History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c89.65

v7.c89.65

This subject about śāntis against all sorts of omens and portents was very much elaborated in the post-Vedic literature. An extensive literature on śāntis exists in the Gṛhyasūtras, the Kauśika-sūtra, the Atharvaveda Pariśiṣtas (particularly Nos. V, XXXI on Koṭihoma, XXXIII on Ghṛtakambala, XXXVII on 'samuccayaprāyaścittam', resembling 13th chapter of Kauśika, LVIII to LXVII on utpātas, adbhutaśāntis and dreams, LXXI and LXXII, the Purāṇas (like Matsya 92-93 and 228-238, Viṣṇudharmottara I. 90-105, II. 124-127, II. 159-164. Mārkaṇḍeya chap. 40, Agni 149, 164, 167, 259-268, 290-91, 320-324, Bhaviṣya IV. 141-145, Brahmāṇḍa III. 38. 30-34, the Bṛhatsaṃhitā chap. 45, the Śāntika-pauṣṭika-kāṇḍa of the Kṛtyakalpataru (Ms. in Baroda Oriental Institute), the Adbhutasāgara of Ballālasena and his son Lakṣmaṇasena (commenced to be written in śaka 1089 i. e. 1167 A.D), the Śānti section of the Madanaratna (ms. in the Anup Sanskrit Library, Bikaner), Jyotiṣtattva of Raghunandana (pp. 704 ff), the Śāntikamalakara of Kamalākarabhaṭṭa (ms. in Bhau Daji collection of the Bombay Asiatic Society), Śāntimayūkha of Nīlakaṇṭha. Of these the Adbhutasāgara is a very extensive work of 751 pages, edited by Pandit Murlidhar Jhā and published by Prabhakari &c, Banares, in 1905 A. D. The Kṛtyakalpataru on Śāntis has not yet been edited and published in the Gaikwad Oriental Series. As compared with some other *kāṇḍas*, the section on śānti is meagre. It deals only with the following; Kūrmavibhāga (the distribution of the countries in Bhārata in 9 groups); Graha-makha or Grahayāga quoting Yāj. I. 295-308, Matsya, Narasiṁha and Bhaviṣya and Devīpurāṇa; Ayutahoma, Kotihoma; Puṣyasnāna; Grahaśānti; Mātṛśānti; Liṅgaśānti; Vināyakaśānti (quoting Yāj. I. 271-294 and Matsya), Grahaṇasnāna; Saṅkrāntisnāna; mṛtavatsābhiṣeka; śāntis for variouas utpātas; Gāyatrīhoma; Rudrajapavidhi; ābhicārikakarma (magic rites). It is neither possible nor necessary to deal with this vast mass on śānti in this work in detail. Many of the śāntis described therein and in older śrauta and other works have been almost obsolete for a long time. Therefore, only a few śāntis now in vogue or very interesting from several viewpoints will be dealt with in this section.¹¹⁷²