History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c94.179.4

v7.c94.179.4

The present Yogayājñavalkya (ed by Mr. Diwanji) makes Gārgī wife of Yājñavalkya²³⁰⁷ (vadhūḥ). One would like to know whether Yāj. had three wives, as Bṛ. Up. says he had only two Mr. Diwanji (pp 27-28 of the ed. of 1954) tries to make light of this discrepancy and regards Maitreyī as another name of Gārgī. We are here concerned not with pure Yoga doctrines but with the question whether a work attributed to Yaj which makes Gārgī the wife of the ancient Yājñavalkya (when the Upaniṣad makes her only a more or less insolent woman) can be regarded as the work of the same Yāj. who propounded *brahmavidyā* in the Bṛ. Up. and is supposed to have composed the Yāj smṛti This one circumstance alone is enough to brand the Yoga-Yājñavalkya (of Mr. Diwanji) as a fabrication sought to be passed off as an ancient work. If identity was really meant the verse could easily have been read as ‘Maitreyyākhyā mahābhāgā’ without any metrical fault. Therefore, it is not possible to hold that Yogayājñavalkya is the Yogaśāstra composed by Yājñavalkya before the Smṛti going under his name was composed. A few other decisive grounds may also be urged. The work edited by Mr. Diwanji mentions Tantras (in V. 10) and Tāntrikas (in VIII. 4 and 25). The Yāj. smṛti nowhere mentions these two and is free from the peculiar Tāntrik words or technique. Therefore, the present Yogayājñavalkya edited by Mr. Diwanji was composed long after the Yāj.