History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c24.s1.340.3

v2.c24.s1.340.3

I. 44-45 calls upon the student to study every day according to his ability also Vākovākya, Purāṇa, Nārāśaṁsī,⁸⁶¹ gāthās, itihāsa, vidyās if he desired to please the gods and manes. Fourteen vidyās are generally enumerated as in Yāj. I. 3 ( = Matsya 53. 5-6 ), Vāyupurāṇa vol. I. 61. 78, Vṛddha-Gautama (p. 632) and other works, viz. four vedas, 6 aṅgas, purāṇas, nyāya ( logic ), mīmāṁsā and dharmaśāstra. Some added four more to these, viz. the Upavedas of Āyurveda, Dhanurveda, Gāndharvaveda and Arthaśāstra (which were affiliated respectively to the four Vedas) and thus the *vidyās* are also spoken of as 18.⁸⁶² Kālidāsa in the Raghuvamśa (V. 21) expressly says that Varatantu taught his pupil 14 vidyās. In E.I. vol. VIII. p. 287 ( in an inscription of 199 Guptasaṁvat i. e. 517-18 A. D.) it is said about Suśarman, an ancestor of Mahārāja Saṁkṣobha, that ' he knew the highest truth because of his proficiency in the 14 vidyā-sthānas '. Kumārila⁸⁶³ in his Tantravārtika ( p. 201 ) says that vidyā-sthānas that are looked upon as authoritative in knowing dharma are 14 or 18. The Vārāhagṛhya ( 6 ) refers to different preparations for different people, viz. a yājñika had to study mantra and Brāhmaṇa, kalpa ( vedic ritual ) and mīmāṁsā and one could study at his option grammar, the smṛtis and vaktra (?) and the śrotriya only committed to memory the Veda; the first two were called snātakas.