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History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s31: 44. Pitāmaha

History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s31

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44. Pitāmaha

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Pitāmaha is enumerated among writers on dharma in a verse of Vṛddha-Yājñavalkya quoted by Viśvarūpa. The Smṛti of Pitāmaha is drawn upon mostly on vyavahāra. Viśvarūpa cites (on Yāj. I. 17) a verse from him on śauca.⁴²⁴ Mit. and Aparārka quote verses from Pitāmaha only on vyavahāra and specially on ordeals. The Smṛticandrikā quotes about ten verses on āhnika, 130 on vyavahāra and only a few on śrāddha. Pitāmaha regards the Vedas with the aṅgas, Mīmāṁsā, the smṛtis, Purāṇa and Nyāya system as dharmaśāstras.⁴²⁵ Pitāmaha like Bṛhaspati enumerates nine kinds of ordeals,⁴²⁶ while Yāj. and Nārada name only five, though the latter seems to have known two more, viz. taṇḍula and taptamāṣa. The Smṛticandrikā quotes a dozen verses about 50 *chalas* on which a king took action without any complaint.⁴²⁷ Pitāmaha seems to have followed Vyāsa in defining documents called krayapatra, sthitipatra, saṁdhipatra, viśuddhipatra.⁴²⁸ The Smṛticandrikā cites Pitāmaha for an enumeration of the 18 prakṛtis viz. washerman, leather worker, etc.⁴²⁹ The same work states that according to Pitāmaha the titles of law to be taken cognisance by the king himself were twenty-two. In the hall of justice, he says, there should be eight constituents viz. the scribe, the accountant, śāstra, the sādhyapāla, the assessors, gold, fire and water.⁴³⁰ Some of the other noteworthy dicta of Pitāmaha are:—a suit should be⁴³¹ first tried before the village (pancāyat), then before the town (court of appeal), then before the king; between litigants of the same country, town, societies, cities and villages, the decision should be arrived at according to their own peculiar conventions and usages, but when there is a dispute between these and strangers, the decision must be according to the śāstra; possession⁴³² in order to be recognised by the courts as decisive must have five characteristics, it must have title, long duration, it must be uninterrupted, it must not have been impeached and it must be before the eyes of the opponent; a private document⁴³³ under one’s own hand is inferior to a *jānapada* (a publicly written and attested) deed, the latter is inferior to a royal edict, this last is inferior to possession continued for three generations.

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⁴²⁴ त्रिषु ये नोपनीयन्ते शूद्राः सौधन्वनाः स्त्रियः । गन्धलेपापक ( र्षणं !) तेषां शौचं मृदाम्भसा ॥

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⁴²⁵ वेदाः साङ्गास्तु चत्वारो मीमांसा स्मृतयस्तथा । एतानि धर्मशास्त्राणि पुराणं न्यायदर्शनम् ॥ अपरार्क p. 601 ; compare याज्ञ. I. 3.

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⁴²⁶ अस्मं फालमित्युक्तं नवमं धर्मजं भवेत् । दिव्यान्चेतानि सर्वाणि निर्दिशानि स्वयंभुवा ॥ quoted by अपरार्क p. 694.

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⁴²⁷ छलानि चापराधांश्च पदानि नृपतेस्तथा । स्वयमेतानि गृह्णीयान्नृपस्त्वावेदकैर्विना ॥ स्मृतिच.

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⁴²⁸ Vide परा. मा. vol. III. p. 128 and स्मृतिच०.

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⁴²⁹ रजकश्चर्मकारश्च नटो बुरुड एव च । कैवर्तकश्च विज्ञेया म्लेच्छभिल्लौ तथैव च ॥ वेमरस्थिरविन्ध्याधहस्तलाक्षद्रुघट्टकाः । कौसेदकार्मरिपद्मातक्षाण्डापगोपकाः ॥ एताः प्रकृतयः प्रोक्ता अष्टादश मनीषिभिः । वर्णानामाश्रमाणां च सर्वदा तु बहिः स्थिताः ॥ स्मृतिच०.

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⁴³⁰ लेखको गणकः शास्त्रं साध्यपालः सभासदः । हिरण्यमग्निरुदकमष्टाङ्गमकरणं स्मृतम् ॥ स्मृतिच० (व्य.); compare नारद (Intro. chap. verse 15).

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⁴³¹ ग्रामे दृष्टः पुरे यायात्पुरे दृष्टस्तु राजनि । राज्ञा दृष्टः कुदृष्टो वा नास्ति तस्य पुनर्भवः ॥ स्मृतिच०; देशपत्त‍नगोष्ठेषु पुरग्रामेषु वासिनाम् । तेषां स्वसमयैर्धर्मशास्त्रतोऽन्येषु तैः सह ॥ स्मृतिच०.

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⁴³² सागमा दीर्घकाला चाविच्छिन्नापरवोज्झिता । प्रत्यर्थिसंनिधाना च भुक्तिः पञ्चविधा स्मृता ॥

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⁴³³ स्वहस्तकाज्जानपदं तस्मात्तु नृपशासनम् । ततस्त्रैपुरुषो भोगः प्रमाणतरमिष्यते ॥

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Pitāmaha is later than Bṛharpati,⁴³⁴ as he cites the latter’s view that a litigation between members of the same village, society, town, guild, caravan or army must be decided according to their peculiar usages. Therefore Pitāmaha must be assigned to some date between the 4th and 7th century A. D.

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⁴³⁴ ग्रामगोष्ठपुरश्रेणिसार्थसेनानिवासिनाम् । व्यवहारश्चरित्रेण निर्णेतव्यो बृहस्पतिः ॥

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