History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s17.13

v1.c6.s17.13

The smṛtis thus relied upon are the products of different and and widely separated ages. Some of them are entirely in prose or in mixed prose and verse, while the large majority are in verse. A few of them are very ancient and were composed centuries before the Christian era. Such are the dharmasūtras of Gautama, Āpastamba, Baudhāyana, and the Manusmṛti. Some were composed in the first centuries of the Christian era such as the smṛtis of Yājñavalkya, Parāśara, Nārada. Most of the smṛtis other than the above fall between the period from 400 A. D. to 1000 A. D. The chronology of all these smṛtis presents perplexing problems. Some of the metrical smṛtis are remodellings of older sūtras as in the case of Śaṅkha. There are sometimes as many as two or three different smṛtis going under the same name, e. g. Śātātapa, Hārīta, Atri. Then the confusion is worse confounded by the fabrications of sectarian zeal, such as the Hārītasmṛti which is full of Vaiṣṇavaite teachings. There are several works going under the names of well-known smṛtikāras with the prefixes Vṛddha, Bṛhat, Laghu. In many cases the works going under these names are different from the smṛtis that are without these prefixes and this differentiation took place at a very early date in certain cases, for example, so early a writer as Viśvarūpa distinguishes between Yājñavalkya and Vṛddha-Yājñavalkya, Gārgya and Vṛddha-Gārgya. Similarly Viśvarūpa quotes (on Yāj. I. 69) Vṛddha-Manu and (on Yāj. I. 19) Vṛddha-Vasiṣṭha, which latter probably was different from the Vasiṣṭhadharmasūtra, as the latter does not contain the details given by Viśvarūpa.²⁶³ In some cases the works designated Vṛddha or Bṛhat are larger and in all cases later than the works without those prefixes. For example, Parāśara and Bṛhat-Parāśara (Jīvānanda part II. pp. 55-310), Gautama and Vṛddha-Gautama (Jīvānanda part II. pp. 497-638). Some of the works with the prefix Vṛddha are versified compilations of prose works, e. g. Mit. on Yāj. III. 267 quotes a verse from Vṛddha-Viṣṇu which is merely the versified equivalent of Viṣṇu-dharmasūtra chap. 50. 6, 12-14. It appears that sometimes the same work is cited with the prefix Vṛddha or Bṛhat, e. g. the Mit. on Yāj. II. 135 quotes a passage from Bṛhad-viṣṇu which is the same as the Viṣṇudharmasūtra 17. 4-7.