Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c8.212

c8.212

§ 35. *The documents.*² Perhaps traditions would have been far richer in forms and symbolic usages if written documents had not been in use already in very early times. In the older Dharmasūtras writing is generally not yet mentioned,³ for which, as Bühler suggests, perhaps the religious character of these works is responsible which allowed them to omit things profane, belonging more properly to the Arthaśāstra,¹ such as the documents. On the other hand already Vas.,² Vi. and M. frequently refer to written bonds and documents and the later Smṛtis contain a mass of detailed informations about them.