The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c23.3

v1.c23.3

As the Dharma Sūtras emanated from Vedic schools, so, though less surely, it may be said in general that the law-books at first represented certain schools of Brāhmanical teaching. The law-books of Vishṇu and of Yājñavalkya are thus exponents of Yajurveda schools; but in the end the popular works of this class lose all connexion with any one school and become universally authoritative. There are not many of the long list of later law-books which really deserve the name. As time went on, a large number of works appeared, claiming as their authors sages of old, or divine beings, but they are all without historical value and usually are sectarian tracts inculcating special religious observances. Besides these pseudo-law-books may be mentioned the later legal works, Dharma Nibandhas, of the eleventh century and later, and the learned commentaries, like the Mitāksharā, which have become as authoritative as the text itself. But these later law-books do not come into our present purview. They belong to the age of the later Purāṇas and subsequent literature. The great law-books which we have to examine revert to the beginning of the Purāṇic age or before it. Whatever is of value in the later works is taken from the older, which are still authoritative.