History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c66.17

v5.c66.17

§ I take this opportunity of correcting two mistakes that I regret I committed in the third volume of the History of Dharmaśāstra. In note 1886 on p 968 (of vol III) I refer to a work of Mr Batuknath Bhattacharya that contains a full treatment of *Kalivarjya*. I suggested in that note that Mr. Bhattacharya probably retouched his thesis after 1937 though it was written in 1933, in view of the fact that he referred to the Smṛtimuktāphala (which was published in 1937 by Mr Gharpure) Through oversight I forgot that Mr. Bhattacharya had expressly stated that he used the transcript of a ms of the Smṛtimuktāphala specially made for him. Therefore, I was wrong in my surmise that he probably retouched his thesis and I must say that the thesis as published in 1943 is the same as that written in 1933 for the Jogendrachandra Ghose Research Prize The second mistake refers to Dr. U. N Ghosal on p 32 (of vol III) I stated 'it is not possible to hold as Jayaswal, U Ghosal and others do that the theory of social contract was the earlier one and the theory of divine right of kings was later on propounded by the Manusmṛti to support the brāhmaṇa empire of Puṣyamitra' In writing this sentence my memory was at fault I find that Dr. Ghosal does not hold the view that I attributed to him. In the 'Indian Historical Quarterly' (vol 23, pp 68-70) Dr Ghosal justly protests against my bracketing him with Jayaswal, but I cannot help observing that the last sentence in the paper shows unexpected acerbity In his whole career as a writer Dr Ghosal was not probably guilty of a single slip and could not therefore bring himself to believe that my mistake might have been *bona fide*.