History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s12.4

v1.c6.s12.4

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