History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.208.4

v4.c63.208.4

The jānapada writings are divided into various sorts, seven (acc. to Bṛ. q. by Aparārka p. 683, Sm. C. II. p. 60) or eight (acc. to Vyāsa in Sm. C. II. p. 59) and the Sm. C. remarks that there is no emphasis on the number and there may be many more varieties. Bṛ. (S. B. E. vol. 33 p. 305), Kāt. (254-257) and others mention and define the following jānapada writings; *bhāga-* or *vibhāgapatra* (deed of partition), *dānapatra* (deed of gift), *krayapatra* (sale deed), *ādhānapatra* or *ādhipatra* (deed of pledge or mortgage), *sthitipatra* or *saṁvitpatra* (deed of convention, which is made by the inhabitants of a village or city or the members of a corporation or guild by mutual agreement for settling their conventions), *dāsapatra* (deed of bondage to serve executed by a person devoid of food or clothing), *ṛṇalekha* or *uddhārpatra* (bond of debt promising return at a future date with interest), *viśuddhipatra* (deed of purification given to a person with the attestation of witnesses when a penance for a sin has been performed), *sandhipatra* (deed of peace when a compromise in the presence of leading people after a charge of the commission of a crime has been made), *sīmāpatra* (deed of boundary when a dispute about it is settled), *upagata* (a receipt passed by the creditor to a debtor on payment of the whole or part of a debt, Yāj. II. 93), *anvādhipatra* (a sub-mortgage i. e.