History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s18.19

v1.c6.s18.19

Bühler devotes a great deal of space to the consideration of the question as to what circumstances led to the substitution of a universally binding Mānava-dharmaśāstra for the manuals of the Vedic schools (S. B. E. vol. 25 pp. XLVI-LVI) and as to why the special law schools selected just the Mānavadharmasūtra among the large number of similar works for the basis of their studies (ibid. pp. LVII-LXV). Bühler then considers the question how the Mānavadharmasūtra was converted into the present Manusmṛti. Bühler concedes that the last is a problem of great difficulty and admits of an approximate solution only. The discussion of all these questions by Bühler is extremely thought-provoking and brilliant in many places, though it must be said with great respect that the arguments are often *à priori* and savour more or less of special pleading. As I question the very foundation of Bühler’s edifice (viz. the actual existence of a Mānava-dharmasūtra), it would be futile for me to enter into a discussion of the problems referred to above.