History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.568
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.568
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The Tantravārtika holds that Jai. I. 3. 7 is an adhikaraṇa by itself and is concerned with the authoritativeness of sadācāra (the customs and usages of śiṣṭas). Its position is that those usages are authoritative that are not opposed to express Vedic texts, that are practised by Vedic śiṣṭas under the belief that they are right conduct (dharma) and for which no visible motive (such as pleasure or the satisfaction of desires or the acquisition of wealth) can be predicated. Śiṣṭas are those who perform the religious acts expressly enjoined by the Veda. They are not so called because they practise what is said to be sadācāra; otherwise there will be an argument in a circle (in the form 'sadācāra means what is practised by śiṣṭas and śiṣṭas are those who practise sadācāra'). The practices traditionally handed down from generation to generation which are observed by śiṣṭas (as stated above) with the idea that they constitute a part of dharma must be regarded as dharma and as leading to heaven.¹⁶³⁹ Practices do not become authoritative by the mere fact that no such motive or purpose can be postulated for them, but they become so only when they are observed by śiṣṭas as part of dharma. The Tantravārtika (p.
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205) gives certain illustrations of such practices viz gifts, *japa*, *mātryajña* (offerings to the mother Goddesses), the festival of Indra's banner, fairs held at temples, fasts by maidens on the 4th day of a month, gifts of lamps on the first day of Kārtika, the spring¹⁶⁴⁰ festival on the first day of the dark half of Phālguna &c. The Tantravārtika is careful to point out that many activities such as agriculture, menial service or trade that are the means of securing wealth and pleasures and that give rise to several fixed and varying acts and also such actions as eating sumptuous food, drinking, sleeping on soft beds, possessing a charming house and garden, engaging in painting, singing and dancing, enjoying the fragrance of sandalwood and flowers, all of which are common to *mlecchas* and *Āryas*, are not deemed by any one to be part of dharma and that it does not follow that, because a few actions (of *śiṣṭas*) are accepted as dharma, all their actions are to be looked upon as dharma.¹⁶⁴¹ In ordinary life certain practices only are deemed to be śiṣṭācāra, while there are certain other acts that are common to all human beings (including śiṣṭas), but are not so regarded. Certain practices such as worship of gods and honouring brāhmaṇas are seen to be common among all people and yet do constitute dharma, because that is deemed to be so by the śiṣṭas.
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Those practices alone are dharma that are observed by śiṣṭas only as obligatory on them and not other practices that are common to all beings. The Tantravārtika then refers to the Dharmasūtra¹⁶⁴² of Gaut. (I. 3) and Āp. Dh. S. (II. 6. 13. 7–8) which say that ancient (or great) men in several instances were guilty of transgressions of dharma and of committing desperate acts, that on account of their spiritual merit they did not incur sin, but if a man of later days were to follow them in the same acts he would sink into hell. It then gives twelve instances of lapses from good conduct (attributed even to *avatārs*) that were transgressions and either explains them away or says that they were due to wrath, hatred or other passions, were not intended by the authors (of those acts) themselves to be dharma and are not to be looked upon as śiṣṭācāra by modern men. The instances are: (1) Prajāpati who is said to have approached Uṣas, his daughter (Śat. Br. I. 7. 4. 1 or Ait. Br. 13. 9); (2) Indra, who is described as the paramour of Ahalyā (in the Subrahmaṇyā litany); (3) Nahuṣa, who occupied the position of Indra, made approaches to Śacī, the wife of Indra (Udyoga, chap. 13 ff) and was transformed into an *ajagara* (Boa Constrictor); (4) Vasiṣṭha, who when his 100 sons were devoured by a demon, was so struck with grief that he threw himself bound into the Vipāśā river(Nirukta IX. 26, Ādiparva chap. 177. 1–6 = cr. ed. 167. 1–6, Vanaparva 130. 8–9, Anuśāsana 3. 12–13);
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(5) Purūravas who thought of dying by hanging or by being devoured by wolves (Rg. X. 95. 14, Śat. Br. XI. 5. 1–8) when separated from Urvaśī; (6) Viśvāmitra, who officiated as priest at the sacrifice of Triśaṅku that had become a cāṇḍāla through a curse (Ādiparva 71. 31–33); (7) Yudhiṣṭhira who took Draupadī as wife although she had been won by his younger brother Arjuna by his skill in archery and who prevaricated in order to bring about the death of his brāhmaṇa teacher Droṇa (Droṇaparva 190. 55); (8) Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana (Vyāsa), who thought himself a perpetual student, procreated by *niyoga* at the request of his mother Satyavatī two sons on the widows of his brother Vicitravīrya; (9) Bhīṣma who lived on without belonging to any (of the four) āśramas and who is said to have performed several Aśvamedhas though he had no wife; (10)