Smarta brahmins

[vidya]

smArta is derived from smr.ti, so that strictly, smArta refers to those
who follow the smr.ti codes like Apastamba's or bodhAyana's sUtras. There
are other such smr.tis. Read P. V. Kane's five volumes of "History of
Dharmasastra" for details.

A recent publication by Yoshitsugu Sawai, "The faith of ascetics and lay
smArtas: a study of the Sankaran tradition of Srngeri", (Sammlung de Nobili,
Institut fur Indologie der Universitat Wien, 1992), has a brief description
of smArtas in Maharashtra, according to Srinivas Sastri of Pune. All brAhmaNas
were designated as smArtas originally, except that with the rise of SrI
vaishNavism in the south, the word came to refer to those who were not
SrI vaishNavas. Also, smArtas are either advaitin or dvaitin, the former
group being followers of Sankaracharya and the latter being followers of 
Madhvacharya. 

These groups can also be distinguished by means of external marks on the
forehead. The advaitins are mainly "tripuNDra" - i.e. they wear three horizontal
stripes of ash on the forehead, and follow pancAyatana pUjA schemes. The
"dvaitins" are always "UrdhvapuNDras" i.e. they wear vertical stripes of a
yellow mud called gopicandana. However, you can also find the use of gopicandana
among the advaitin smArtas.

Going by this information, I assume that the term smArta is applied both to
advaitins and dvaitins in the Maharashtra region. The situation is different
further south. In Karnataka, smArta refers exclusively to followers of
Sankaracharya, affiliated mainly to the Sringeri math and its branches. The
dvaitins are never called smArta, and are always referred to as mAdhvas. A
similar distinction is seen in the Telugu and Tamil speaking regions - only
here the distinction is seen more between Iyers (smArtas) and Iyengars (SrI
vaishNavas). I have never seen the term smArta being used to describe the
nambUdiris of Kerala, although by definition, they are also followers of
smr.tis, and hence "smArta".

There is an entry in the Encyclopedia Brittanica on "smArta", according to
which smArta refers to the three upper varNas, and not just to brAhmaNas. This
article also points out that in the south, smArtas are essentially followers of
Sankara, while in the north, smArtas are more diverse.

S. Vidyasankar

ps. Given that nobody really follows the codes of the smr.tis any more, how
valid is the continued use of the word smArta by south Indian brahmanas today?