Dharmashastra

[Juergen Neuss]

Dear you,
I am at present working on an edition of the Yamasmrti, one of those
"minor" dharmashastra texts, which are often found in collections of
smrtis, in print (Smrtisandarbha e.c.) as well as in manuscripts.
The fact that a good number of manuscripts of the Yamasmrti still exist
in almost all parts of India seems to indicate that the text was quite
popular and wide-spread.
What is at present rather difficult for me to find out is, whether these
minor dharmashastras in general and the Yamasmrti in particular were/was
connected to any specific section of Indian society and if so, which
groups regarded these texts as their source of dharma?
Any idea?
Thanks for reading
Juergen Neuss