History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s9.2

v1.c6.s9.2

Kumārila (vide note 55 above) tells us that the dharmasūtra of Vasiṣṭha was specially studied by the students of the Ṛgveda, but that along with other dharmasūtras it is authoritative for all *caraṇas*. No śrauta and gṛhya sūtras of Vasiṣṭha, if they ever existed, have come down to us. We have therefore to fall back upon one of two hypotheses, *viz.* either the dharmasūtra of Vasiṣṭha is the solitary remnant of a school that might have once possessed a complete *kalpa* or that it was composed as an independent work on *dharma* and was subsequently seized upon by the students of the Ṛgveda, who had only śrauta and gṛhya sūtras of Āśvalāyana. For reasons given elsewhere I incline to the latter view. The *dharmasūtra* of Vasiṣṭha cites quotations from all Vedas and beyond the name Vasiṣṭha there is hardly anything special in the dharmasūtra to connect it with the Ṛgveda. It is true that in the 17th chap. several verses of the Ṛgveda (such as I. 21. 5, I. 124. 7, V. 4. 10 which occur in sūtras, 3, 16 and 4 respectively) and several passages from the story of Śunaḥśepa in the Aitareyabrāhmaṇa are quoted by the sūtra and that several hymns of the Ṛgveda, such as the *asyavāmīya* (Ṛg. I. 164), *haviṣpāntīya* (Ṛg. X. 88), *Aghamarṣaṇa* (X. 190), are referred to in the 26th chap. But there is nothing remarkable in this as some of the verses and *sūktas* are mentioned in the Baudhāyanadharmasūtra also. Besides the Vas. Dh. S. quotes several passages from the Taittirīyasaṁhitā (as in Vas. V. 7-9, which quotes Tai. S. II. 5. 1. 6 and Vas. XI. 48 which quotes Tai. S. VI. 3. 10. 5), the Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa, the Maitrayṇīya-saṁhitā (in Vas. I. 37).