History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s18.62

v1.c6.s18.62

Viśvarūpa (on Yāj. I. 69), the Mitākṣarā, the Smṛticandrikā, the Parāśaramādhavīya and other works quote dozens of verses from Vṛddha-Manu on *āhnika*, *vyavahāra*, and *prāyaścitta*. The Mitākṣarā (on Yāj. III. 20) and other works cite a few verses from Bṛhan-Manu. No independent works going under these names have yet been unearthed. Those works, if they ever existed independently, appear to have been later than our Manu. For example, our Manu is silent about the widow's right to inherit to her husband, but Vṛddha-Manu recognises the right of a chaste widow to take the entire wealth of her husband (Mit. on Yāj. II. 136); similarly Bṛhan-Manu (according to the Mit.) seems to refer to Manu's view about the meaning of ‘samānodaka’ (Manu 5. 60) and modifies it. It is not unlikely that those verses which were not recognised as Manu's by ancient commentators like Medhātithi and were yet found in the mss. of the Manusmṛti were regarded as Vṛddha- or Bṛhan-Manu.