]] || Early 20th century || Unknown || Sanskrit || A text on "science of aeronautics".
|-
| Religion & Law || [[Dharma Shastra]] || 1st millennium BCE || Various || Sanskrit || Theological texts on Hindu Dharma, with over 100 different versions.<ref>John Bowker (2012), The Message and the Book: Sacred Texts of the World's Religions, Yale University Press</ref>
|-
| Eroticism || [[Kamashastra]] || Ancient || Various || Sanskrit || Texts related to love and sexuality.
|-
| Philosophy || [[Yoga Vasistha]] || Ancient || Valmiki || Sanskrit || Philosophical discourse between Sage Vasistha and Lord Rama.
|-
| Philosophy || [[Moksopaya]] || 10th century || Unknown || Sanskrit || Philosophical text, precursor to Yoga Vasistha.
|-
| Economics & Politics || [[Artha Shastra]] || 4th century BCE || Kautilya (Chanakya) || Sanskrit || Treatise on statecraft, economic policy, and military strategy.
|-
| Performing Arts || [[Natya Shastra]] || 200 BCE – 200 CE || Bharata Muni || Sanskrit || Treatise on drama, dance, and music.
|-
| Astronomy || [[Surya Siddhanta]] || Ancient || Unknown || Sanskrit || An astronomical text with planetary calculations.
|-
| Buddhism || [[Mahayana Buddhist Shastras]] || Various || Various || Sanskrit || Treatises related to Mahayana Buddhism.
|-
| Palmistry & Physiognomy || [[Samudrika Shastra]] || Ancient || Unknown || Sanskrit || Text on palmistry, face reading, and body analysis.
|-
| Sculpture & Iconography || [[Shilpa Shastra]] || Ancient || Various || Sanskrit || Guidelines on sculpture and temple architecture.
|}

== See also ==
{{div col}}
* [[Vaimānika Shāstra]]
* [[Dharmaśāstra]]
* [[Kamashastra]] (Kama Shastra)
* [[Yoga Vasistha]]
* [[Mokshopaya]] (mahayana uttaratantra shastra)
* [[Arthashastra]]
* [[Mahayana sutras]]
* [[Samudrika Shastra]]
* [[Shilpa Shastras]]
{{col div end}}

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=note}}

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

{{Hindudharma}}

[[Category:Sanskrit words and phrases]]
[[Category:Sanskrit texts]]