History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s25.22

v1.c6.s25.22

The date of Kātyāyana can be settled only approximately. He is certainly much later than Manu and Yājñavalkya. As shown above he presupposes Nārada and regarded Bṛhaspati as a very leading authority on vyavahāra. Hence his upper limit is the 3rd or 4th century A. D. Viśvarūpa quotes eight verses as Kātyāyana's by name (vide on Yāj. II. 5, 6, 47, 63, 281) on such topics of Vyavahāra as the defects of the plaint, the contents of the plaint, the liability for the debts of a deceased person, payments of debts or honour (satyaṃkāra), punishment for abortion, grievous hurt and homicide of a Brāhmaṇa woman. Medhātithi (on Manu 7. 1) ascribes to Kātyāyana the rule that in case of conflict between the dictates of dharmaśāstra and arthaśāstra the king should prefer the former. Medhātithi on Manu (VIII. 216) speaks of Kātyāyana-sūtra, appears to quote a portion of it in prose and explains it.⁴⁰⁷ Medhātithi says that Kātyāyana extended the maxim of the trader carrying merchandise (bhāṇḍavāha-vaṇik maxim) to all similar transactions. All known quotations of Kātyāyana are in verse. When Medhātithi speaks of a sūtra and quotes a portion of it (as "vā" and "iti" after "nivarteta" indicate) in prose, we must either suppose that he is referring to some other work of Kātyāyana than the one in verse from which hundreds of verses are cited by other writers or that Kātyāyana's work on vyavahāra also contains some prose passages. As hardly any other writer quotes a prose passage of Kātyāyana on vyavahāra, the second alternative appears somewhat unlikely. Viśvarūpa and Medhātithi regarded Kātyāyana as an authoritative *smṛtikāra* along with Nārada and Bṛhaspati. This position he could not have attained in less than a few hundred years. Therefore the lowest limit to which Kātyāyana can be assigned is the 6th century. Hence it may be said that Kātyāyana flourished between the 4th and 6th century A. D.