Sacred Laws of Aryas

SR No.: 007687
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Gorge Buhler
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1897
Total Pages: 1979
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 36 MB

Page 54

INTRODUCTION.
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Southern India and new books from the South will clear up what at present remains uncertain.
In concluding this subject I may state that Haradatta seems to have been aware of the connection of Gautama's law-book with the Sâma-veda, though he does not say it expressly. But he repeatedly and pointedly refers in his commentary to the practices of the Khandogas, and quotes the Grihya-sútra of the Gaiminîyas !, who are a school of Sâma-vedîs, in explanation of several passages. Another southern author, Govindasvamin (if I understand the somewhat corrupt passage correctly), states directly in his commentary on Baudhayana I, 1, 2, 6, that the Gautamîya Dharmasastra was originally studied by the Khandogas alone
In turning now to the second point, the priority of Gautama to the other existing Dharma-sútras, I must premise that it is only necessary to take into account two of the latter, those of Baudhâyana and Vasishtha. For, as has been shown above in the Introduction to Åpastamba, the Sûtras of the latter and those of Hiranyakesin Satyâshadha are younger than Baudhầyana's. The arguments which allow us to place Gautama before both Baudhảyana and Vasishtha are, that both those authors quote Gautama as an authority on law, and that Baudhâyana has transferred a whole chapter of the Dharmasastra to his work, which Vasishtha again has borrowed from him.
As regards the case of Baudhầyana, his references to Gautama are two, one of which can be traced in our Dharmasastra. In the discussion on the peculiar customs prevailing in the South and in the North of India (Baudh. Dh. I, 2, 1-8) Baudhayana expresses himself as follows:
1 A Grihya-sätra of the Gaiminiyas has been discovered by Dr. Burnell with a commentary by Srinivasa. He thinks that the Gaiminiyas are a Sûtra-sakhâ of the Satyayana-Talavakâras.
? My transcript has been made from the MS. presented by Dr. Burnell, the discoverer of the work, to the India Office Library. The passage runs as follows: Yatha vâ bodhâyaniyam dharmasastram kaiskid eva pathyamânam sarvadhikâram bhavati tathå gautamiye gobhillye (?) khandogair eva pathyate 11 vâsishtham tu bahvrikair eva |
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