History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s63.13

v1.c6.s63.13

A few words may now be said about the Smṛtimañjarī, Mss. of which are rare. At the end of the India office Ms. a summary of the contents of the whole work is given (for which see footnote below ).⁷¹⁴ It appears that the Smṛtimañjarī dealt with all principal topics of dharmaśāstra such as the saṁskāras, the daily duties viz: bath, saṁdhyā, brahmayajña, the duties of the student, householder, the forest hermit, and the *saṁnyāsin*, the duties of the four *varṇas*, gifts, the purifications of various materials, foods forbidden and allowed, impurity on birth and death, *sapiṇḍas* and *samānodakas*, funeral rites, *śrāddha* and its various details, prāyaścitta. The ms. in the India office deals with the *adhikārī* for prāyaścitta, the *parṣat* (i. e. the assembly of learned men who are to determine what prāyaścitta is to be prescribed ), the means of atoning for sins and violations of religious duties, the prāyaścittas for the *mahāpātakas* (viz. the murder of a Brāhmaṇa, drinking wine, theft of gold, incest) and for other lesser and similar sins, meaning of the word prāyaścitta, prāyaścittas for killing men of Kṣatriya, Vaiśya and Śūdra classes and for killing women, prāyaścittas for the killing of a cow and of various beasts and birds, prāyaścittas for eating forbidden or polluted food and for selling articles forbidden to be sold, secret *prāyaścittas*. The India Office Ms. which deals only with *prāyaścittas* contains 152 folios. This gives us an idea as to how extensive the whole work must have been The Vyavahāramātṛkā as its very name implies deals with the elements of vyavahāra (i. e. judicial procedure). It speaks of the eighteen titles of law, the derivation of the word prāḍvivāka (judge), the persons fit to be appointed judges, different grades of courts, duties of *sabhyas*, four stages of vyavahāra, pūrvapakṣa (plaint), pratibhū (surety), blemishes in a plaint, *uttara* (reply of the defendent), four kinds of *uttara*, blemishes in *uttara*, *kriyā* (proof or burden of proof), divine (*daivī*) and human (*mānuṣī*) proof (viz: Ordeals, inference, witnesses, documents, possession), persons incompetent to be witnesses. Ordeals have not been dealt with by the author. The first verse of the work⁷⁴¹ styles it Vyavahāramātṛkā. The last verse⁷⁴² but one suggests the name Nyāyamātṛkā which practically is a synonym of Vyavahāra-mātṛkā and the colophon at the end of a ms. in the Deccan College collection calls it Nyāyaratnamālikā.