History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s57.15

v1.c6.s57.15

Aufrecht in his great catalogue makes conflicting statements about a work called Āśaucadaśaka. On I. p. 55 he notes that Āśaucadaśaka is a work of Harihara with a commentary by Vijñāneśvara and again on I. p. 571 he ascribes Āśaucadaśaka-ṭīkā to Vijñāneśvara. On I. p. 762 he ascribes the Āśaucadaśaka and Daśaślokīvivaraṇa to Harihara and appears to distinguish him from that Harihara who composed a bhāṣya on Pāraskaragṛhyasūtra. On I. p. 795 he corrects himself by saying that Harihara wrote only the commentary on the Āśaucadaśaka and that the latter is identical with the Daśaśloki-vivaraṇa. On III. p. 121 he is doubtful whether the Āśaucadaśaka is a work of Vijñāneśvara. In the Deccan College collection there is an ancient Ms. (No. 196 of 1884–1887) of the Āśaucadaśaka.⁶⁴² It was copied in *saṁvat* 1578 Mārgaśīrṣa (i. e. December 1522 A. D.). It distinctly says that Vijñāneśvarayogin composed in ten Śārdūlavikrīḍitā stanzas a work on *āśauca* and that Harihara composed a commentary on it. In the Bhadkamkar collection there is an old Ms. of the Āśaucadaśaka, the colophon of which ascribes the work to Vijñāneśvara. Vide I. O. cat. p. 565, No. 1749 for a ms. of Āśaucadaśaka with Harihara's commentary dated *saṁvat* 1589 (1532-33 A. D.) That the Āśaucadaśaka was a very popular work follows from the several commentaries thereon that are available even now. Raghunātha⁶⁴³, son of Mādhava and nephew of the famous Nārāyaṇabhaṭṭa, composed a commentary on the Daśaślokī in śake 1500 (D. C. No. 82 of A. 1882-83). There is another commentary on the same work by Bhaṭṭoji (D. C. No. 99 of 1582-83). Harihara quotes in his bhāṣya, besides several well-known smṛtikāras, a work called Viśvādarśa (folio 4b).⁶⁴⁴ Harihara, the commentator of the Pāraskaragṛhyasūtra, is described as the pupil of Vijñāneśvara in several mss. Harihara in his bhāṣya on Pāraskaragṛhya quotes Vijñāneśvara and Kalpataru. The Viśvādarśa praises Vijñāneśvara very highly.⁶⁴⁵ Therefore it appears that Vijñāneśvara composed the Āśaucadaśaka *alias* Daśaślokī and that Harihara, who was either Vijñāneśvara's pupil or not very far removed from him (as he is quoted by Hemādri) composed a commentary thereon. The first verse of the Daśaślokī is cited below as a specimen of the concise style attempted by the author.⁶⁴⁶