History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s85.11

v1.c6.s85.11

The principal topics dealt with in the Vyavahārakāṇḍa are: the hall of justice, the method of judicial procedure, the plaint, the reply, documents, possession, ṛṇādāna, dāyavibhāga, sāhasa and other titles of law. In the beginning of the work he sets out at great length the views of ancient writers on politics about the constitution of the *maṇḍala*, such as those of Parāśara, Uśanas, Viṣṇu, Bṛhaspati, Viśālākṣa, Manu etc. He generally follows the views of Vijñāneśvara on dāyavibhāga, but here and there strongly criticizes him, e. g. he says that Vijñāneśvara gave a very far-fetched interpretation¹⁰¹¹ of Yājñavalkya's verse 'rikthagrāha ṛṇam dāpyaḥ.' The Sarasvatīvilāsa is a work of authority in Southern India on matters of Hindu Law, though inferior to the Mitākṣarā.¹⁰¹² It informs us that, though the Smṛticandrikā passed over the ordeals of water and poison on the ground that they had gone out of vogue, in Utkala the ordeal of water alone was resorted to and in Śūrasena (Mathurā) and Magadha (Bihar) the ordeal of poison alone was administered.¹⁰¹³