Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s59: 72. Halāyudha

History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s59

Language
English

72. Halāyudha

v1.c6.s59.1

The Kalpataru⁶⁶¹ of Lakṣmīdhara in its vyavahāra section quotes the views of a jurist Halāyudha several times. The Vivādaratnākara of Caṇḍeśvara mentions Halāyudha dozens of times. In the Smṛtisāra of Harinātha⁶⁶² Halāyudha-nibandha on possession is quoted. The Smṛtisāra also says (folio 140 a) that Halāyudha favoured *niyoga* by the widow of a son-less deceased person and deprived the widow of succession to her deceased husband if she did not submit to *niyoga*. This was the view of Dhāreśvara also. According to Halāyudha⁶⁶³ parents succeeded before brothers to a deceased person if the property in the hands of the deceased was ancestral, but that if it was acquired without detriment to ancestral property then brothers succeeded even before parents. Halāyudha is cited in the Vivādacintāmaṇi also, e. g. Halāyudha⁶⁶⁴ held the view that the verse of Yāj. (II. 126) was intended to convey that where joint property was concealed by a member and was discovered after partition, he did not incur the guilt of theft. This same view was held by Jitendriya and others. Raghunandana quotes Halāyudha in his Divyatattva, Dāyatattva and Vyavahāratattva. The Vīramitrodaya⁶⁶⁵ also quotes Halāyudha.

v1.c6.s59.2

⁶⁶¹ Vide note 649 above ; and folio 380 (of Benares Sanskrit College transcript).

v1.c6.s59.3

⁶⁶² अत्र हलायुधनिबन्धे स्वरसः । आगमस्मरणाईकाले सागमैव भुक्तिः प्रमाणं त्रैपुरुषिकभोगे तु आगमास्मरणे भुक्तिः प्रमाणं स्मार्त्तकाले क्रिया भूमेः ... पुरुषागता इति कात्यायनवचनात् । हानिप्रतिपादकानां च वाक्यानां प्रमाणपरिपालनकर्तव्यताशेषत्वात् । स्मृतिसार (I. O. cat. No. 301, folio 107 b).

v1.c6.s59.4

⁶⁶³ याज्ञवल्क्येन पितरौ भ्रातर इति भ्रातृसद्भावेपि पित्रोरधिकार उक्तः स पितृपितामहार्जितधनविषयः । यत्पितृद्रव्याविरोधार्जितं तत्पित्रोः सद्भावेपि भ्रातृणामेव । स्मृतिसार folio 140 b.

v1.c6.s59.5

⁶⁶⁴ अन्योन्यापहृतं ... स्थितिः ॥ अत्राविभक्तत्वादेव विभागे प्राप्ते वचनारम्भोत्र चौर्यदोषाभावं ज्ञापयतीति हलायुधः । विवादचिन्तामणि p. 143. *Vide* दायतत्त्व (p. 182 Jivananda, vol. II) for the same view of हलायुध.

v1.c6.s59.6

⁶⁶⁵ 'अक्षः पादस्तम्भयोरुपरि निहितस्तुलाधारपट्ट इति मिताक्षरा । दार्थप्रयोजकः कीलक इति हलायुधः ।' वीर० p. 254; वीर० p. 572 says हलायुध read in मनु 9.207 स निर्धात्यः for स निर्वास्यः (निर्भाज्यः).

v1.c6.s59.7

The foregoing shows that the work of Halāyudha, the jurist, was a very valuable one. This Halāyudha must have flourished before 1100 A. D., since the Kalpataru (1125-1150 A. D.) looked upon him as an authority. As Halāyudha is not mentioned by any of the early commentators like Medhātithi and by the Mit. and as he held opinions similar to those of Dhāreśvara, Jitendriya and others, he cannot well be placed earlier than 1000 A. D. Therefore he flourished between 1000 and 1100 A. D. He was probably a Maithila or Bengali writer, as, among the comparatively early writers on dharma, it is the writers of the north, particularly of Mithilā and Bengal, that rely upon him as a great authority.

v1.c6.s59.8

The name Halāyudha (an epithet of Balarāma, the brother of Kṛṣṇa) was a common one in India. It seems to have been borne by several eminent writers and this fact has created a great deal of confusion. There is one Halāyudha who was the author of the Abhidhānaratnamālā (edited by Aufrecht), the Kavirahasya (edited by Sourindra Mohan Tagore in 1879 and by Heller in 1900) and probably the Mṛtasañjīvanī, a commentary on the Chandaḥ-sūtra of Piṅgala. In the Kavirahasya he gives the various forms of roots in the several conjugations and connects all verses with Kṛṣṇa, the emperor of the Deccan (Dakṣiṇāpatha).⁶⁶⁶ This Kṛṣṇarāja was most probably the Rāṣṭrakūṭa emperor Kṛṣṇa whose dates range from 940 A. D. to 959 A. D. (*vide* JBBRAS, vol. 18, page 239; Bom. Gazetteer I., part 2, p. 210; I. A. vol. 11, p. 109 and Bhandarkar's Report, 1883-84, pp. 8-9.). In the colophon to the Mṛtasañjīvanī the author is described simply as bhaṭṭa-Halāyudha. In that commentary verses are quoted as illustrations wherein Muñja alias Vākpatirāja is highly extolled.⁶⁶⁷ Muñja was slain by Tailapa between 994-997 A. D. Hence Halāyudha, the author of the commentary on Piṅgala, must not have flourished much earlier than the latter half of the 10 century. It is not unlikely that Halāyudha after being at the court of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas migrated to Avanti when the star of Muñja, who was himself a scholar, rose on the horizon of central India and when the fortunes of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas waned. But this Halāyudha who hailed from the Deccan cannot be the first Halāyudha who appears to have flourished in Mithilā or Bengal.

v1.c6.s59.9

⁶⁶⁶ अस्त्यगस्त्यमुनिज्योत्स्नापवित्रे दक्षिणापथे । कृष्णराज इति ख्यातो राजा साम्राज्यदीक्षितः ॥ verse 6 (Heller's ed.). Verse 164 (Heller) describes him as राष्ट्रकूटकुलाङ्क.

v1.c6.s59.10

⁶⁶⁷ e.g. जयति भुवनैकवीरः सीरायुधतुलितविपुलबलविभवः । अनवरतवित्तवितरणनिर्जितचम्पाधिपो मुञ्जः ॥ स जयति वाक्पतिराजः &c.—मृतसञ्जीवनी 4th chap.

v1.c6.s59.11

There is another Halāyudha, author of a famous work called Brāhmaṇa-sarvasva printed at Benares in saṁvat 1935. But this was not available to me and hence I used a Ms. of it in the Deccan College collection (No. 9 of A 1883-84). He gives some account of himself and his family in the introductory verses. He belonged to the Vātsya gotra and was a son of Dhanañjaya who is described as *dharmādhyakṣa* (judge). Lakṣmaṇasena, the king of Bengal, gave him dharmādhikāra (i. e. made him judge).⁶⁶⁸ He had two elder brothers⁶⁶⁹ Paśupati and Īśāna of whom the former composed Śrāddha-kṛtya-paddhati and Pākayajña-paddhati and the latter the Dvijāhnika-paddhati. He tells us in the Brāhmaṇasarvasva that he composed Mīmāṁsāsarvasva, Vaiṣṇavasarvasva, Śaivasarvasva, Paṇḍitasarvasva.⁶⁷⁰ Unfortunately no Ms. of any of these works has so far been discovered. The chief object⁶⁷¹ of the Brāhmaṇasarvasva is to explain the meaning of the *mantras* used by Brāhmaṇas in daily observances from the brushing of the teeth to going to sleep and in the *saṁskāras* on birth, marriage, death etc. He wrote for the Vājasaneya Kāṇva Śākhā and acknowledges⁶⁷² his debt to Uvaṭa who wrote a bhāṣya on the Vājasaneya Saṁhitā in Avanti while Bhoja ruled the earth (mahīṁ Bhoje praśāsati). In some introductory verses and the several colophons of the sections of the Brāhmaṇa-sarvasva Halāyudha styles himself *āvasathika*, *mahādharmādhyakṣa* or simply *dharmādhyakṣa*, *dharmādhikārin* and his brother Paśupati also is styled *āvasathika*. It is very difficult to say what is the exact meaning of this last word. It probably means one who regularly performs all the *gṛhya* rites.⁶⁷³ Vide Tri. cat. of Madras Govt. Mss. for 1919-1922, pp. 5165 for a ms. of Paṇḍita-sarvasva which deals with the usages of varṇas and āśramas, tithi, śuddhi, the time for śrāddha, jyotiḥśāstra, marriage, gifts, prāyaścitta, pratiṣṭhā &c. But whether it is Halāyudha's work it is difficult to say from the extracts given.

v1.c6.s59.12

⁶⁶⁸ बाल्ये ख्यापितराजपण्डितपदः श्वेतांबुजम्बोज्ज्वलच्छत्रोत्सिक्तमहामहत्त्वनुपदं दत्त्वा नवे यौवने । यस्मै यौवनशेषयोग्यमखिलक्ष्मापालनारायणः श्रीमाँल्लक्ष्मणसेनदेवनृपतिर्धर्माधिकारं ददौ ॥ verse 12; vide also Peterson's cat. of Ulwar mss. p. 138, extract No. 356.

v1.c6.s59.13

⁶⁶⁹ भ्राता पद्धतिमग्रजः पशुपतिः श्राद्धादिकृत्ये व्यधादीशानः कृतवान् द्विजाह्निकविधौ ज्येष्ठोपरः पद्धतिम् । verse 24.

v1.c6.s59.14

⁶⁷⁰ मीमांसासर्वस्वं वैष्णवसर्वस्वमकृत शैवसर्वस्वम् । पण्डितसर्वस्वमसौ सर्वस्वं सर्वधीराणाम् ॥ , verse 19.

v1.c6.s59.15

⁶⁷¹ दन्तधावनमारभ्य यावदन्त्येष्टिमीरिता । मन्त्राणां तावता तस्मिन् व्याख्यानमुपदर्शितम् ॥

v1.c6.s59.16

⁶⁷² व्याख्यातो मतिशालिनायमूवटाचार्येण वेदः परम् । अस्पष्टं तदपीत्यनेन विदुषा विश्वप्रसिद्धैः पदैः । सन्ध्यादिद्विजकर्ममन्त्रवचसां व्याख्यानमेतत् कृतम् &c.

v1.c6.s59.17

⁶⁷³ Compare पारस्करगृह्य I. 2. 1-2 ' आवसथ्याधानं दारकाले । दायाद्यकाल एकेषाम् ।'

v1.c6.s59.18

The time when Halāyudha the author of the Brāhmaṇasarvasva flourished can be easily settled as he was the dharmādhyakṣa of Lakṣmaṇasena of Bengal. The Adbhutasāgara was begun in *śake* 1090⁶⁷⁴ particularly for events of comparatively early times. In their zeal to extol their patrons' families to the skies they were most unscrupulous and threw to the winds all chronology. The Prayogaratna was composed at Benares by Bhaṭṭa Nārāyaṇa whose family migrated from Paithan in the 16th century, while the Veṇīsaṁhāra was composed about a thousand years earlier. Yet both works are fathered upon Nārāyaṇa, the ancestor of the rich and influential Tagore family.

v1.c6.s59.19

⁶⁷⁴ शाके खनभसेनूद्भूदे आरेभेद्भुतसागरम् । गौडेन्द्रकुञ्जरालादस्तम्भबाहुर्महीपतिः ॥ ग्रन्थेस्मिन्नसमाप्त एव तनयं साम्राज्यरक्षामहादीक्षापर्वणि दीक्षयन् निजकृतेर्निष्पत्ति-मभ्यर्थ्य सः । नानादानमिनाम्बुसप्तऋलन्तः (!) सूर्यात्मजासङ्गमं गङ्गायां विरचय्य निर्जरपुरं भार्यानुयातो गतः॥ श्रीमल्लक्ष्मणसेनभूपतिरतिश्लाघ्यो यदुयोगतो निष्पन्नो-द्भुतसागरः कृतिरसौ बल्लालभूमीभुजः ॥ &c. folio 3a of D. C. ms. No. 231 of 1887-91. i. e. 1168-69) by Ballāla-sena and it was ultimately finished by his son Lakṣmaṇasena. That these verses are not spurious follows from a reference in the Ṭoḍarānanda-saṁhitā-saukhya about the position of the constellation of the Great Bear according to the Adbhutasāgara in the śake year 1082 (1160-61 A. D.) while Ballālasena was ruling.[^675] The Saduktikarṇāmṛta of Śrīdharadāsa[^676], who was a contemporary of Lakṣamaṇasena, furnishes us with the exact year of the accession of Lakṣamaṇasena viz: that śake 1127 corresponded with the 27th year of Lakṣamaṇasena's reign, i. e. he began to reign in 1178-79 A. D. Therefore the literary activity of Halāyudha, the author of the Brāhmaṇasarvasva, lies between 1175-1200 A. D. There is, I am aware, a very heated controversy about the dates of Ballālasena and his son Lakṣamaṇasena, but I am inclined to hold, particularly on account of the explicit reference contained in the body of the Adbhutasāgara[^677] itself and in the Ṭoḍarānanda, that Lakṣamaṇasena came to the throne about 1178-79 A. D. The Brāhmaṇasarvasva and the Paṇḍitsarvasva of Halāyudha are quoted by Raghunandana in the Āhnika (pp. 389, Jivananda, vol. I), Prāyaścitta (pp. 531, vol. I for Paṇḍitasarvasva) and other Tattvas. Sourindra Mohan Tagore (introduction to Kavirahasya p. I-II) says that Ādiśūra brought to Bengal five Brāhmaṇas from Kanoj of whom Bhaṭṭa Nārāyaṇa was the most famous and was the author of the Prayogaratna and also of the Veṇīsaṁhāra and that Halāyudha was 16th in descent from that Nārāyaṇa. These traditions of the matchmakers of Bengal and panegyrists of big families are entirely worthless for literary and chronological purposes,

v1.c6.s59.20

⁶⁷⁵ ‘अश्विन्याद्यभिप्रायेण चाद्भुतसागरे भुजवसुदशमित १०८२ शाके श्रीमद्बल्लालसेनराज्यादौ वर्षैकषष्टिभोगा मुनयस्त्वासन् विशाखासु तस्य चाभिप्रायोयम्' folio 39b of टोडरानन्दसंहितासौख्य D. C. ms. No. 915 of 1886-92.

v1.c6.s59.21

⁶⁷⁶ शाके सप्तविंशत्यधिकशतोपेतदशशते शरटाम् । श्रीमल्लक्ष्मणसेनक्षितिपस्य रसेकविंशेब्दे ॥ सवितुर्गत्या फाल्गुनविंशेषु परार्थहेतवे कुतुकात् । श्रीधरदासेनेदं सदुक्तिकर्णामृतं चक्रे ॥ Vide Indian Historical Quarterly, 1927, vol. III, p. 186; vide also JASB 1921, p. 7, Ind. Ant. vol. 48 (for 1919) at 171-176 and Ind. Ant. 1922, p. 146, 158 for discussion of the date of लक्ष्मणसेन. Vide E. I., vol. XV. p. 278 for the views of Mr. R. D. Banerji who holds that लक्ष्मणसेन ascended the throne in 1118-19 A. D.

v1.c6.s59.22

⁶⁷⁷ In the printed edition of the अद्भुतसागर (at p. 235) we have अतस्तत्र तेनैतद् ग्रन्थाारम्भशाकाद् वर्षाधिपगणनं मुनवदशशेषशाके &c. (published in 1905 by Prabhakari and Co.).

v1.c6.s59.23

There is yet another Halāyudha. On the Śrāddhakalpasūtra of Kātyāyana a commentary called Prakāśa was composed by Halāyudha, son of Saṅkarṣaṇa (vide BBRAS cat. No. 518, p. 170). In this commentary he refers to Karka, Kāmadhenu, Kalpataru, Govindarāja, Lakṣmaṇopādhyāya, Mitākṣarā, Śaṅkhadhara and Paśupati. He is therefore later than 1150 A. D. He cannot be identified with the author of the Kavirahasya, as the latter flourished much earlier under the Rāṣṭrakūṭas. Nor can be the same as the jurist Halāyudha, since the latter is named in the Kalpataru, which in its turn is quoted in the Prakāśa. The dharmādhyakṣa of Lakṣmaṇasena was a son of Dhanañjaya, while the author of the Prakāśa was a son of Saṅkarṣaṇa. The Śrāddhakāśikā of Kṛṣṇa (Gujarati Press ed. p. 430) on the Navakaṇḍikā or Śrāddhakalpasūtra of Kātyāyana says that first Karka⁶⁷⁸ explained the sūtra in pregnant words and then Halāyudha explained it and yet it remained as difficult as before. Kṛṣṇa is mentioned in the Nirṇayasindhu and the Śrāddhamayūkha of Nīlakaṇṭha. Therefore Halāyudha, the author of the Prakāśa on Kātyāyana must have flourished before 1509 A. D. and later than 1150 A. D.

v1.c6.s59.24

⁶⁷⁸ कर्को व्याख्यदिदं गभीरवचनैः सूत्रं यतोस्मादभूद् दुर्बोधं च ततो हलायुध इति व्याख्यत्तथाप्यस्फुटम् ॥

v1.c6.s59.25

Vide J. A. S. B. 1915 pp. 327-336 where M. M. Chakravarti brought together interesting information about Halāyudha.

Linked texts (16)