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History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s76: 91. Harinātha

History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s76

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91. Harinātha

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Harinātha is the author of a digest called Smṛtisāra on several topics of dharmaśāstra. No part of this work has been yet printed. In the India Office there are two mss. of the Smṛtisāra (I. O. cat. p. 448, No. 1488 and p. 449, No. 1489). The first cites 67 authorities (*pramāpakāḥ*) on Dharmaśāstra, out of which the Karmapradīpa, the Kalpataru, the Kāmadhenu, Kumāra, Gaṇeśvaramiśra, Vijñāneśvara, Vilamba (?), Smṛtimañjūṣā and Harihara deserve special mention. This ms. contains the portion of the Smṛtisāra on the saṁskāras, rites on death, śrāddha and prāyaścitta. The other ms. deals with the principal topics of vivāda (various titles of law) and vyavahāra (judicial procedure), viz. partition, father's share on partition, larger share to eldest son, persons excluded from partition and inheritance, impartible property; *strīdhana*; the several kinds of sons; succession to the property of the sonless; re-union; gambling and prize-fighting and other titles of law; various methods of *daṇḍa* (punishment); the various units of measure etc.; judicial procedure i. e. the plaint, the reply, the means of proof, viz, documents, witnesses, possession, reasoning, oaths, and ordeals; review of judgment; minority and dependence; rules about succession according to various authors. This last portion appears to be a sort of supplement, wherein the views of Bālarūpa, Pārijāta, Halāyudha, Kalpataru and of the Smṛtisāra itself on the order of succession to a man dying sonless are set forth. Viśvarūpa and Śrīkara are named in the summary of Bālarūpa's views and the Prakāśa at a later stage (folio 148 b). Bhavadeva-nibandha is also expressly named on possession.

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No information is given in the mss. about Harinātha himself. He is styled in the colophons 'mahāmahopādhyāya.' In several places he refers to the views of the Gauḍas on *ācāra*; e. g. he cites the view of the Gauḍas that on a fasting day or śrāddha day one should not employ the twig used in dantadhāvana and that when there is Ekādaśī on two days a house-holder should observe a fast on the first and a *yati* on the second. It appears that he was not a Gauḍa but rather a Maithila.

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The India Office ms. of the *vivāda* portion of the Smṛtisāra is dated *saṁvat* 1614 (i. e. 1558 A. D.). Another ms. of the same portion (vide Mitra's Notices, vol. V, p. 232, No. 1913) was copied in Lakṣmaṇa *saṁvat* 363 i. e. 1469-1470 A. D. Śūlapāṇi quotes the Smṛtisāra in his Durgotsavaviveka. Misarumīśra in his Vivādacandra several times refers to the opinions of the Smṛtisāra.⁸⁹⁴ Hence it follows that the Smṛtisāra was composed before the last quarter of the 14th century. Caṇḍeśvara in his voluminous work nowhere refers to Harinātha nor does the latter refer to him. Hence they were probably contemporaries or not separated by any appreciable interval of time. As Harinātha mentions the Kalpataru and Harihara, he must be later than about 1250 A. D. If Gaṇeśvaramiśra⁸⁹⁵ mentioned by Harinātha be the author of the Sugatisopāna (which is extremely probable) who was an uncle of Caṇḍeśvara, then Harinātha cannot be earlier than about 1300 A. D. and flourished at about the same time as Caṇḍeśvara, viz. the first half of the 14th century A. D. Harinātha is quoted by Vācaspatimiśra in his Dvaitanirṇaya, by Raghunandana (in Udvāhatattva vol. I, pp. 108, 119, Āhnikatattva vol. I, p. 240, Śuddhitattva vol. II, p. 240), Kamalākara, Nīlakaṇṭha and a host of other later writers. In the Ekādaśītattva p. 45 Harinātha is spoken of as *upajīvya* by Vardhamāna and Vācaspati.

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⁸⁹⁴ e. g. न बाधेः कालसंबोधान्निसर्गोस्ति न विक्रय इति वचनात् कालसंबोधः काला-वस्थानं निसर्गोत्र व्यधिकरणम् । भोग्याधिविषयमिति स्मृतिसारः । folio 5a of विवादचन्द्र (D. C. ms. No. 57 of 1883-84); अत एव स्मृतिसारे यदा पितैव केनचित्पुत्रेण संसर्गो (संसृष्टो ?) तदा तद्धनं संसृष्टपुत्रो गृह्णीयान्नासंसृष्टपुत्रः संसृष्टि-नस्तु संसृष्टीत्यविशेषेणाभिधानादित्युक्तम् । folio 37 b; vide also 57 b for another reference to स्मृतिसार,

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⁸⁹⁵ श्वः कर्तास्मीति निश्चित्य दाता विप्रान्निमन्त्रयेत् । निरामिषं सकृद्भुक्त्वा सर्वभुक्तजने गृहे । असंभवे परेद्युर्वा ब्राह्मणांस्तान्निवेदयेत् ॥ अत्र गणेश्वरमिश्राः । इदं वाक्यं निरामिषसकृद्भोजनविशिष्टे निमन्त्रणविधायकमतो निमन्त्रणाङ्गानि निरामिषसकृद्भोजना- ! श्रुतिबलात् । स्मृतिसार (I. O. ms. No. 1488).

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There are several works styled Smṛtisāra e. g. of Keśavaśarma (Mitra's Notices, vol. II. p. 76), of Yādavabhūṣaṇa-bhaṭṭācārya (Mitra's Notices, vol. IV p. 213 No. 1642), of Devayājñika (D. C. Ms. No. 266 of 1884-87 and 344 of 1886-92, the latter being called Smṛtisārasaṁgraha). Hence it often becomes difficult to say in the case of later works, what particular Smṛtisāra is being quoted.

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