DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49827#0064
PRINCIPAL SMRITIS.
49
references in Professor Stenzler’s edition of Yajnavalkya.1 Lecture
Nevertheless, the connection of the Yajnavalkya-smriti IL
with the White Yajurveda appears very clearly, and the
extreme laconism and pregnancy of its style may be
viewed as a remnant of the Sutra period.2 A very consi-
derable portion of the subject-matter contained in this
work is traceable to the Sutra works of the Black Yajur-
veda, especially to the Yishnu-smriti and to the Manava
Grihya-sutra,3 but it is impossible to ascertain whether
they have been derived from this source mediately or
immediately. The original Sutras certainly have not only
been versified, but considerably altered by the compiler
of the Yajnavalkya-smriti. Thus Vishnu (V. 9, 122, 123),
speaks of the punishment ordained for forgery. An
analogous rule may be found in the Yajnavalkya-smriti
(II. 240, 241), but the author of the latter work extends
this rule to a case not provided for by his predecessor, viz.,
the forgery of coined money, Kanaka. The term Kanaka,
has a decidedly modern appearance, nor is coined money
ever referred to in the ancient Smritis. Other supposed
marks of recent composition of the work under notice,
such as the astronomical and astrological views of its
author, the references to a heretical sect, which has been
identified with the Buddhists, the frequent allusions to
writing and written evidence, &c., have little or no weight
by themselves; but viewing them collectively, their
importance in fixing the date of the Yajnavalkya-smriti
cannot be denied. The highly systematic arrangement of
the law, both religious and secular, in the Yajnavalkya-
smriti, affords evidence in the same direction. Altogether
the composition of the metrical Smriti of Yajnavalkya
cannot be referred to an earlier date than the first cen-
turies A. D. ,
The Narada-smriti is the only work of its kind, in Narada.
which Civil Law is treated by itself without any admixture
of rules relating to rites of worship, penances and other
religious matters. At the same time, Civil Law and Legal
1 See, too. Professor Stenzler’s Preface to his Yajnavalkya, and his paper
on Indian Ordeals (9 vol. of the Journ. Germ. Orient. Soo.) ; E. W. Hop-
kins’s book, “The mutual relations of the four castes according to the
Manava Dharmapastra.” 1881 ; post, Lectures IV—XII.
2 West and Bilhle’r, 44.
3 See Sacred Books, VII. Introduction, and Dr. von Bradke’s paper
above referred to.
4
49
references in Professor Stenzler’s edition of Yajnavalkya.1 Lecture
Nevertheless, the connection of the Yajnavalkya-smriti IL
with the White Yajurveda appears very clearly, and the
extreme laconism and pregnancy of its style may be
viewed as a remnant of the Sutra period.2 A very consi-
derable portion of the subject-matter contained in this
work is traceable to the Sutra works of the Black Yajur-
veda, especially to the Yishnu-smriti and to the Manava
Grihya-sutra,3 but it is impossible to ascertain whether
they have been derived from this source mediately or
immediately. The original Sutras certainly have not only
been versified, but considerably altered by the compiler
of the Yajnavalkya-smriti. Thus Vishnu (V. 9, 122, 123),
speaks of the punishment ordained for forgery. An
analogous rule may be found in the Yajnavalkya-smriti
(II. 240, 241), but the author of the latter work extends
this rule to a case not provided for by his predecessor, viz.,
the forgery of coined money, Kanaka. The term Kanaka,
has a decidedly modern appearance, nor is coined money
ever referred to in the ancient Smritis. Other supposed
marks of recent composition of the work under notice,
such as the astronomical and astrological views of its
author, the references to a heretical sect, which has been
identified with the Buddhists, the frequent allusions to
writing and written evidence, &c., have little or no weight
by themselves; but viewing them collectively, their
importance in fixing the date of the Yajnavalkya-smriti
cannot be denied. The highly systematic arrangement of
the law, both religious and secular, in the Yajnavalkya-
smriti, affords evidence in the same direction. Altogether
the composition of the metrical Smriti of Yajnavalkya
cannot be referred to an earlier date than the first cen-
turies A. D. ,
The Narada-smriti is the only work of its kind, in Narada.
which Civil Law is treated by itself without any admixture
of rules relating to rites of worship, penances and other
religious matters. At the same time, Civil Law and Legal
1 See, too. Professor Stenzler’s Preface to his Yajnavalkya, and his paper
on Indian Ordeals (9 vol. of the Journ. Germ. Orient. Soo.) ; E. W. Hop-
kins’s book, “The mutual relations of the four castes according to the
Manava Dharmapastra.” 1881 ; post, Lectures IV—XII.
2 West and Bilhle’r, 44.
3 See Sacred Books, VII. Introduction, and Dr. von Bradke’s paper
above referred to.
4