Abstract

“TRACING THE ROOTS OF FORENSIC SCIENCE IN ANCIENT INDIAN LITERATURE: A REVIEW OF PURANIC AND SMRITI PERSPECTIVES”

Sunil Kumar*, Sahana V. M. Vats

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Abstract

Forensic science, in its modern manifestation, represents the systematic pursuit of truth through scientific means. Yet, its philosophical and procedural origins in India trace back to an era long before the advent of modern laboratories. Ancient Indian texts including the Puranas, Smritis, and Dharmashastras articulated a highly evolved understanding of evidence, investigation, and justice that parallels contemporary forensic principles. This review explores the conceptual and applied aspects of forensic thought embedded in scriptures such as the Manusmriti, Yajnavalkya Smriti, Garuda Purana, and Narada Smriti, alongside the medico-legal insights of the Sushruta and Charaka Samhitas. The study highlights how ancient Indian jurisprudence employed epistemological categories like pramāṇa (means of valid knowledge), sākṣya (witness testimony), and anveshana (investigation) as protoforensic tools. The Garuda Purana delineated procedures resembling autopsy, wound classification, and toxicological analysis suggesting a remarkably early integration of medical expertise into judicial processes.[69] The philosophical substratum of these practices was grounded in the Vedic ideal of Ṛta the cosmic principle of truth and order which evolved into Dharma (moral law) and Nyāya (justice). By revisiting these texts through the lens of modern forensics, this review aims to reconstruct India’s indigenous forensic framework where truth was not merely empirical but ethical, and investigation was as much a spiritual responsibility as a legal one. Such interdisciplinary exploration may contribute to a more ethically anchored model of forensic science education and research in contemporary India.

Keywords: Ṛta, Dharma, Forensic Science, Smriti, Purana, Dharmashastra, Ayurveda, Justice, Evidence, Toxicology.