History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s92.2

v1.c6.s92.2

Nīlakaṇṭha was a grandson of Nārāyaṇabhaṭṭa and a son of Śaṅkarabhaṭṭa. Śaṅkarabhaṭṭa was a profound *mīmāṁsaka* and composed several works on mīmāṁsā, viz. a com. on the Śāstradīpikā, the Vidhirasāyaṇadūṣaṇa, the Mīmāṁsābālaprakāśa. He also wrote Dvaitanirṇaya (vide Annals of the Bhandarkar Institute, vol, III part 2. pp. 67-72 for an account of it) and the Dharmaprakāśa or Sarvadharmaprakāśa. Nīlakaṇṭha composed an encyclopaedia of religious and civil law, styled Bhagavantabhāskara, in honour of his patron Bhagavantadeva, a Bundella chieftain of the Seṅgara clan, that ruled at Bhareha near the confluence of the Jumna and the Chambal. This work is divided into 12 sections (called *mayūkhas* 'rays') on saṁskāra, ācāra, kāla (or samaya), śrāddha, nīti, vyavahāra, dāna, utsarga, pratiṣṭhā, prāyaścitta, śuddhi, śānti. These have been printed at Benares and some of them have been printed in Bombay at the Gujarati Press and by Mr. Gharpure. Besides this encyclopaedia he composed also a work called Vyavahāratattva, which is a summary of the Vyavahāramayūkha, and probably a work styled Dattakanirṇaya. The Vyavahāratattva has been for the first time published by me as appendix I to my edition of the Vyavahāramayūkha.