History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.10

v4.c63.10

The word *vyavahāra* is used in several senses in the *sūtras* and *smṛtis*. One meaning of vyavahāra is ‘transaction or dealing’ as in Udyogaparva 37. 30 quoted above (on p. 207) or in Āp. Dh. S. II. 7.16-17, I. 6.20. 11 and 16. It also means ‘a dispute, a lawsuit’ in Śānti 69.28, Manu VIII. 1., Vas. 16.1, Yāj. II. 1., Viṣṇu Dh. S. III. 72, Nār. I. 1 and 2, Śukra IV. 5.5. A third sense is ‘legal capacity to enter into transactions’ (as in Gaut. X. 48, Vas. 16·8, Śaṅkha-Likhita (*rakṣed rājā bālānāṁ dhanānyaprāpta-vyavahārāṇāṁ* &c. quoted in V. R. p. 599 ). A fourth but a rare sense is ‘the means of deciding a matter’ (as in Gaut. XI. 19 ‘*tasya vyavahāro vedo dharmaśāstrāṇyaṅgāni* &c.). In this chapter the word vyavahāra is taken to mean ‘law-suit or dispute in a court’ and ‘legal procedure’. This sense is very ancient. In the Delhi-Topra Pillar Edict No. 1 of Aśoka (Corpus I. I. vol. I. p. 123) we have the word ‘*viyohālasamatā*’ (*vyavahārasamatā*) and the word ‘*vyavahāravidhi*’ occurs in Kharavela’s Hāthīgumphā Inscription (E. I. vol. XX. p. 79 ). A ‘*vohārika-mahāmatta*’ (*vyāvahārika-mahāmātra*, minister of justice) occurs in the Mahāvagga, I. 40. 3 and Chullavagga VI. 4·9). In the medieval digests, both law and procedure are sometimes dealt with in one book as in the Vyavahāra-nirṇaya of Varadarāja and the Vyavahāra-mayūkha; sometimes the titles of law are treated of in one work and judicial procedure in another. For example, Caṇḍeśvara composed the Vivādaratnākara (on titles of law) and. Vyavahāraratnākara (on judicial procedure). The word vyavahāra is restricted in some works to judicial procedure alone (as in the Vyavahāramātṛkā of Jīmūtavāhana and the Vyavahāratattva of Raghunandana). The word *vivāda* which means ‘dispute’ is often used as a synonym for vyavahāra in the sense of law-suit or legal procedure or both. In Āp. Dh. S. II. 11·29·5 and in Nār. I. 5 *vivāda* means ‘law-suit’. In the Vivādacandra of Misarumiśra and the Vivādatāṇḍava of Kamalākara both law and judicial procedure are treated of. Yāj. (II. 8 and 305) appears to distinguish between *vivāda* (law-suit) and *vyavahāra* (judicial procedure).