History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c93.468

v7.c93.468

One of the rules about the interpretations of words is contained in P.M.S I. 3. 8-9. Śabara cites three instances of words²¹¹⁶ viz caru made from yavas, sandals made of boar skin, a cane mat. The words *yava*, *varāha* and *vetasa* are respectively employed by some people in the sense of 'priyangu' (long pepper), dark bird (crow) and jambu (black berry). The prima facie view insists that one may use those words in any one of the two senses. The Siddhānta is that those words must be used in the sense in which the Veda (or śāstra) or śiṣtas employ them i. e. the usage of learned Aryan people is to be followed where words may have two or more senses. As in several other cases Kumārila does not like Śabara's explanation and proposes two other explanations, viz. one being that the sūtras relate to the word 'pīlu' used in the sense of a tree and *mlecchas* employ it in the sense of elephant. The meaning of the word in smṛtis is a tree and that should be followed. Here 'Śāstrasthāḥ' means 'the sense given to the word in the Śāstra i. e. smṛti'. Another meaning he sees into those sūtras is the comparative strength of smṛti and ācāra. This *adhikaraṇa* is relied upon by Viśvarūpa on Yāj (I. 225) on the question of the primary meaning of the word Śrāddha which he states is 'piṇḍadāna' (offering balls of boiled rice to the *manes*) and not feeding brāhmaṇas. The Parāśara-mādhavīya refers to Parāśara-smṛti (VI. 70-71) about the food cooked from rice in such quantities as measuring an *āḍhaka*²¹¹⁷ or *droṇa* and rendered unclean by being pecked by crows or touched by dogs and smelt by asses and provides that the measures *āḍhaka* and *droṇa* were to be taken as those known from śāstras and not those known among mlecchas.