History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.590

v4.c63.t2.590

The requisites of valid customs as laid down by the eminent writers of the Pūrva-mīmāṁsā school may now be summarised. Such customs must be ancient, must not be opposed to the express texts of the Veda or of smṛti, must be such as to be regarded as obligatory by the śiṣṭas and must be observed by them with the consciousness that they are so; they must not have a seen or visible purpose, and they must not be immoral¹⁶⁵³. It has to be remembered that the pūrvamīmāṁsā writers did not lay down anything about the binding character of usages that were peculiarly secular but restricted their remarks to customs and usages that had more or less an unseen or spiritual purpose. Khaṇḍadeva emphasizes this by stating 'only those customs can be deemed to be based on the Veda that are not opposed to the Veda and smṛtis and that are observed by respectable people under the belief that thereby they are carrying what dharma dictates'¹⁶⁵⁴. Medhātithi on Manu¹⁶⁵⁵ II. 18 makes this position quite clear after quoting a verse of Kumārila 'a smṛti that is opposed to the Veda or is self-contradictory, or has a visible secular purpose or expressly states a motive (for observing its precepts) cannot be deemed to be based on the Veda'. The Mīmāṁsā-kaustubha (p. 51 on Jai. I. 3. 7) quotes a verse to the effects that 'only those whose ancestors also observed certain usages handed down from generation to generation would not incur blame by observing them (if they are opposed to śruti or smṛti), but not others (who cannot rely on such a state of things)'. In a learned discussion on *bādha* Kumārila in his Tantravārtika (on Jai. III. 3. 14 pp. 859-860) brings together many *bādhas* out of which those that are relevant to this discussion are given in the note below¹⁶⁵⁶. It says that inference is set aside by direct perception, smṛti by śruti, a smṛti not composed by an authoritative person and that is self-contradictory is set aside by a smṛti that is authoritative and not self-contradictory, a smṛti that has a visible worldly purpose by one that has an unseen spiritual purpose, a smṛti based on inference drawn from a śruti or based upon a commendatory vedic passage is set aside by a smṛti based upon (a direct) śruti text, a usage is set aside by a smṛti and one usage is set aside by another usage that is accepted by more respectable people &c.