History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c91.293

v7.c91.293

In the matter of the administration of justice and the law of succession and inheritance also some of the Purānas have influenced the views of writers of *nibandhas*. The Krtyakalpataru on Vyavahāra quotes about twelve verses from the Kālikā-purāna on the marks of a truthful party or witness and on the appropriate ordeals in the case of the several varnas,¹⁶³⁶ their procedure and the different causes of action (vide pp. 79, 205, 210, 211, 221, 231, 238). Three verses from the Kālikā (chap. 91. 35-37) about the twelve kinds of sons and the impropriety of making a punarbhava, svayamdatta and a dāsa successor to a kingdom are quoted in the R. N. P. pp. 35 and 42. Verses 38-41 of Kālikā, chapter 91, about the sons that can be adopted and the age up to which they can be adopted are quoted by the Dattakamīmāmsā p. 60 (Ānan. ed.) and by the Vyavahāramayūkha p. 114, though the latter remarks that they were not found in two or three mss. of the Purāna.¹⁶³⁷ In connection with the question of the seniority among twins the Mayūkha quotes Śrīdhara's comment on Bhāgavata (III. 19 18) that the son born first is the younger one; but the Vyavahāramayūkha¹⁶³⁸ makes the interesting remark that in the Purānas practices opposed to the smrtis are frequently seen.