Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c7.305

c7.305

Śulapāṇi’s Dīpakalikā which explains only selected passages is modern in the opinion of Colebrooke⁷; according to R. Mitra⁸ on the other hand, Śulapāṇi is a contemporary of Lakṣmaṇasena of Bengal (beginning of the 12. century⁹). Śulapāṇi is quoted by Raghunandana (about 1600) and himself quotes no later authors than Bhavadeva, Bhoja (11. cent.) and Lakṣmīdhara (12. cent.)¹; yet very probably he is later than Jīmūtavāhana (§ 12), for the latter is mentioned at the head of Bengali jurists. Śulapāṇi lived in Bengal, for he is called Sāhuḍiyāṇa or Sāhuḍipāla, which Colebrooke identified with Sāhuria in Bengal, and he is called an Easterner by Kamalākara. I know the commentaries of Kulamaṇiśukla, Mathurānātha and Raghunāthabhaṭṭa³ only from manuscript catalogues and those of Bhāruci³, Devabodha (both older than the Mit.), Viśvarūpa (the teacher of Vijñāneśvara), Dharmeśvara (older than Śulapāṇi), etc. only from quotations.