Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s15: 15. Vaikhānasa-dharma-praśna

History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s15

Language
English

15. Vaikhānasa-dharma-praśna

v1.c6.s15.1

This work has beem published in the Trivandrum Sanskrit Series by Pandit T. Ganapati Sastri (1913).

v1.c6.s15.2

Mahādeva in his commentary called Vaijayantī (Ānandāśrama ed.) on the Satyāṣāḍha Śrautasūtra speaks of six Śrauta sūtras of the Black Yajurveda, viz. Baudhāyana, Bhāradvāja, Āpastamba, Hiraṇyakeśin, Vādhūla and Vaikhānasa, and frequently cites passages from the Vaikhānasa-śrautasūtra. In the Caraṇavyūha of Śaunaka, Vādhūla and Vaikhānasa are not mentioned. But that Vaikhānasa was a very ancient writer follows from the references contained in the ancient dharma works. In Gautama the word 'Vaikhānasa' occurs (Dh. S. III. 2) as the name for the order of forest hermits (vānaprastha) and in another sūtra (III. 26) he lays down that fire was to be consecrated according to the Śrāmaṇaka,¹⁸⁶ which latter is explained by Haradatta as Vaikhānasa Śāstra. Baudhāyana (Dh. S. II. 6. 17) has the same sūtra¹⁸⁷ and defines a Vaikhānasa as one who follows the rules of conduct laid down in Vaikhānasa Śāstra (Dh. S. II. 6. 16). The Vasiṣṭha Dh. S. (9. 10) also has the same sūtra as Gautama (Dh. S. III. 26). The Manusmṛti (VI. 21) speaks of the Vānaprastha as one who abides by the views of Vaikhānasa (Vaikhānasamate sthitaḥ).

v1.c6.s15.3

¹⁸⁶ 'श्रावणकेन (श्रामणकेन!) अग्निमाधाय' गौ. ध. सू. 3. 26 and बौ. ध. सू. II. 6. 17.

v1.c6.s15.4

¹⁸⁷ गोविन्दस्वामी, the commentator of Baud. says 'वैखानसोपि वानप्रस्थ एव। संज्ञान्तरकरणं तु संव्यवहारार्थम्। विखनसा ऋषिणा प्रोक्तं वैखानसशास्त्रम्। तत्र हि .बहवो वानप्रस्थस्योक्ता ग्रीष्मे पञ्चतपा इत्यादयः समुदाचाराः',

v1.c6.s15.5

The Vaikhānasa-dharmapraśna is divided into three praśnas, each praśna being subdivided into khaṇḍas. There are in all 41 khaṇḍas. The work is a small one. The contents of the work are :- 1. the four *varṇas* and their privileges, and the four *āśramas*; duties of *brahmacārin*; four kinds of *brahmacārins*; duties of the householder; four kinds of gṛhastha, *vārtāvṛtti* (subsisting by agriculture), śālīna, yāyāvara and ghorācārika; forest anchorites; vānaprasthas are either sapatnīka (accompanied by their wives) or apatnīka (not so accompanied); Sapatnīka are of four sorts, Audumbara, Vairiñca, Vālakhilya and Phenapa; apatnīka Vānaprasthas; of four kinds of *bhikṣus*, viz. kuṭīcaka, bahūdaka, haṁsa and paramahaṁsa; sakāma (performed with desire of wordly gain) and niṣkāma (not so performed) *karma*; pravṛtti and nivṛtti; three kinds of Yogins and their subdivisions ; II. the details of the śrāmaṇaka rites of the vānaprastha (khaṇḍas 1-4); duties of the forest hermit ; details of joining the order of saṁnyāsins (khaṇḍas 6-8 ); age for saṁnyāsa (above seventy or when childless or widower) ; every day duties and observances of saṁnyāsins ; about *ācamana* and Saṁdhyā ; saluting (abhivādana ) of all relatives, male and female ; holidays for study (anadhyāya); bath and Brahmayajña ; rules about taking food ; forbidden and permitted food ; III. rules of conduct for gṛhastha (khaṇḍas 1-3 ), rules of the road ; purification of golden and other metallic things ; purification of other things ; about vānaprastha ; *bhikṣu* ; burial of a saṁnyāsin ; Nārāyaṇabali on the death of a saṁnyāsin, *tarpaṇa* in the case of saṁnyāsins with twelve names of Viṣṇu, Keśava &c. and with water ; *anuloma* and *pratiloma* ; the intermediate castes ; *Vrātayas*, their origin ; name and means of subsistence (khaṇḍas 11-15 ).

v1.c6.s15.6

The Vaikhānasa-dharmapraśna appears by its style and its contents to be a work of comparatively later date than the dharmasūtras of Gautama and Baudhāyana. It is probably a recast of older materials. It contains the names of more mixed castes than the dharmasūtras and than even some of the later smṛtis. The present work seems to have been either written or retouched by a devotee of Viṣṇu. Faith in and devotion to Viṣṇu or Nārāyaṇa loom very large here (I. 5. 5 nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇaḥ, I. 7. 6 and 9; II. 4-5 bhaktyā Viṣṇuṁ dhyāyan, III. 7. 3 Nārāyaṇaparaṁ brahmeti śrutaḥ, III. 9. 3 Viṣṇorālayapārśve ). It speaks of the eight *aṅgas* of Yoga ( I. 10. 9 ), of the Āyurveda with its eight *aṅgas* and of some treatise on evil spirits ( bhūtatantra III. 12. 7). It refers to the views of some in the word ‘eke’ ( I. 7. 4. and II. 9. 10 ). It speaks of the Śrāmaṇaka fire ( in I. 6. 2 and I. 7. 3-4 ). It does not allow *saṁnyāsa* to Kṣatriyas ( I. 1. 11 ). Vikhanas is cited as an authority ( II. 5. 9 and III. 15. 14 ).

v1.c6.s15.7

Bühler found a ms. of the Vaikhānasa-sūtra, consisting of a gṛhya in seven praśnas, three praśnas of dharma ( the same as described above ) and a fourth on pravaras. In the gṛhya a reference to Budhavāra occurs ( R. and S. p. 9 ). Dr. Caland in his paper on Vaikhānasa-sūtra holds that the Manusmṛti borrows from Vaikhānasa-gṛhya and that the author of the latter was saturated with the idiom of Dravidian languages ( vide Prof. Keith’s review in *Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies*, 1927, p. 623). Dr. Caland’s view about Manu is entirely wrong as will appear from the section on Manu. Vide Th. Bloch in ‘über das Gṛhya-und Dharmasūtra der Vaikhānasa’ (Lipzig, 1896).

Linked texts (5)