History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s22.8

v1.c6.s22.8

The introductory verses of the smṛti say that sages went to Vyāsa and requested him to instruct them in the dharmas and conduct beneficial to mankind in the Kali age and that the great Vyāsa took them to his father Pārāśara, son of Śakti, in the Badarikāśrama, who then propounded the dharmas of the four *varṇas*. The first chapter recites the smṛtis then known (19 in all) and lays down that in the four ages of Kṛta, Tretā, Dvāpara, and Kali, the dharmas proclaimed by Manu, Gautama, Śaṅkha-Likhita and Parāśara were respectively to be the guiding ones. The following are briefly the contents of the Pārāśara smṛti:—