Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c7.9

c7.9

§ 2. The proper Dharmasūtras. The term Dharmasūtra in its proper sense applies only to those works which still form part of a greater collection of Sūtra works. The best preserved and earliest investigated and printed of these Dharmasūtras is that of Āpastamba (Āpastambha). The Āpastambīs or Āpastambs are a sect of Brahmans still represented in Southern India.¹ According to the census report of 1891, there were, e.g. in Bombay (Presidency Division), 267 "Āpastambs"; in Berar too "Apatambs" are found among the Brahmans.² Already the Mahārṇava says that their home was in Southern India, to the south of the Godāvarī and that they were in this country already at an early period is further evidenced by a Pallava inscription of the fifth or sixth century A. D.³ The Veda followed by