History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s10.1

v1.c6.s10.1

The Viṣṇudharmasūtra has been printed several times in India, viz. by Jivananda in his Dharmaśāstrasaṅgraha (1876 part I pp. 70-176), by the Bengal Asiatic Society (1881, ed. by Dr. Jolly with extracts from the commentary Vaijayantī), by M. N. Dutt (Dharma-śāstra texts, vol. II. pp. 541-666, Calcutta, 1909) and translated by Dr. Jolly (in the S. B. E. vol. VII with an Introduction). In the present work Dr. Jolly's edition has been used. The sūtra contains one hundred chapters. Though the number of chapters is so large, the sūtra is not very extensive. There are several chapters such as 40, 42 and 76 that contain only one sūtra and one verse. The first chapter and the last two are entirely in verse; the remaining chapters are in mixed prose and verse, the versified portion being generally at the end of each chapter. As pointed out by the Vaijayantī the sūtra is in close relation to one of the oldest schools of the Yajurveda, viz. Kaṭha. It also stands in a peculiar relation to the extant Manusmṛti. According to the Caraṇavyūha, Kaṭha and Cārāyaṇīya are two of the twelve sub-divisions of Caraka-śākhā of the Yajurveda. Dr. Jolly (S. B. E. vol. VII p. XII) says that the Viṣṇudharmasūtra has four chapters (21, 67, 73 and 86) in common with the Kāṭhak-gṛhya (except the final parts in 21, 67, 86) and that both drew from a common source. Bühler points out (West and Bühler's digest, 3rd ed. p. 35) that the Kāṭhakagṛhya found in Kashmir agrees closely with the Dharmasūtra of Viṣṇu and the *mantras* in the latter agree with the Kāṭhaka recension of the Yajurveda. But the Viṣṇudharmasūtra is not the work of the same author that composed the Kāṭhaka Śrauta or Gṛhya sūtras, nor does it appear that it formed part of the Kāṭhaka Kalpa. Dr. Jolly (R. u. S. p. 7) says that Govindarāja (12th century) in his Smṛtimañjarī cites a passage in prose from a Kaṭhasūtraḳrt on the penance for Brāhmaṇa murder which is wanting in our Viṣṇusmṛti (vide S. B. E. Vol. 25, p. xxi n for the passage).