History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c46.154

v3.c46.154

The above brief account will show that for hundreds of years even before the first Śaṁkarācārya flourished it was the privilege of the assembly of learned brāhmaṇas to decide doubtful points of religious conduct and prescribe penances for lapses, that the same privilege continued undisturbed till the advent of the British rule, that rarely the heads of the maṭhas, by virtue of their eminent position, their supposed detachment from and renunciation of worldly affairs and their reputation as ascetics, were asked to decide (following Yāj. I. 9) doubtful points of religious and theological importance, that it is only during the last few decades that such heads began to claim exclusive jurisdiction in such matters.