Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s67: 82. Aniruddha

History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s67

Language
English

82. Aniruddha

v1.c6.s67.1

Aniruddhabhaṭṭa is one of the early and eminent Bengal writers on Dharmaśāstra. His Hāralatā was published in the Bibliotheca Indica series (1909) and his Pitṛdayitā alias Karmopadeśinīpaddhati was recently published by the Sanskrit Sahitya Parishad at Calcutta (No 6).

v1.c6.s67.2

The Hāralatā deals with impurity on birth and death, with the acts allowed to be done or forbidden during impurity, with periods of impurity on death in a distant land or on the deaths of infants and women, with rules when two periods of impurity overlap each other, with impurity on the death of *sapiṇḍas*, the meaning of sapiṇḍa, persons who have not to observe periods of impurity, cremation and burial, offering of water to the deceased, observances during mourning, persons entitled to perform rites after death, observances after the period of mourning, persons to whom no water should be offered.

v1.c6.s67.3

The Pitṛdayitā is a work intended for the followers of the Sāmaveda. Its contents are:—the duties on rising from bed, brushing the teeth, bath, *saṁdhyā*, *tarpaṇa*, vaiśvadeva, *pārvaṇaśrāddha*, eulogy of gifts, sapiṇḍīkaraṇa and other śrāddhas, antyeṣṭi and rites during the days of mourning after death, the letting loose of a bull. The printed work appears to be the same that is described in the I. O. cat. at p. 474 as Karmopadeśinī. But the India Office Ms. appears to have certain various readings e. g. a reference to Kāmadhenu and Kalpataru at the end of the section on antyeṣṭi does not occur in the printed text.⁷⁸⁴

v1.c6.s67.4

⁷⁸⁴ कल्पतरुकामधेन्वादिसंग्रहारूढे महोपाध्यायेन विरचिते शुद्धिप्रकरणेऽन्त्येष्टिविधिः । folio 114b.

v1.c6.s67.5

The first verse of the Hāralatā states that the author consulted the commentaries on Manu and other smṛtis.⁷⁸⁵ Besides the well-known smṛtikāras such as Manu, Yājñavalkya, Nārada etc., the authors and works named in the Hāralatā are:—Asahāya as the *Bhāṣyakāra* of Gautama, Kāmadhenu, Govindarāja, Bhojadeva, Viśvarūpa and Śaṅkhadhara. The Pitṛdayitā⁷⁸⁶ says that it was composed after consulting the Gobhilagṛhyasūtra, the Chāndogyapariśiṣṭa, the smṛtis, purāṇas, the śāstras of Gautama and Vasiṣṭha and various saṁgraha.works. In the work itself, besides the above, Kātyāyana, Varāhapurāṇa and the smaller (svalpa) Matsyapurāṇa are quoted.

v1.c6.s67.6

⁷⁸⁵ प्रणम्य पुण्डरीकाक्षं पूर्वाचार्यप्रवर्तिताः । व्याख्या मन्वादिशास्त्राणां समालोच्य विविच्यते ॥

v1.c6.s67.7

⁷⁸⁶ गोभिलगृह्यसूत्रं दृष्ट्वा छन्दोगपरिशिष्टम् । दृष्ट्वा स्मृतीश्च बहुशः परिसंख्यानं पुराणवाक्यानि ॥ गौतमवसिष्ठशास्त्रे नानासंग्रहवचांसि चालोक्य । युक्त्या स्वयं निरूप्य ज्ञात्वा सर्वं मतं च वृद्धानाम् । रचिता पद्धतिरेषा सम्यक् कर्मोपदेशिनी रुचिरा ।

v1.c6.s67.8

From the last verse⁷⁸⁷ of the Hāralatā we know that Aniruddha was a resident of Vihārapāṭaka on the bank of the Ganges and was a student of the doctrines of Bhaṭṭa (Kumārila). From the colophons⁷⁸⁸ at the end of the Hāralatā and the Pitṛdayitā it appears that he was a Dharmādhyakṣa and a Cāmpāhaṭṭīya (a section among Vārendras) Brāhmaṇa of Bengal. The ms. in the India Office has a colophon in which Aniruddha is styled Dharmādhikaraṇika (Judge). From the Dānasāgara of Ballālasena we learn (verses 6 and 7) that Aniruddha was a *guru* of that king of Bengal and rendered assistance in the composition of that work. The Dānasāgara⁷⁸⁹ was composed in *śake* 1091 (i. e. 1169 A. D.). From this it appears that Aniruddha was at the height of his fame in 1168, i. e. his literary activity may be placed in the third quarter of the 12th century A. D. This conclusion is corroborated by the fact that the Hāralatā names Bhojadeva, Govindarāja, and the Kāmadhenu as authorities and is therefore later than 1100 A. D. The Hāralatā is named as an authority in the Śuddhiviveka of Rudradhara⁷⁹⁰. The Śrāddhakriyākaumudī of Govindānanda (about 1510-1545 A. D.) frequently quotes Aniruddha and includes him among ancient authors.⁷⁹¹ The Pitṛdayitā is named in the Śrāddhakriyākaumudī (p. 503). In the Āhnikatattva (vol. I, p. 421) and Śuddhitattva (vol. II, p. 314) of Raghunandana the views of Pitṛdayitā are quoted. There is a commentary on the Hāralatā called Sandarbhasūcikā composed by Acyuta Cakravartin, son of Haridāsa Tarkācārya (vide I. O. cat. p. 567, No. 1753).

v1.c6.s67.9

⁷⁸⁷ सुरापगातीरविहारपाटके निवासिना भट्टनयार्थवेदिना । कृतानिरुद्धेन सतामुरःस्थले विराजतां हारलतेयमर्पिता ॥

v1.c6.s67.10

⁷⁸⁸ इति चाम्पाहट्टीयमहोपाध्यायधर्माध्यक्षश्रीमदनिरुद्धभट्टविरचिताशौचव्यवस्था हारलता समाप्ता; इति चाम्पाहट्टीयमहामहोपाध्यायश्रीमदनिरुद्धभट्टविरचिता छन्दोगानां पद्धतिः पितृदयिता समाप्ता।

v1.c6.s67.11

⁷⁸⁹ निखिलेभूपचक्रतिलकश्रीमद्वल्लालसेनदेवेन। पूर्णे शशिनवदशमितशकवर्षे दानसागरो रचितः॥ at the end of the दानसागर; vide I. O. cat. p. 542 and Mitra's Notices I. p. 151. This very verse is quoted by श्रीनाथ आचार्यचूडामणि. Vide JASB 1915, p. 347 n. 1.

v1.c6.s67.12

⁷⁹⁰ सन्त्येव रत्नाकरपारिजातमित्ताक्षराहारलतादयोऽन्ये। तथापि तन्नालसमानसानां भवेत्प्रमोदाय मम प्रयासः॥ I. O. cat. p. 563, No. 1742; Mitra's Notices vol. V. p. 25. No. 1736.

v1.c6.s67.13

⁷⁹¹ किं तु अनिरुद्धादीनां प्राचामनुसारात् &c. श्राद्धक्रियाकौमुदी p. 388; vide p. 188 'अतो गोभिलगृह्यसूत्रविच्छेदमनाकलय्याधुनिकेन गौडमैथिलसंग्रहकारानिरुद्धश्रीदत्तादीनां विरुद्धं महद्भाष्यादीनामसंमतं चोक्तं हेयमेव।

v1.c6.s67.14

In the proceedings of the ASB (for 1869 p. 137) a Cāturmāsyapaddhati of Aniruddha is noted. Mitra notices a work called Bhagavattattvamañjarī on Vaiṣṇava philosophy written by Aniruddha (Mitra's Notices vol. III. p. 155, No. 2700).

Linked texts (11)