History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.819

v4.c63.t2.819

In the passage quoted the several Kalivarjyas are not arranged on any systematic basis. Here, first of all a few Kalivarjyas that have a bearing on law will be mentioned and then the rest will be taken up one after another in the order in which they appear in the extract and lastly those that do not appear in that extract will also be dealt with. The first verse states that certain actions were discarded by the wise though this was unauthorized (by śruti or smṛti) after arriving at a convention among themselves through fear of the loss of dharma (if they were persisted in), because in the Kali age there is absence of good men. The last verse and a half again state that at the beginning of the Kali great men arrived at certain conventions and discarded certain actions in order to guard the people (against harm and sin) and (it is well known) that the conventions of good men are authoritative like Veda¹⁸⁰⁵.