Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c7.80

c7.80

§ 4. The secondary and fragmentary Dharmasūtras. The composition of Sūtra-works on Dharma may be traced even in the hoary antiquity, for they have been mentioned even in Patañjali's Mahābhāṣya and even in Yāska's Nirukta a series of legal maxims in Sūtra style have been quoted³. But on the other hand the extinction of many Vedic Sūtracaraṇas and the rise of numerous metrical works on Dharma could not at any time drive the Sūtra style wholly out of vogue, so that a Sūtra-work on Dharma can be assigned to the oldest period of Indian law, only when there are other criteria, specially those furnished by ancient quotations. Thus the small Budhasmṛti⁴ which contains a concise treatment in prose of the Saṃskāras, sacrifices, Varṇa, Āśrama and Rājadharma, is by no means authenticated by quotations. Budha is not mentioned in the lists of authors of law-books in Y., Par., Paithīnasi, Śaṅkhalikhita and in the Padmapurāṇa and even in the law-books of the middle ages he is very rarely mentioned. A metrical text which Hemādri 2, 1, 150 quotes from Budha is not found in his Smṛti as it has been published. Accordingly it is probably a modern compilation. More important is the yet unpublished Uśanas¹, composed in a mixture of prose and verses, among which even Tr̥ṣṭubh is found, which in 7 Adhy. deals with contamination and purification, castes, penances, Śrāddhas, selling of prohibited articles and punishments. The greater part of the Śrāddhakalpa and long passages from the Śaucakalpa in this yet unpublished work are quoted by Hemādri, and a few passages also in the Mādhavīya². On the other hand this Uśanas does not contain any one of the 21 texts, mostly in verse, which are ascribed to him in the Mit. Likewise also the texts regarding law proper are wanting in it which Viramitrodaya, Mayūkha and other juridical works quote from this author, as well as the quotations concerning all parts of Dharma in other Dharmanibandhas. Our U. on its side seems to quote a verse from Manu³; and it also refers to M. frequently as an authority⁴ which of course, however, does not mean much, and quotes Vasiṣṭha, Hārīta, Śaunaka, and Gautama in a passage about the issues of a marriage between a Brahman and a Śūdra⁵.