Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c7.110

c7.110

§ 5. *The Law-book of Manu.* Comparatively only a few miserable remnants of the almost innumerable Vedic schools, in which the Sūtras known to us from the Caraṇavyūha and other works were once taught, have been preserved to the present day; and this is the case also with the Dharmasūtras. Of the Brahmans who are still acquainted with their ancient literature—their number on the whole is not large—only a portion, the class of the Vaidikas, adhere to the ancient customs of learning by heart the canonical works of their particular school and to recite them for alms ². Also in the social life of the Brahmans the classification based on the differences of the study of the Veda is disappearing before classifications based on other grounds, mostly of a geographical nature. Thus, for example, intermarriage is not allowed between the Kankanasths and Devarukhes in Puna, but inside of these two sects there is connubium ³ between the Rigvedis and the Apastambs or Yajurvedis. Besides the Vaidikas, we find the Śrotriyas and Hotṛs, who are familiar with the Śrautasūtras and know how to perform sacrifices according to them; the Yājñikas who study the Gṛhyasūtras and perform the Saṃskāras according to them; the Jyotiṣins—astrologers, the Śāstrins or Dharma-śāstrins who are familiar with the law-books and can explain them, and other specialists¹ whose number is still very great at a centre of Sanskrit learning such as the Sanskrit College in Benares.