History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s50.5

v1.c6.s50.5

Dr. Jolly (Tagore Law Lectures p. 6) holds Medhātithi to be a southerner on account of the fact that his father's name was Vīrasvāmin and on account of the attention paid to his *bhāṣya* by southern writers. It cannot be said that names ending in 'svāmin' were a monopoly of the south. The Rājatarangiṇī gives several literary celebrities whose names ended in 'svāmin' (e. g. V. 34 mentions a Śivasvāmi). Kṣīrasvāmin was a Kāshmīrian. The south has always been famed for preserving Mss. of valuable works from the north. Mss. of the Kāvyālaṁkāra of Bhāmaha, a Kāshmīrian, are very rare and have been found only in the south. Bühler (p. cxxiii) seems to be right in holding that Medhātithi was a Kāshmīrian (or at least an inhabitant of Northern India). In explaining such words as 'svarāṣṭre' and 'janapadaḥ' (Manu VII. 32 and VIII. 42) Medhātithi introduces Kashmir. He gives (on Manu VIII. 400) the monopoly of the sale of elephants as a privilege of the kings of Kashmir where saffron abounds.⁵⁶⁸ He says that the rainbow is called ‘vijñāna-chāyā’ in Kashmir (on Manu IV. 59). He very frequently refers to northerners e. g. on Manu III. 234 he says ‘kutapa’ is the word for what is well-known as ‘kambala’ among northern people and on III. 238 he says ‘northern people wrap their heads with *śaṭakas*’ (garments). He says on Manu II. 24 that in the Himālayas in Kashmir it is not possible to perform the daily *saṁdhyā* in the open nor is it possible to bathe every day in a river in ‘Hemanta’ and ‘Śiśira’. On Manu II. 18 he says ‘in other countries, some say, people marry one's maternal uncle's daughter; but that is opposed to the words of Gautama’ (4. 3) and proceeds ‘even in that country taking food in the same plate with (or in the company of) one whose thread ceremony is not performed is not at all regarded as dharma (but as improper conduct)’. This is clearly a reference to Baudhāyana Dh. S. (I. 1. 19) according to which ‘mātulasutā-pariṇayana’ and taking food in the same plate with one whose *upanayana* is not performed are two of the five usages peculiar to the south. It is fair to add that later writers like Kamalākarabhaṭṭa (Nirṇayasindhu, 3rd pariccheda on sāpiṇḍya) regard Medhātithi as a southerner.