History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c46.123
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c46.123
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The words '*sabhā*' (*Ṛg.* X. 34. 6) and '*samiti*' (Ṛg. X. 97.6) occur even in the Ṛgveda but their exact significance is doubtful and the former word at least seems to bear the sense of 'gambling hall' in some passages. In the Upaniṣads, however, the words *samiti* and *pariṣad* assume a more definite sense, meaning 'an assembly of learned men in a particular locality'. The Chān. Up. V. 3. 1 states that Śvetaketu Āruṇeya ²²⁰² repaired to the assembly (*samiti*) of the Pañcālas (where Pravāhaṇa Jaivali put him five questions of a metaphysical and esoteric nature). The Bṛ. Up. VI. 2. 1 when narrating the same episode employs the word '*pariṣad*'. These passages establish that in the times of the Upaniṣads there were assemblies of learned men where intricate questions were discussed. Gaut. 28. 46 prescribes just as the Tai. Up. I. 11 does that in matters about which there is no certain rule (or there is doubt) one should do what is commended by respectable persons not less than ten in number, who are clever in discussion and are above covetousness.²²⁰³ The Āp. Dh. S. I. 3. 11. 34 declares that holidays other than those stated by him may be observed as settled by pariṣads. The Baud. Dh. S. II. 1.
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44-45 prescribes " the relatives of a brahmacārī who is guilty of sexual intercourse should empty a water pot in the pariṣad and the offender should confess 'I, so and so by name, am guilty of such and such a misdeed' and that after the erring person has performed penance and when he has touched water, milk, ghee, honey and salt, the brāhmaṇas should ask him 'have you performed the penance?' The other shall then reply 'yes'; then they shall admit him who has performed penance to all sacrificial rites making no difference between him and others."²²⁰⁴ This clearly establishes that at least five centuries before the Christian era it was the privilege of the assembly of the learned brāhmaṇas to administer penance to a sinner and then restore him to all rights of interdining and other social intercourse. Vas. Dh. S. I. 16 declares 'there is no doubt that whatever persons who have studied dharmaśāstra and the three Vedas expound as purifying themselves and others is the proper dharma.' Āp. Dh. S. I. 1. 1. 2 declares that the conventions of those that know dharma are the authoritative standard (of conduct for ordinary men). When the smṛtis declare that Veda, smṛti and the usages of śiṣṭas are the three sources of dharma (e. g. Vas. Dh. S. I. 4-5) they convey that śiṣṭas can *and* should determine from time to time what is religious conduct.
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When Bṛhaspati enjoins that doubts about dharma should not be settled by blindly following the letter of śāstras, but that logic and reasoning should be employed, he strikes the true note of the spirit of the ancient sages.2204a Vide also Manu XII. 106 and Gaut. XI. 23-24 for the importance of *tarka* in settling matters of dharma. Manu XII. 108 states 'if one were to ask how one should act in matters of dharma on which no express rule is declared in this work, the reply is that in such cases what is declared to be a proper rule of conduct by respectable (śiṣṭa) brāhmaṇas would undoubtedly be the dharma.' Yāj. III. 300 requires that a person guilty of a sin or lapse should declare it to an assembly of learned brāhmaṇas and undergo such *vrata* (penance and observances) as is approved of by the *pariṣad*. Śaṁkarācārya in his *bhāṣya* on Bṛ. Up. IV. 3.
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2 makes the very significant²²⁰⁵ remark "it is therefore that in coming to a decision on a subtle point of dharma, it is desirable to have a pariṣad working and a specially distinguished person is wanted (to give the lead) as stated in the rule 'a *pariṣad* should consist of not less than ten persons or of three or of one (specially distinguished)'." These several authorities establish that for over 1500 years before the great Śaṁkarācārya the *pariṣad* of learned brāhmaṇas was the acknowledged authority for settling doubtful points of dharma and administering penances on lapses from proper conduct, and that Śaṁkarācārya himself acknowledged this privilege of the *pariṣad*.