History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s57.9

v1.c6.s57.9

As the Mitākṣarā names Viśvarūpa, Medhātithi and Dhāreśvara, it must have been composed after 1050 A. D. The Smṛticandrikā⁶³⁸ of Devaṇṇabhaṭṭa (which as will be seen later on was composed about 1200 A. D.) several times criticizes the views of the Mit., viz. the latter's remarks that the giving of an additional share to the eldest son is disapproved of by the people, the reasons given for preferring the mother to the father and the definition of *daya*. Vijñāneśvara is named in the Kalpataru of Lakṣmīdhara⁶³⁹ (composed in the 2nd quarter of the 12th century). This shows that the Mit. was composed before 1120 A. D. A greater approximation can be arrived at in several ways. The Kalpataru mentions Vadibhayaṁkara⁶⁴⁰ who, the Vīramitrodaya⁶⁴¹ tells us, was an admirer and follower of Vijñāneśvara and yet found fault with his explanation of Yāj. II. 51 ( rikthagrāha ṛṇam &c. ). Therefore the Mit. must have been composed at the latest before 1100 A. D. Among the Cālukyas of Kalyāṇa, the only king named Vikramārka or Vikramāditya during whose reign Vijñāneśvara could have flourished is Vikramāditya VI who reigned for over fifty years from about 1076 to 1127 A. D. *Vide* Bombay Gazetteer vol. I, part 2, pp. 446-453, I. A. vol. 48 p. 6 (for pedigree of the Cālukyas of Kalyāṇa with dates ), I. A. vol. 12 p. 212 (for an inscription of Vikramāditya Tribhuvanamalla dated *śake* 1047 ) and I. A. vol. 22, pp. 296-298. From all these considerations it follows that the Mit. was composed between 1070-1100 A. D.