History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s92.11

v1.c6.s92.11

A. D. So Nīlakaṇṭha's literary activity must have commenced a good deal after 1610. One ms. of the Vyavahāratattva bears the date *saṁvat* 1700 ( 1644 A. D. ). This shows that the Vyavahāratattva was composed not later than 1644 A. D. The Vyavahāratattva refers to the Vyavahāramayūkha as already composed. Hence we may say, without being far from the truth, that Nīlakaṇṭha's literary career falls between 1610 and 1645 A. D. This date is confirmed by the fact that Nīlakaṇṭha's son Śaṅkara wrote the Kuṇḍabhāskara in 1671 A. D. and Divākarabhaṭṭa, the son of Nīlakaṇṭha's daughter, composed his Ācārārka in 1686 A. D. It appears that there was probably a rivalry between the two great cousins Kamalākarabhaṭṭa and Nīlakaṇṭha. On many matters their views diverged. Though the Nirṇayasindhu is said to have been composed in 1668 of the Vikrama era, yet from the references to several works of his own in the Nirṇayasindhu it looks as if Kamalākara revised it from time to time by adding on references to his own other works and to those of others. The Nirṇayasindhu (III *pariccheda*, section on Dattakagrahaṇa ) emphatically says that he who asserts the absence of ownership in one's son in spite of Vedic indications is a fool.¹¹⁰⁰ It is not unreasonable to suppose that this is a hit at Nīlakaṇṭha who must have been younger than Kamalākara and who tries hard in his Vyavahāramayūkha to establish that there is no ownership in one's wife and children.