Smṛti — that which was remembered

स्मृति

Also written: smriti · smrti texts · smriti vs shruti

If śruti is the fixed centre, smṛti is everything built around it so that it can be used. It is enormously larger than śruti, it has named human authors, and — crucially — it is designed to be revised.

The families of smṛti

Vedāṅgaषड्वेदाङ्ग: Six auxiliary sciences: phonetics, ritual procedure, grammar, etymology, metre, astronomy — the toolkit for using the Veda at all.
Upavedaउपवेद: Four applied sciences derived from the Vedas: medicine, arms, music and architecture.
Itihāsaइतिहास: Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata — dharma shown in action, including its hardest cases.
Purāṇaपुराण: Eighteen Mahāpurāṇas and eighteen Upapurāṇas: cosmology, dynasty, dissolution, devotion.
Dharma Śāstraधर्मशास्त्र: Manu, Yājñavalkya, Nārada, Parāśara and others — personal, social and royal conduct.
Sūtraसूत्र: Śrauta, Gṛhya and Dharma Sūtras for ritual and household; the six Darśana Sūtras for philosophy.
Darśanaदर्शन: The six systems, each with its root sūtra and centuries of commentary.
Āgama and Tantraआगम: The revealed manuals of the Śaiva, Śākta and Vaiṣṇava traditions.
Kāvya and Stotraकाव्य: Poetry and hymn — Kālidāsa, the Śaṅkara stotras, the Ālvār and Nāyanmār hymns, the sant poetry.

Built to change

The Dharma Śāstra states its own conditionality. Parāśara says outright that the dharmas of the Kṛta, Tretā, Dvāpara and Kali ages differ, and that the rules of one yuga do not bind another. Manu ranks custom, region and emergency as legitimate modifiers. A smṛti rule that has lost its purpose is therefore not scripture being broken — it is smṛti operating as designed.

अन्ये कृतयुगे धर्मास्त्रेतायां द्वापरेऽपरे। अन्ये कलियुगे नॄणां युगह्रासानुरूपतः॥

anye kṛta-yuge dharmās tretāyāṁ dvāpare'pare anye kali-yuge nṝṇāṁ yuga-hrāsānurūpataḥ

The dharmas of the Kṛta age are one thing, of the Tretā and Dvāpara another, and of men in the Kali age yet another — in accordance with the decline of each age.

— Parāśara Smṛti 1.22

Smṛti — that which was remembered

The families of smṛti

Built to change

The sources of knowledge in Sanātana Dharma

Śruti — that which was heard

Nigama and Āgama — the two revealed streams

The four Vedas

Ṛgveda

Yajurveda