History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c26.230

v2.c26.230

The mass of material on gotra and pravara in the sūtras, the purāṇas and digests is so vast and so full of contradictions that it is almost an impossible task to reduce it to order and coherence. The learned author of the Pravara-mañjarī (which is the leading work on the subject) wrote in despair 'Here, in the parts of sūtras that have been quoted there is a great divergence in the order (of the names of pravaras) of the texts of the several sūtrakāras, this being specially so in the text of Āśvalāyana (śrauta)-sūtra. Thus, though divergence is clearly established, yet following the order of the texts of the majority of writers such as Baudhāyana, Āpastamba and Kātyāyana we shall declare (the rules) about marriage or no marriage'.¹¹²⁵