Śāstra (Sanskrit: शास्त्र, romanized: Śāstra pronounced [ɕaːstrɐ]) is a Sanskrit word that means "precept, rules, manual, compendium, book or treatise" in a general sense.[1] The word is generally used as a suffix in the Indian literature context, for technical or specialized knowledge in a defined area of practice.[2]

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

  1. bhautikaśāstra 'physics',
  2. rasaśāstra 'chemistry',
  3. jīvaśāstra 'biology',
  4. vāstuśāstra 'architectural science',
  5. śilpaśāstra 'science of mechanical arts and sculpture',
  6. arthaśāstra 'science of politics and economics',[3]
  7. nītiśāstra 'compendium of ethics or right policy', and
  8. natyasāstra 'art of performing arts.'

In Western literature, Śāstra is sometimes spelled as Sastra,[4] 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.[5][6]

Terminology

Śāstra commonly refers to a treatise or text on a specific field of knowledge. In early Vedic literature, the word referred to any precept, rule, teaching, ritual instruction or direction.[1] 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.[1] It is often a suffix, added to the subject of the treatise, such as

  1. Yoga-śāstra
  2. Nyāya-śāstra
  3. Dharma-śāstra
  4. Koka- or Kāma-śāstra,[7]
  5. Mokṣa-śāstra
  6. Artha-śāstra
  7. Alaṅkara-śāstra (rhetoric)
  8. Kāvya-śāstra (poetics)
  9. Saṅgīta-śāstra (music)
  10. Nāṭya-śāstra (theatre & dance)
  11. Vyākaraṇa-śāstra (Sanskrit grammar), and others.[1][2]

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."[8]

In Jainism, the term means the same as in Hinduism. An example of Jaina Śāstra is the 12th-century Yoga Śāstra of Hemchandracharya.[9]

Śāstra is sometimes the root of compounded Sanskrit words. A custodian of Śāstra, for example, is called Śāstradhāri (Sanskrit: शास्त्रधारी).[10]

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.

— Rigveda 8.33.16, [11]

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

The Maitri Upanishad (mid to late 1st millennium BCE), similarly, mentions the materialist Charvakas and Brihaspati who disagreed that the Vedas are a treatise of knowledge, proposing relativism instead, in the following passage:[12]

बृहस्पतिर्वै शुक्रो भूत्वेन्द्रस्याभयायासुरेभ्यः क्षयायेमामविद्यामसृजत्
तया शिवमशिवमित्युद्दिशन्त्यशिवं शिवमिति वेदादिशास्त्रहिंसकधर्माभिध्यानमस्त्विति

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.[14]

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

The term "śāstra" is found in Yaska's Nirukta (1.2, 14), where the reference is to Nirukta (etymology). An early use of the term śāstra with reference to the literature on dharma is found in the vārttika of Kātyāyana, who uses the expression dharmaśāstra[15]