History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s21.46

v1.c6.s21.46

Yāj. speaks of the sight of yellow-robed people as an evil omen (I. 273), which is probably a reference to the Buddhists; though it has to be remembered that he prescribes old yellow (*kāṣāya*) robes for his seeker after *mokṣa* (III. 157). He speaks of the founding of monasteries of Brāhmaṇas learned in the Vedas (II. 185). The philosophical doctrines contained in the third section (verses 64-205) approach that phase of the Vedānta that was taught by Śaṅkara. *Vide* particularly III. 67, 69, 109, 119, 125, 140. He employs in elucidating the philosophy of ātman the well-known examples of ghaṭākāśa and of the reflection of the Sun in water (III. 144), of the various ornaments made from gold, of the spider spinning webs out of his own body (both in III. 147), of the actor representing various parts (III. 162). All these illustrations frequently occur in Śaṅkara's Śārīrakabhāṣya (e. g. ghaṭākāśa on II. 1. 14, spider on II. 1. 25). All these points, however, are of very little use in arriving at a definite age for the smṛti of Yāj. The foregoing discussion has established that Dr. Jolly's date (viz. 4th century A. D. in R. u. S., p. 21) is much later than the data warrant. There is nothing to prevent us from holding that the extant smṛti was composed during the first two centuries of the Christian era or even a little earlier.