History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c18.38.5

v2.c18.38.5

Both Vasiṣṭha (I. 14-15) and Baud. Dh. S. (I. 1. 29-30) quote an ancient *gāthā* from the Nidāna work of the Bhāllavins³⁸ to the effect that wherever the black antelope roams about in the country lying between the Sindhu in the west and the rising mountain in the east, there is spiritual pre-eminence. So this view is a very ancient one and probably arose from some mythological account as is indicated by the commentary of Viśvarūpa on Yāj. I.2 which quotes a prose passage of the Śvetāśvataras 'Sacrifice became a black antelope and wandered over the earth; *dharma* followed it in its wanderings'. This view of the limits of Āryāvarta is maintained by Śaṅkha (as quoted by Viśvarūpa on Yāj. I. 2), Viṣṇudharmasūtra 84.4, Manu II. 23, Yāj. I. 2, Saṁvarta 4, Laghu-Hārīta (I. p. 178), Veda-Vyāsa (I. 3), Bṛhat-Parāśara (p. 56) and several other smṛtis. The Manusmṛti (II.