History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s83.12

v1.c6.s83.12

Besides these there is a group of Vācaspati's works with the title 'nirṇaya'. The Tithinirṇaya⁹⁸⁰ starts with an invocation of the highest Being (*paramātman*) while most of his works are begun with an obeisance to Hari or Kṛṣṇa. It first divides *tithis* into śuddhā and viddhā (commingled with another tithi) and then discusses all the *tithis* from the first to the fifteenth and also *amāvāsyā*; it deals with the questions as to the rites of that *tithi* which is *kṣaya*, with śivarātrivrata, naktavrata, holidays, fasts, jayantīvrata, holikā festival etc. The Dvaitanirṇaya,⁹⁸¹ as its name implies, is concerned with the settlement of some doubtful points of Dharmaśāstra such as the names to be given to brāhmaṇas and the other *varṇas*, doubts on gifts and consecration of tanks and wells, doubts about daily bath, *saṁdhyā*, *devapūjā*, *vaiśvadeva*, daily offerings to manes, about judicial proceedings and the taking of interest, about various *vratas* like ekādaśī and janmāṣṭamī, about intercalary months, about the proper time for marriage and *upanayana*. The Mahādāna-nirṇaya⁹⁸² expatiates on the sixteen munificent gifts such as weighing against gold and silver. In the introductory verses Vācaspati gives the genealogy of his patron's family from Bhaveśa, whose son was Harasiṁhadeva, whose son was Narasiṁha, whose son Bhairavendra bore the *biruda* (appellation) Hari-nārāyaṇa. A verse⁹⁸³ at the beginning and one at the end attribute the work to Bhairavendra and to Rūpanārāyaṇa respectively. Rūpa-nārāyaṇa was the *biruda* of Rāmabhadra, a son of Bhairavendra. Therefore it looks probable that the work was commenced in the reign of Bhairava and was completed in the reign of his son Rāmabhadra. M. M. Chakravarti says that Bhairava himself bore at one time the *biruda Rūpanārāyaṇa*. M. M. Haraprasad Sāstri (Nepal cat. p. 90) mentions a Vivādanirṇaya of Vācaspati. The Śuddhinirṇaya of Vācaspati deals with impurity on birth and death, the religious acts that must be performed even in times of impurity, *sapiṇḍa* relationship, periods of impurity for the principal varṇas and mixed castes; periods of impurity on abortion, the deaths of infants and women, accidental deaths etc., over-lapping of several periods of *āśauca*; impurity arising from carrying a corpse; rites after the death of a *saṁnyāsin*; impurity from contact of lower castes, such as washermen and cāṇḍālās, freedom from impurity at tīrthas and marriages etc.