History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s97.1

v1.c6.s97.1

Kāśīnātha Upādhyāya or Bābā Pādhye composed an extensive work called Dharmasindhusāra or Dharmābdhisāra, which is popularly known as Dharmasindhu. It is now the leading work in matters of religious observances in the Deccan and has been referred to even in judicial decisions.¹¹⁵⁹ It has been published several times. In the following the Nirṇayasāgara edition of 1926 with Marathi translation has been used. He says that he consulted former *nibandhas* and, following the order of the subject matters in the Nirṇayasindhu, composed the work which sets forth only the established conclusions after eliminating the original smṛti texts.¹¹⁶⁰ At the end he says that the work is not meant for learned men conversant with *mīmāṁsā* and Dharmaśāstra, but for men whose intellect is not sharp and yet who want to know the established conclusions on matters of dharma. The work is divided into three *paricchedas*, the third being the longest and split into two parts. The first deals with *kāla* in general, viz. the kinds of year, month, the saṁkrāntis, intercalary months and kṣayamāsa, what *tithis* are proper for what rites, conclusions about *tithis* from the first to the 15th and about amāvāsyā, eclipses; the second deals with the festivals, fasts and observances of particular months from Caitra to Phālguna; the third in the first part speaks in detail about the saṁskāras from garbhādhāna to marriage, sāpiṇḍya, gotras and pravaras, duties of brahmacārin, the daily duties from rising to going to bed, the five daily mahāyajñas, consecration of sacred fires, idols and dedication of tanks and works of public utility, kalivarjya; the latter part of the third *pariccheda* dilates upon the details of śrāddha, impurity on birth and death, the rites after death, the duties of widows, saṁnyāsa.