Understanding Shruti and Smriti

When studying Indian philosophy and culture, we come across two terms: Shruti and Smriti. 

Of course, most people who have studied about India in Western academia would have heard of Manu Smriti (although very few Indians themselves have heard of it-- I myself heard of Manu Smriti when I was living in Europe, and till date, haven't come across its original text). Manu Smriti is supposed to be a compilation of all forms of regressive thoughts and practices that are associated with Hinduism today, and it is often argued that even today Hindus are inexorably bound by the decrees and commandments of Manu Smriti. 

But what exactly are these Smritis?

The term Shruti means something that is heard or revealed. This is often construed to mean that the Shrutis represent knowledge that were orally passed from generation to generation, while Smritis were knowledge that were codified and recorded. This is not an accurate interpretation, as there are several Shrutis that are written down and organised into verses, etc. 

Another interpretation of these terms is that Shruti represents knowledge that were "revealed by God" while Smriti (which also means "to remember") represent knowledge that represent recorded facts or commentaries about something. 

This is more accurate-- but the term "revealed by God" is somewhat problematic, as it gives a connotation of an immutable commandment issued by some heavenly creature, that is not to be questioned. 

But it is easy to see that all the Shrutis have been subject to intense argumentation and debate (not wars or battles) over the years-- not something that one would do with divine commandments.  These debates have also lead to the development of several rules of argumentation and logic. 

In contrast to the dynamics between dogmatic religious schools, debates in ancient India were more like the debates we see among different schools of thought among researchers and philosophers today. 

All of these point to the fact that the "revelation" of Shrutis were not some form of divinely ordained commandments, but more of the nature of revelations obtained by researchers and philosophers, upon intense inquiry. 

In other words, Shrutis represent writings that contain original research, while Smritis contain writings that are of the form of reports, commentaries or encyclopaedic accounts that implement the NOR (No Original Research) principle. The Smritis however, were not Wikipedia articles which were jointly written by several authors, and hence did not necessarily implement an NPOV (Neutral Point of View) principle. In fact, rather than aiming for neutrality (which may never be achievable in practice), Indian society has aimed for plurality, where multiple world views coexist and often resulted in new emergent characteristics.