History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c93.386.2

v7.c93.386.2

This attitude recognizes the historical facts that practices change in the course of centuries and common people are entitled to ignore the dicta even of the Veda (much more of the smṛtis). To the question why should one not be allowed to marry one's mother's sister or mother s sister's daughter if a maternal uncle's daughter can be married, the Smṛticandrikā replies ' we do not say that she could not be married according to Śāstra, but she should not be married as people abhor such a marriage' and it quotes Yāj I. 156 (by oversight it ascribes the verse to Manu). In modern times when any change or reform in religious or social practices is suggested, Pandits calling themselves Sanātanis put forward the pleas that the proposed change or reform is opposed to the śāstras, that the controversy should be carried on according to the Mīmāṁsā rules, that all Smṛti and other dicta should be so construed as to lead to *samanvaya* (consistent arrangement of apparently discordant texts), that the historical approach leads nowhere and should not be resorted to. All these objections are here briefly dealt with.