History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s6.15

v1.c6.s6.15

About the home of Baudhāyana it is difficult to advance any positive conclusion. In modern times Baudhāyanīyas are mostly confined to the south. We know that Sāyaṇa, the great commentator of the Vedas, was a Baudhāyanīya. A grant of Nandivarma, a Pallava, of the 9th century mentions Brāhmaṇas of the *pravacana-sūtra* as recipients.⁷⁷ As Baudhāyana is called pravacanakāra in the Gṛhyasūtras Bühler thinks (S. B. E. vol. 14 p. XLII) that the Brāhmaṇas belonged to the Baudhāyanacaraṇa. Buhler is probably right. In the grant most of the donees are students of the Āpastamba Sūtra. First the Gotra, then the Sūtra and then the name of the donee are introduced in the grant. Therefore as some of the donees are said to be students of "pravacanasūtra," it follows that "pravacana" stands for some sūtra school. It appears that *sūtra* and *pravacana* are two different things, whatever the latter term may mean. Baudhāyana is called pravacanakāra and Āpastamba is styled sūtrakāra. We are told by the Baudhāyana-gṛhyasūtra⁷⁸ that a Brāhmaṇa who studied *sūtra* and *pravacana* was styled "bhrūṇa." Bühler was inclined to hold that Baudhāyana was a southern teacher for several reasons. Baudhāyana mentions customs of the south and includes sea-faring as a custom peculiar to the north (I. 1. 20), while in another place he places sea-faring at the head of sins (*patanīyas*) lesser than the mortal ones (II. 1. 41). Therefore it is said that he was not a northern teacher. But as against this we have to remember that Baudhāyana (I. 1. 29) quotes with apparent approval a verse in which the countries of Avanti (Ujjain), Aṅga, Magadha, Surāṣṭra (Kathiawar) and Dakṣiṇāpatha are declared to be the home of mixed castes. Dakṣiṇāpatha was generally supposed to be the whole peninsula south of the Narmadā. Baudhāyana, if he was a native of the south, would not have spoken of his country as the home of mixed castes only, unless he put a restricted meaning on the word Dakṣiṇāpatha (which sometimes meant in later days Mahārāṣṭra). Vide J. B. B. R. A. S. for 1917 p. 620.