A History of Sanskrit Literature c30.s1.2

c30.s1.2

Of these old Dharmasūtras several are preserved but in different conditions. One of the oldest is the *Gautamīya Dharmaçāstra*¹—the title Dharmasūtra is here as in other cases merged in the wider name; it seems to belong to the Rāṇāyanīya school of the *Sāmaveda*, and its text is not free from interpolation. Another old text is the *Hārīta Dharmaçāstra*² in thirty Adhyāyas, extant in one manuscript. Both these are mentioned by the *Vāsiṣṭha* *Dharmaçāstra*,¹ which, however, is preserved either in fragmentary or interpolated manuscripts; it mentions Manu as an authority while it is quoted in the *Manu Smṛti*. Apparently we may believe Kumārila when he assigns it to a lost *Ṛgveda* school, the Vāsiṣṭhas. Yama and Prajāpati appear in it as authorities. The *Baudhāyana Dharmaçāstra*² and the *Āpastambīya Dharma-sūtra*³ are both parts of greater complexes, Sūtras of schools of the *Black Yajurveda*, but the former is interpolated, while the latter is well preserved. The school of Hiraṇyakeçin is as usual closely akin to the Āpastambīya. The dates of these works have often been determined⁴ on the assumption that the Āpastambīya by reason of its incorrectnesses of speech, and its treatment of the Vedic Çvetaketu of the *Çatapatha Brāhmaṇa* among recent personages, cannot be placed later than the fourth or fifth century B. C., but this naturally depends on many assumptions including that of the date of Pāṇini, and it might be wiser to place the date as far down as the second or third century B. C.