History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c34.4

v2.c34.4

Before the *āhnika* duties are described a few remarks about the importance of the stage of householder would not be out of place. It has already been shown (pp. 424-425) how one school of dharmaśāstra writers represented by Gautama and Baudhāyana looked upon the stage of householder as the only *āśrama*. The eulogies of the householder are sung in numerous passages of the Dharmaśāstra works. Gaut.¹⁴⁹⁸ (III. 3) declares that the householder is the source (support) of all the other āśramas, because the other three do not produce offspring. Manu (III. 77-78) states that as all creatures live by receiving support from the air, so other āśramas subsist by relying for support on the householder and that as men belonging to all the three other orders (*āśramas*) are supported from day to day by the householder alone with (gifts of) food and sacred knowledge, the householder's is therefore the most excellent āśrama. Manu (VI. 89-90) reiterates the same sentiments under a different figure 'just as all big and small rivers find a resting place in the ocean, so men of all *āśramas* find support in the householder and the householder is declared to be the most excellent of all the āśramas by the precepts of the Veda and smṛtis, since he supports the other three'. Viṣṇu Dh. S. (59. 27-29) contains almost the same remarks as Manu. Vide Vas. VIII. 14-16 (15 being identical with Manu VI. 90). Vas. VII. 17 (and X. 31), Baud. Dh. S. II. 2. 1, Udyogaparva 40. 25 say that a householder observing the rules laid down for him does not fall away from the world of Brahma.¹⁴⁹⁹ In the Mahābhārata also the eulogy of the order of householder is frequent. Śāntiparva 296. 39 is the same as Manu VI. 90. Śānti 270. 6-7 states 'as all beings live on the support given by their mothers, so other āśramas subsist on the support of the order of householders'.¹⁵⁰⁰ In the same chapter (verses 10-11) Kapila condemns those who hold that *mokṣa* (final release from *saṁsāra*) is not possible for him who remains a householder. Śānti 12. 12 holds that, if weighed in the balance, the order of householders is equal to all the other three put together. Vide also Śānti 11. 15, 23. 2-5, Vanaparva chap. 2. The Ayodhyākāṇḍa 106. 22 also says that the stage of householder is the most excellent of all āśramas.