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INTRODUCTION.
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yana's original work. A metrical work on the Sacred Law seems to be quoted II, 2, 4, 14-15. For, as the second verse, adduced there, says that the penance for one who violated his Guru's bed has been declared above, it seems impossible to assume that the two Slokas belonged to the versified maxims of the Dharma current among the learned Brâhmans. If this quotation is not an interpolation, it proves that, side by side with the Dharma-sätras, metrical treatises on the Sacred Law existed in very early times 1. One quotation, finally, which gives a verse from the dialogue of the daughters of Usanas and Vrishaparvan seems to have been taken from an epic poem. The verse is actually found in the Mahâbhârata I, 78, 10, and again 34, where the altercation between Sarmishtha and Devayani forms part of the Yayâtyupåkhyana. Considering what has been said above regarding the state of the text of the Dharmasútra, and our imperfect knowledge of the history of the Mahâbharata, it would be hazardous to assert that the verse proves Baudhayana's acquaintance with Vyasa's great epic. It will be safer to wait for further proofs that it was known to the Satrakaras, before one bases far-going speculations on this hitherto solitary quotation.
The arguments which may be brought forward to show that Baudhầyana's home lay in Southern India are not as strong as those which permit us to determine the native country of Âpastamba. The portions of the Satras, known to me, contain no direct mention of the south except in the desanirnaya or disquisition on the countries, Dharma-sútra I, 1, 2, where certain peculiar customs of the southern Brâhmans are enumerated, and some districts of Southern India, e.g. Kalinga, are referred to as barbarous countries which must not be visited by Åryans. These utterances show an acquaintance with the south, but by no means prove that Baudhayana lived there. A more significant fact is that Baudhayana declares, I, I, 2, 4, 'going to sea' to be a custom prevailing among the northern Bråhmans, and afterwards, II, I, 22, places that act at the head of the Pata
See also West and Bühler, Digest of Hindu Law Cases, p. xxvii, 2nd ed.
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| SR No. | 007674 |
| Book Title | Dhammapada |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Max Muller |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1881 |
| Total Pages | 2540 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 45 MB |