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History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s12: 12. The Dharmasūtra of Śaṅkha-Likhita

History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s12

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12. The Dharmasūtra of Śaṅkha-Likhita

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From the Tantravārtika we learn (note 55 above) that the Dharmasūtra of Śaṅkha-Likhita was specially studied by the Vājasaneyins (the followers of the white Yajurveda). The Tantravārtika also quotes a few words from that dharmasūtra which constitute an Anuṣṭubh *pāda*.¹³² The Mahābhārata (Śānti. chap. 23) contains the story of the two brothers Śaṅkha and Likhita. In the Śāntiparva (130. 29 and 132. 15-16) the word Śaṅkha-Likhita seems to be used in a double sense, Śaṅkha also meaning the forehead. Yājñavalkya (1. 5) mentions Śaṅkha-Likhita among the writers on dharmaśātra. The Parāśarasmṛti says (1. 24) that in the four ages of Kṛta, Tretā, Dvāpara and Kali, the ordinances of Manu, Gautama, Śaṅkha-Likhita and Parāśara are respectively of paramount authority in matters of *dharma*. Viśvarūpa (on Yāj. III. 248) quotes a verse from an ancient author which says that Śaṅkha and Likhita pondered deeply over the *dharma* promulgated to the sages by Manu and drew upon the Veda¹³³ also. Commentators and *nibandhakāras* from Viśvarūpa downwards profusely quote Śaṅkha-Likhita. A considerable portion of these quotations is in prose. Hence it is quite clear that the dharmasūtra of Śaṅkha-Likhita is an ancient one, that it was largely if not entirely in prose and that it was once easily accessible though it has not yet been discovered. In the Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (vol. VII–VIII) I made an attempt at a reconstruction of Śaṅkha-Likhita.

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¹³² तन्त्रवार्तिक, p. 139. 'स्मार्तधर्माधिकारे हि शङ्खलिखिताभ्यामुक्तम् - आम्नायः स्मृति-धारकः.'

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¹³³ समीक्ष्य निपुणं धर्ममृषिभ्यो मनुभाषितम् । आम्नायात्समुद्धृत्य शङ्खश्च लिखितस्तथा ॥

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Jivananda (collection of smṛtis, part II., pp. 343-374) prints in 18 chapters and about 330 verses a smṛti of Śaṅkha and a smṛti of Likhita in about 93 verses (part II., pp. 375-382). The Ānandāśrama collection also prints the same text of the two smṛtis. The latter also contains a Laghu-Śaṅkha-smṛti in 71 verses and a Śaṅkha-Likhita-smṛti in 32 verses. All these, except perhaps the Śaṅkha-smṛti in 18 chapters, are late compilations. The smṛti in 18 chapters seems to have been compiled very early. About fifty verses from it are quoted by the Mitākṣarā. In the 11th and 12th chapters occur a few prose passages, one of which is quoted even by Medhātithi. The numerous prose quotations ascribed to Śaṅkha-Likhita do not however occur in these smṛtis. One point deserves special notice. Comparatively early writers sometimes ascribe the same text to Śaṅkha-Likhita or to Śaṅkha simply. The well-known sūtra about succession to a son-less man ('athāputrasya svaryātasya bhrātṛgāmi dravyam &c.') is ascribed to Śaṅkha by Viśvarūpa and the Mitākṣarā, but to Śaṅkha-Likhita by Aparārka (on Yāj. II. 135-136). Similarly the sūtra ‘pitaryaśakte kuṭumbavyavahārān jyeṣṭhaḥ’ &c. is ascribed to Śaṅkha by Aparārka and to Śaṅkha-Likhita by the Vivāda-ratnākara, Dāyatattva and Madanapārijāta. Quotations ascribed to Likhita are few and far between. Some passages are ascribed by some writers to Śaṅkha and by others to Likhita. For example, a prose passage ‘Uddhṛtya parīkṣitābhiḥ’ &c. is ascribed to Likhita by Aparārka (on Yāj. I. 18) and to Śaṅkha by Viśvarūpa (on Yāj. I. 20) and by the Vīramitrodaya (Āhnikaprakāśa p. 68). Similarly the sūtra ‘ubhābhyāmapi hastābhyām prāṅmukho devatīrthena kuryāt’ is ascribed to Śaṅkha-Likhita by the Pārāśaramādhaviya (I. 1. p. 352) and to Likhita by Aparārka (on Yāj. I. 101). The relation of the Śaṅkha-smṛti in verse to the dharmasūtra of Śaṅkha seems to be this. The former is based upon the latter and is a versified paraphrase or adaptation of portions of the dharmasūtra.¹³⁴

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¹³⁴ Compare उद्धृत्य परिपूताभिरद्भिरविक्षिताभिरक्षाराभिरनधिश्रिताभिरफेनाभिरबुद्बुदाभिः (quoted as Śaṅkha's by the वीर०, आह्निकप्रकाश, p. 68) with शङ्खस्मृति 9. 6 'अद्भिः समुद्धृताभिस्तु हीनाभिः फेनबुद्बुदैः । वह्निना चाप्यदग्धाभिरङ्गुलिभिरुपस्पृशेत् ॥

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The versified Śaṅkha shows a tendency towards greater strictness. The dharmasūtra allows a Brāhmaṇa to marry a woman of any of the four castes, while the verse Śaṅkha restricts him to the first three castes.¹³⁵ It is not unlikely that the dharmasūtra contained a few verses as is the case with Baudhāyana, Āpastamba and Vasiṣṭha. Even so early a writer as Viśvarūpa looked upon the prose and verse portions as the composition of the same author (vide his comment on Yāj. III. 237, and Aparārka pp. 1149, 1154, 1161).

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¹³⁵ The दायभाग (ed. of 1829, p. 210) quotes 'भार्याः कार्याः स्वजातीयाः श्रेयस्यः सर्वेषां स्युरिति पूर्वकल्पः । ततोऽनुकल्पश्चतस्रो ब्राह्मणस्यानुपूर्व्येण' ; the शङ्खस्मृति (4. 7) says 'ब्राह्मणी क्षत्रिया वैश्या ब्राह्मणस्य प्रकीर्तिता ॥

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The dharmasūtra of Śaṅkha-Likhita was commented upon early. Lakṣmīdhara in his Kalpataru (Ghose's Hindu Law vol. II., p. 504) draws attention to the fact that the *bhāṣyakāra* of Śaṅkha read a well-known sūtra as 'sa yadyekaḥ syāt' instead of 'sa yadyekaputraḥ syāt'. Lakṣmīdhara flourished between 1100-1160 A. D. as he was a minister of Govindacandra of Kanauj. The Vivādaratnākara (1314 A. D.) also cites the bhāṣyakāra of Śaṅkha-Likhita. The Vivādacintāmaṇi (p. 67) quotes from the bhāṣyakāra of Śaṅkha-Likhita.

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The dharmasūtra of Śaṅkha-Likhita would appear, from the quotations in the *nibandhas*, to have closely resembled the other extant sūtras on dharma in style and contents. It embraced almost all the topics treated of in Gautama or Āpastamba. It agrees very closely with the words of Gautama and Baudhāyana in several places.¹³⁶ It is curious to note that a quotation from Śaṅkha containing the names of writers of smṛtis cites Śaṅkha-Likhita as authority.¹³⁷

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¹³⁶ Compare 'नाब्राह्मणोतिथिर्ब्राह्मणस्य' (quoted in वीर०, आह्निक०, p. 452) with गौ. ध. सू. 5. 39-42; 'दन्तवद्दन्तलग्नेषु' (quoted by अपरार्क on याज्ञ. I. 195) with गौ. ध. सू. I. 41-43; 'न तिष्ठन्न प्रणतो नाङ्गुलीभिः' (चतुर्वर्ग० III. 1, p.977) with बौ. ध. सू. I. 5. 15.

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¹³⁷ 'स्मृतिर्धर्मशास्त्राणि तेषां प्रणेतारो मनुयमदक्षविष्ण्वङ्गिरोबृहस्पत्युशनआपस्तम्बगौतमसंवर्तात्रिहारीतकात्यायनशङ्खलिखितपराशरव्यासशातातपप्रचेतोयाज्ञवल्क्यादयः। quoted in चतुर्वर्ग. I. p. 527; वीर० परिभाषा०, p. 16 and स्मृतिच.

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The dharmasūtra seems to have permitted *niyoga*, speaks of twelve secondary sons, and did not favour (like Āpastamba) the claims of females to succeed to males. On certain points the dharmasūtra of Śaṅkha marks a more advanced state of opinion than is the case with Gautama or Āpastamba. Śaṅkha speaks of several kinds of ordeals and appears to have contained elaborate prose rules about them (vide Aparārka on Yāj. II, 95; Smṛticandrikā II., p. 112, Vīramitrodaya, p. 270). As regards partition and inheritance, Śaṅkha-Likhita gives more detailed information than Āpastamba or Baudhāyana. The limits of Āryāvarta¹³⁸ stretched over wider areas according to Śaṅkha (i. e. to the east of Sindhu-Sauvīra and to the west of Kāmpilya) than is the case with Baudhāyana (I. 1. 25) or Vasiṣṭha (I. 8-9). The style of Śaṅkha reminds one of Kauṭilya rather than of Gautama. The quotations hardly exhibit any ungrammatical forms. It is noteworthy that Yājñavalkya is included among the authors of smṛtis by Śaṅkha (vide note 137 above). If it is the extant Yājñavalkya-smṛti that is meant to be referred to, then the dharmasūtra of Śaṅkha will have to be assigned to a late date. But this does not seem to be likely. From the fact that the Yājñavalkya-smṛti itself enumerates Śaṅkha-Likhita among ancient authors on *dharma*, from the general style of the work, from the development of the legal conceptions it presents and from its doctrines about the rights of women, it appears almost certain that the extant Yājñavalkya-smṛti is much later than the dharmasūtra of Śaṅkha. There are close correspondences between Śaṅkha and Yājñavalkya.¹³⁹

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¹³⁸ 'देश आर्यो गुणवान् ... प्राक् सिन्धुसौवीराद्दक्षिणेन हिमवतः पश्चात्काम्पिल्या उदक् पारियात्रादनवद्यं ब्रह्मवर्चसम्।' quoted in वीर०, परिभाषा०, p. 57.

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¹³⁹ compare 'षष्ठेऽन्मे वा सीमन्तः' शङ्ख quoted in चतुर्वर्ग० III. 2., p. 734 with याज्ञ. I. 11; 'चूडाकर्म यथाकुलम्' शङ्ख (quoted in चतुर्वर्ग० III. 2., p. 743) with याज्ञ. I. 12: 'दारानहरेत्सद्दशानसमानार्षेयानसम्बन्धानासप्तमपञ्चमात् पितृमातृबन्धुभ्यः' शङ्ख (quoted in उज्ज्वला on आप. ध. सू. II. 5. 11. 16) with याज्ञ. I. 53.

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The prose quotations from Śaṅkha-Likhita refer to the Vedāṅgas, Sāṅkhya, Yoga, dharmaśāstra. Śaṅkha recognised eight forms of marriage. The views of Śaṅkha about the status of the offspring of mixed marriages differed from those of Baudhāyana (I. 8. 6) and Manu (X. 6) and were intermediate between the latter two.¹⁴⁰ The *tarpaṇa*¹⁴¹ (which resembles the one in Baudhāyana, though it is more elaborate) refers to the six Vedāṅgas, Bhārata (but not Mahā-bhārata), to twenty writers on *dharma* and contains numerous details about geography, mythology, and cosmogony which are generally found in the Purāṇas. The dharmasūtra frequently cites the opinions of others. It mentions by name the views of Prajāpati, Aṅgirasa and Uśanas (Vivādaratnākara p. 537), Pracetasa (Vivādarat. p. 557-560), Vṛddha-Gautama (Madana-pārijāta pp. 701-2). The verse quotations ascribed to Śaṅkha further mention Yama, Kātyāyana, and Śaṅkha himself. But in drawing chronological conclusions it is better to leave the verse quotations out of account. The same verses are ascribed to Manu and Śaṅkha¹⁴² and a few sūtras closely resemble the Manusmṛti.¹⁴³ Six identical verses occur in the Vasiṣṭha-dharmasūtra (28. 10-15) and in the Śaṅkha-smṛti (10th chap.).

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¹⁴⁰ 'ब्राह्मणेन क्षत्रियायामुत्पन्नो क्षत्रिय एव भवति' शङ्ख quoted in मिताक्षरा on Yāj. I. 91.

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¹⁴¹ *Vide* चतुर्वर्ग० III. 1. pp. 950-955 and वीर०, आह्निक, p. 356. ff. for तर्पण.

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¹⁴² The verse गर्भाष्टमे वै कुर्वीत in चतुर्वर्ग० III. 1. 112 is मनु. 2. 36; 'भृतकाध्यापको यस्तु स उपाध्याय उच्यते' quoted in स्मृतिच० I, p. 34. is मनु II. 141.

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¹⁴³ 'इषुं गृह्णाति राजन्या प्रतोदं वैश्या दशान्तं शूद्रा' quoted in परा. मा. I. 2., p. 98. Compare मनु 3. 44.

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All these circumstances lead to the conclusion that the dharmasūtra of Śaṅkha is probably later than Gautama and Āpastamba but earlier than the Yājñavalkya-smṛti and so must be assigned to some date between 300 B. C. to 100 A. D.

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