History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s16.t2.18

v1.c6.s16.t2.18

From quotations in Haradatta's commentary on Gautama and from the Smṛticandrikā it appears that they had access to a sūtra work of Uśanas dealing with all branches of *dharma*, viz., ācāra, vyavahāra and prāyaścitta. For example, the Smṛticandrikā quotes prose passages of Uśanas on *anadhyāya* (I. p. 59), on *dantadhavana* (I. p. 106) and Haradatta quotes a prose passage on *anadhyāya* (on Āp. Dh. S. I. 3. 10. 1) and a prose passage on the fine for a kṣatriya abusing a śūdra (on Gau. Dh. S. 12. 10) and on *Niyoga* (on Gau. Dh. S. 18. 5). These passages are not found in the ms. But there are others that are found. For example, the Smṛticandrikā quotes two passages, which occur in the mss.²⁰⁶ It appears therefore that the mss. either contain a portion only of the complete Auśanasa-dharma-sūtra or an independent sūtra work. The former alternative looks more probable. The foregoing discussion has shown that the sūtra work is later than the dharma-sūtras of Gautama and Vasiṣṭha and also than the Manusmṛti, which it probably knew in a very ancient version slightly differing from the extant one.