DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49827#0068
minor smritis.
53
these works contain distinct indications of having been Lecture
composed or remodelled in recent times, and the rest are 1
at best extracts from lost Dharmasutras.1 Thus the prose
Smriti attributed to Brihaspati seems to be of sectarian
origin. The fourth chapter of the *Uganas-smriti contains
several prose rules on the consequences of a marriage unisn
with a Cudra woman, which may perhaps be viewed as the
source of the corresponding Cloka of Manu (III. 16).
In the same work, however, Vasishtha is quoted as an
authority for the statement that a Brahman may take
wives of any of the four castes, while exactly the reverse
of this doctrine is taught in the genuine Dharmasutra of
Vasishtha. Budha is hardly ever quoted as an authority
in the later compilations on law. The other authors are
cited a great deal, but very few of the numerous law-texts
quoted of these authors can be traced in the Smritis
passing under their names, excepting perhaps the Smriti
attributed to Cankha, in which nearly all the verses,
though not the Sutras quoted of that author, can be actual-
ly found.2 The prose texts of Baudhayana on Adoption,
which are sometimes quoted, are taken from a Sutra
work, but not from a Dharmasutra. They are contained
in a supplement (Parigishta) tacked on to Baudhayana’s
Grihyasutra.3
The great majority of the minor Smritis consist of Metnca
Anushtubh Clokas, interspersed in some cases with verses Sn’ritls-
composed in different metres. Some of these works, e. g. the
Caunaka,4 Paragara and Daksha Smritis, cannot be altoge-
ther recent productions, because they actually exhibit
nearly all those passages which are quoted from them in the
authoritative Digests. But the Paragara-smriti certainly
cannot be an ancient work either, as it styles itself a
production of the present (Kali) age of sin, which has
been preceded in three former ages of the world by
the Laws of Manu, Gautama and Canjrhalikhita. The
great Paragara (Brihat Paragara) is an even more mo-
dern work than the Paragara-smriti, also called Laghu-
Paragara, “ the short Paragara.” It appears to be, like
other works, designed by the epithet Brihat “ great,” an
enlarged version of some older work of the same class.
Among the 111 Clokas of which one of the divers Harita- Harita.
! West & Biihler. 36.
3 See Sacred Books, XIV. 334-336.
2 Ibid, 40.
4 West & Biihler. 51
53
these works contain distinct indications of having been Lecture
composed or remodelled in recent times, and the rest are 1
at best extracts from lost Dharmasutras.1 Thus the prose
Smriti attributed to Brihaspati seems to be of sectarian
origin. The fourth chapter of the *Uganas-smriti contains
several prose rules on the consequences of a marriage unisn
with a Cudra woman, which may perhaps be viewed as the
source of the corresponding Cloka of Manu (III. 16).
In the same work, however, Vasishtha is quoted as an
authority for the statement that a Brahman may take
wives of any of the four castes, while exactly the reverse
of this doctrine is taught in the genuine Dharmasutra of
Vasishtha. Budha is hardly ever quoted as an authority
in the later compilations on law. The other authors are
cited a great deal, but very few of the numerous law-texts
quoted of these authors can be traced in the Smritis
passing under their names, excepting perhaps the Smriti
attributed to Cankha, in which nearly all the verses,
though not the Sutras quoted of that author, can be actual-
ly found.2 The prose texts of Baudhayana on Adoption,
which are sometimes quoted, are taken from a Sutra
work, but not from a Dharmasutra. They are contained
in a supplement (Parigishta) tacked on to Baudhayana’s
Grihyasutra.3
The great majority of the minor Smritis consist of Metnca
Anushtubh Clokas, interspersed in some cases with verses Sn’ritls-
composed in different metres. Some of these works, e. g. the
Caunaka,4 Paragara and Daksha Smritis, cannot be altoge-
ther recent productions, because they actually exhibit
nearly all those passages which are quoted from them in the
authoritative Digests. But the Paragara-smriti certainly
cannot be an ancient work either, as it styles itself a
production of the present (Kali) age of sin, which has
been preceded in three former ages of the world by
the Laws of Manu, Gautama and Canjrhalikhita. The
great Paragara (Brihat Paragara) is an even more mo-
dern work than the Paragara-smriti, also called Laghu-
Paragara, “ the short Paragara.” It appears to be, like
other works, designed by the epithet Brihat “ great,” an
enlarged version of some older work of the same class.
Among the 111 Clokas of which one of the divers Harita- Harita.
! West & Biihler. 36.
3 See Sacred Books, XIV. 334-336.
2 Ibid, 40.
4 West & Biihler. 51