History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.802.1

v4.c63.t2.802.1

The Āp. Dh. S. (II. 6. 14. 6-10) condemns the practice of giving all or most of the ancestral property to the eldest son as opposed to śāstras. The Āp. Dh. S. (II. 10. 27. 2-6), after referring to the view of some that a woman when being married is given to the whole family of the bridegroom, condemns the practice of *niyoga*.¹⁷⁸⁹ Both these practices (of *uddhāravibhāga* and of *niyoga*) are among those included in the texts on Kalivarjya. Among the earliest references in the smṛtis to practices once current, but forbidden in the Kali age is a passage of Bṛhaspati quoted by Aparārka p. 97, where *niyoga* and the numerous secondary sons are said to be impossible owing to the decadence¹⁷⁹⁰ of spiritual power among men of the Dvāpara and Kali ages. Aparārka p. 739 and the D. M. quote a passage of Śaunaka to the effect that sons other than the aurasa or dattaka are not allowed in the Kali age¹⁷⁹¹. Prajāpati (verse 151) refers¹⁷⁹² to the ancient practice of offering meat and wine in śrāddhas, but prescribes that these should be eschewed in the Kali age. Vyāsa¹⁷⁹³ quoted in the Nirṇayasindhu and other works forbids the setting of the three vedic fires and of resorting to sannyāsa after 4400 years of Kali. The Laghu-Āśvalāyana¹⁷⁹⁴ smṛti (21. 14–15) states that the two kinds of sons called Kuṇḍa and Golaka were permitted in former ages and had the saṁskāras performed on them, but are condemned in the Kali age.