History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s6.5

v1.c6.s6.5

The extant Dharmasūtra does not appear to have come down intact. The fourth *praśna* is most probably an interpolation. Most of the eight chapters of that *praśna* are full of verses, the portion in prose being very small. The last three chapters (6-8) are entirely in verse. The style is quite different from that of the first two *praśnas*. The first five chapters of the fourth praśna dealing with prāyaścittas are more or less superfluous, the same subject having been dealt with in II. 1 and III. 4-10. Some of the sūtras in the earlier *praśnas* are repeated *verbatim* in the fourth, e. g. II. 1. 33-34 and IV. 2. 10-11 (avakīrṇi-prāyaścitta). The third *praśna* also is not free from doubt. The tenth chapter of the third *praśna* is as said above taken from Gautama. The sixth chapter of the third *praśna* agrees very closely in phraseology with the 48th chapter of the Viṣṇudharmasūtra. But it is rather difficult to say which is the borrower. Dr. Jolly (S. B. E. Vol. VII. p. XIX) is inclined to think that both borrowed from a common source. It seems more probable that Viṣṇu borrows from Baudhāyana, as the Viṣṇudharmasūtra uses the form 'punīta' in place of 'punātha' (in Baud.) and as the Viṣṇu-Dharmasūtra omits all reference to Rudra (Baud. III. 6. 12.) and omits the words "gaṇān paśyati, gaṇādhipatiṁ paśyati ... bhagavān Bodhāyanaḥ" (Baud III. 6. 20.). In the Mysore edition all the four *praśnas* of the *Dharmasūtra* are divided into *adhyāyas*, but the Mss used by Bühler appear to have divided the first two *praśnas* into kaṇḍikās and the last two into adhyāyas. There are many repetitions even in the first two praśnas, which therefore make one rather doubtful about the authenticity of the first two praśnas also in their entirety. For example II. 6. 11 and 31 are indentical; in II. 7, 22 and II. 10. 53 the same verse ("aṣṭau grāsā" &c.) is quoted. Such repetitions are frequent in the two last praśnas e. g. III.2.16 and III.3.23; III.4.5 and III.7.12. Some of the quotations ascribed to Baudhāyana in the Mitākṣarā and other works are not taken from the *dharmasūtra*, but from the Gṛhyasūtra or its supplements (e. g. the words 'ekaṁ śākhām-adhīte śrotriyaḥ" quoted in the Mit. on Yāj. III. 24, which are cited by Hultzsch (on p. 125) are taken from the Gṛhya (vide note 78 below).