History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c5.60

v1.c5.60

Two senses of the word smṛti, viz. all orthodox ancient non-Vedic works (such as Pāṇini's grammar, Śrauta sūtras, Mahābhārata Manu, &c.) and (a narrower sense) dharmaśāstra - smṛti, a source of dharma according to Gautama and others - number of smṛtis went on increasing - Yājñavalkya enumerates twenty writers of smṛtis, Parāśara 19 - Tantravārtika speaks of 18 dharmasaṁhitās - Caturviṁśatimata gives views of 24 writers - a smṛti called Ṣaṭ-triṁśan-mata - Paiṭhīnasi enumerates 36 and so does Aparārka - Vṛddha Gautama enumerates 57 - Vīramitrodaya enumerates 18 smṛtis, 18 upasmṛtis and 21 more- total number of smṛtis about 100 - these are products of widely separated ages - some entirely in prose, some entirely in verse, some are mixed - chronology of smṛtis presents perplexing problems - two or three smṛtis go under the same name, e. g. Hārīta, Atri, Śātātapa - sectarian zealots fabricate certain smṛtis - the prefixes laghu, bṛhat and vṛddha applied to smṛtis - well-known verses are ascribed to different authors, as authors quote from memory.