History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s21.24

v1.c6.s21.24

Besides the four vedas, Yāj. refers to the Vedāṅgas as six and enumerates fourteen vidyās ( four Vedas, six aṅgas, purāṇa, nyāya, Mīmāṁsā, dharmaśāstra ). He refers to the Āraṇyaka and Yoga-śāstra composed by himself. Āraṇyakas in general are spoken of in I. 145 and Śukriya Āraṇyaka in III. 309. The Upaniṣads are mentioned in III. 189, where purāṇas are mentioned in the plural. Itihāsas, Purāṇa, Vākovākya, and Nārāśaṁsī gāthās are mentioned in I. 45 ( also I. 101 for purāṇa and itihāsa ). He enumerates at the commencement nineteen authors on *dharma* besides himself. But it is remarkable that in the body of the work not one individual author of a dharma-śāstra is mentioned by name. He speaks of Ānvīkṣikī ( Metaphysics ) and Daṇḍanīti ( I. 311 ). He lays down the dictum that where dharmaśāstra and arthaśāstra conflict, the former shall prevail ( II. 21 ). He speaks of smṛtis in general ( II. 5 and I. 154 ). In III. 189 he speaks of sūtras and bhāṣyas. What works are intended it is most difficult to say ; the only extant bhāṣya which can be said with certainty to be older than the extant Yāj. smṛti is that of Patañjali. He refers to other writers on dharma in the word ' eke ' ( I. 36 ). The view referred to there occurs in Baud. Dh. S. I. 2. 4.