The Institutes of Vishnu, translated by Julius Jolly

That's French for "the ancient system," as in the ancient system of feudal privileges and the exercise of autocratic power over the peasants. The ancien regime never goes away, like vampires and dinosaur bones they are always hidden in the earth, exercising a mysterious influence. It is not paranoia to believe that the elites scheme against the common man. Inform yourself about their schemes here.

The Institutes of Vishnu, translated by Julius Jolly

Postby admin » Sun Apr 18, 2021 7:36 am

The Institutes of Vishnu
Translated by Julius Jolly
1880
https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe07/sbe07000.htm

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.


CONTENTS.

• INTRODUCTION
• Vishnu and the Goddess of the Earth
• The Four Castes
• Duties of a King
• Weights and Measures
• Criminal and Civil Law
• Law of Debt
• Writings
• Witnesses
• Ordeals
• Inheritance
• Funeral Ceremonies
• Funeral Oblations
• Impurity
• Women
• Sacraments
• Studentship
• Crimes
• Hells
• Transmigration
• Penances
• Duties of a Householder
• Rules for a Snâtaka
• Self-restraint
• Srâddhas
• Pious Gifts
• The Hermit
• The Ascetic
• Meditation on Vishnu
• Conclusion
• General Index
• Sanskrit Index
• Additions and Corrections
• Transliteration of Oriental Alphabets adopted for the Translations of the Sacred Books of the East
admin
Site Admin
 
Posts: 36125
Joined: Thu Aug 01, 2013 5:21 am

Re: The Institutes of Vishnu, translated by Julius Jolly

Postby admin » Sun Apr 18, 2021 7:36 am

LIST OF THE MORE IMPORTANT ABBREVIATIONS.

Âpast.--Âpastamba's Dharma-sûtra, ed. Bühler.

Âsv.--Âsvalâyana's Grihya-sûtra, ed. Stenzler.

Gaut.--Gautama's Dharmasâstra, ed. Stenzler.

Gobh.--Gobhila's Grihya-sûtra, in the Bibl. Ind.

M.--Mânava Dharmasâstra, Calcutta edition, with the Commentary of Kullûka.

Nand.--Nandapandita, the commentator of the Vishnu-sûtra.

Pâr.--Pâraskara's Grihya-sûtra, ed. Stenzler.

Sânkh.--Sânkhâyana's Grihya-sûtra, ed. Oldenberg, in the fifteenth volume of the Indische Studien.

Y.--Yâgñavalkya's Dharmasâstra, ed. Stenzler.

Âpast. and Gaut. refer also to Dr. Bühler's translation of these two works in the second volume of the Sacred Books of the East.
admin
Site Admin
 
Posts: 36125
Joined: Thu Aug 01, 2013 5:21 am

Re: The Institutes of Vishnu, translated by Julius Jolly

Postby admin » Sun Apr 18, 2021 7:55 am

Part 1 of 2

INTRODUCTION.

THE Vishnu-smriti or Vaishnava Dharmasâstra or Vishnu-sûtra is in the main a collection of ancient aphorisms on the sacred laws of India, and as such it ranks with the other ancient works of this class which have come down to our time[*] [This was first pointed out by Professor Max Müller, History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 134. His results were confirmed and expanded by the subsequent researches of Dr. Bühler, Introduction to Bombay Digest, I, p. xxii; Indian Antiquary, V, p. 30; Kasmir Report, p. 36.]. It may be styled a Dharma-sûtra, though this ancient title of the Sûtra works on law has been preserved in the MSS. of those Smritis only, which have been handed down, like the Dharma-sûtras of Âpastamba, Baudhâyana, and Hiranyakesin, as parts of the respective Kalpa-sûtras, to which they belong. The size of the Vishnu-sûtra, and the great variety of the subjects treated in it, would suffice to entitle it to a conspicuous place among the five or six existing Dharma-sûtras; but it possesses a peculiar claim to interest, which is founded on its close connection with one of the oldest Vedic schools, the Kathas, on the one hand, and with the famous code of Manu and some other ancient law-codes, on the other hand. To discuss these two principal points, and some minor points connected with them, as fully as the limits of an introduction admit of, will be the more necessary, because such a discussion can afford the only safe basis for a conjecture not altogether unsupported regarding the time and place of the original composition of this work, and may even tend to throw some new light on the vexed question as to the origin of the code of Manu. Further on I shall have to speak of the numerous interpolations traceable in the Vishnu-sûtra, and a few remarks regarding the materials used for this translation, and the principles of interpretation that have been followed in it, may be fitly reserved for the last.

There is no surer way for ascertaining the particular Vedic school by which an ancient Sanskrit law-book of unknown or uncertain origin was composed, than by examining the quotations from, and analogies with, Vedic works which it contains. Thug the Gautama Dharmasâstra might have originated in any one among the divers Gautama Karanas with which Indian tradition acquaints us. But the comparatively numerous passages which its author has borrowed from the Samhitâ and from one Brâhmana of the Sâma-veda prove that it must belong to one of those Gautama Karanas who studied the Sâma-veda[*] [See Bühler, Introduction to Gautama (Vol. II of the Sacred Books of the East), pp. xlv-xlviii.]. Regarding the code of Yâgñavalkya we learn from tradition that a Vedic teacher of that name was the reputed author of the White Yagur-veda. But this coincidence might be looked upon as casual, if the Yâgñavalkya-smriti did not contain a number of Mantras from that Vedic Samhitâ, and a number of very striking analogies, in the section on funeral ceremonies particularly, with the Grihya-sûtra of the Vâgasaneyins, the Kâtiya Grihya-sûtra of Pâraskara[*] [Bühler, Introduction to Digest, p. xxxii; Stenzler, On Pâraskara's Grihya-sûtra, in the journal of the German Oriental Society, VII, p. 527 seq.]. In the case of the Vishnu-sûtra an enquiry of this kind is specially called for, because tradition leaves us entirely in the dark as to its real author. The fiction that the laws promulgated in Chapters II-XCVII were communicated by the god Vishnu to the goddess of the earth, is of course utterly worthless for historical purposes; and all that it can be made to show is that those parts of this work in which it is started or kept up cannot rival the laws themselves in antiquity.

Now as regards, first, the Vedic Mantras and Pratîkas (beginnings of Mantras) quoted in this work, it is necessary to leave aside, as being of no moment for the present purpose, 1. very well-known Mantras, or, speaking more precisely, all such Mantras as are frequently quoted in Vedic works of divers Sâkhâs; 2. the purificatory texts enumerated under the title of Sarva-veda-pavitrâni in LVI. The latter can afford us no help in determining the particular Sâkhâ to which this work belongs, because they are actually taken, as they profess to be, from all the Vedas indiscriminately, and because nearly the whole of Chapter LVI is found in the Vâsishtha-smriti as well (see further on), which probably does not belong to the same Veda as this work. Among the former class of Mantras may be included, particularly, the Gâyatrî, the Purushasûkta, the Aghamarshana, the Kûshmândîs, the Vyâhritis, the Gyeshtha Sâmans, the Rudras, the Trinâkiketa, the Trisuparna, the Vaishnava, Sâkra, and Bârhaspatya Mantras mentioned in XC, 3, and the Mantra quoted in XXVIII, 51 (= Gautama's 'Retasya'). Among the twenty-two Mantras quoted in Chapters XLVIII, LXIV, LXV (including repetitions, but excluding the Purushasûkta, Gâyatrî, Aghamarshana) there are also some which may be referred to this class, and the great majority of them occur in more than one Veda at the same time. But it is worthy of note that no less than twelve, besides occurring in at least one other Sâkhâ, are either actually found in the Samhitâ of the Kârâyanîya-kathas, the Kâthaka[*] [In speaking of this work I always refer to the Berlin MS.] (or Karaka-sâkhâ?), or stated to belong to it in the Commentary, while one is found in the Kâthaka alone, a second in the Atharva-veda alone, a third in the Taittirîya Brâhmana alone, and a fourth does not occur in any Vedic work hitherto known[*] [XLVIII, 10. Cf., however, Vâgas. Samh. IV, 12.]. A far greater number of Mantras occurs in Chapters XXI, LXVII, LXXIII, LXXIV, LXXXVI, which treat of daily oblations, Srâddhas, and the ceremony of setting a bull at liberty. Of all these Mantras, which,--including the Purushasûkta and other such well-known Mantras as well as the short invocations addressed to Soma, Agni, and other deities, but excluding the invocations addressed to Vishnu in the spurious Sûtra, LXVII, 2,--are more than a hundred in number, no more than forty or so are found in Vedic works hitherto printed, and in the law-books of Manu, Yâgñavalkya, and others; but nearly all are quoted, exactly in the same order as in this work, in the Kârâyanîya-kâthaka Grihya-sûtra, while some of them have been traced in the Kâthaka as well. And what is even more important, the Kâthaka Grihya does not contain those Mantras alone, but nearly all the Sûtras in which they occur; and it may be stated therefore, secondly, that the Vishnu-sûtra has four long sections, viz. Chapter LXXIII, and Chapters XXI, LXVII, LXXXVI, excepting the final parts, in common with that work, while the substance of Chapter LXXIV may also be traced in it. The agreement between both works is very close, and where they differ it is generally due to false readings or to enlargements on the part of the Vishnu-sûtra. However, there are a few cases, in which the version of the latter work is evidently more genuine than that of the former, and it follows, therefore, that the author of the Vishnu-sûtra cannot have borrowed his rules for the performance of Srâddhas &c. from the Kâthaka Grihya-sûtra, but that both must have drawn from a common source, i. e. no doubt from the traditions current in the Katha school, to which this work is indebted for so many of its Mantras as well.

For these reasons[*] [For details I may refer the reader to my German paper, Das Dharmasûtra des Vishnu und das Kâthakagrihyasûtra, in the Transactions of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Science for 1879, where the sections corresponding in both works have been printed in parallel columns, the texts from the Kâthaka Grihya-sûtra having been prepared from two of the MSS. of Devapâla's Commentary discovered by Dr. Bühler (Kasmir Report, Nos. 11, 12), one in Devanâgarî, and the other in Sâradâ characters.] I fully concur in the view advanced by Dr. Bühler, that the bulk of the so-called Vishnu-smriti is really the ancient Dharma-sûtra of the Kârâyanîya-kâthaka Sâkhâ of the Black Yagur-veda. It ranks, like other Dharma-sûtras, with the Grihya and Srauta-sûtras of its school; the latter of which, though apparently lost now, is distinctly referred to in the Grihya-sûtra in several places, and must have been in existence at the time when the Commentaries on Kâtyâyana's Srauta-sûtras were composed, in which it is frequently quoted by the name of Katha-sûtra on divers questions concerning Srauta offerings, and at the time, when the Kasmîrian Devapâla wrote his Commentary on the Kâthaka Grihya-sûtra, which was, according to the Kasmîrian tradition, as explored by Dr. Bühler, before the conquest of Kasmîr by the Mahommedans. Devapâla, in the Introduction to his work, refers to 'thirty-nine Adhyâyas treating of the Vaitânika (= Srauta) ceremonies,' by which the Grihya-sûtra was preceded, from which statement it may be inferred that the Kâthaka Srauta-sûtras must have been a very voluminous work indeed, as the Grihya-sûtra, which is at least equal if not superior in extent to other works of the same class, forms but one Adhyâya, the fortieth, of the whole Kalpa-sûtra, which, according to Devapâla, was composed by one author. It does not seem likely that the Vishnu-sûtra was composed by the same man, or that it ever formed part of the Kâthaka Kalpa-sûtra, as the Dharma-sûtras of Baudhâyana, Âpastamba, and Hiranyakesin form part of the Kalpa-sûtras of the respective schools to which they belong. If that were the case, it would agree with the Grihya-sûtra on all those points which are treated in both works, such as e. g. the terms for the performance of the Samskâras or sacraments, the rules for a student and for a Snâtaka, the enumeration and definition of the Krikkhras or 'hard penances,' the forms of marriage, &c. Now though the two works have on those subjects a number of such rules in common as occur in other works also, they disagree for the most part in the choice of expressions, and on a few points lay down exactly opposite rules, such as the Vishnu-sûtra (XXVIII, 28) giving permission to a student to ascend his spiritual teacher's carriage after him, whereas the other work prescribes, that he shall do so on no account. Moreover, if both works had been destined from the first to supplement one another, they would, instead of having several entire sections in common, exhibit such cross-references as are found e. g. between the Âpastamba Grihya and Dharma-sûtras[*] [Bühler, Introduction to Âpastamba, Sacred Books, II, pp. xi-xiv]; though the absence of such references might be explained, in the case of the Vishnu-sûtra, by the activity of those who brought it into its present shape, and who seem to have carefully removed all such references to other works as the original Dharmasûtra may have contained. Whatever the precise nature of the relations between this work and the other Sûtra works of the Kârâyanîya-kâthaka school may have been, there is no reason for assigning to it a later date than to the Kâthaka Srauta and Grihya-sûtras, with the latter of which it has so much in common, and it may therefore claim a considerable antiquity, especially if it is assumed, with Dr. Bühler, that the beginning of the Sûtra period differed for each Veda. The Veda of the Kathas, the Kâthaka, is not separated from the Sûtra literature of this school by an intermediate: Brâhmana stage; yet its high antiquity is testified by several of the most eminent grammarians of India from Yâska down to Kaiyata[*] [See Weber, Indische Studien XIII, p. 437 seq.]. Thus the Kâthaka is the only existing work of its kind, which is quoted by the former grammarian (Nirukta X, 5; another clear quotation from the Kâthaka, XXVII, 9, though not by name, may be found, Nirukta III, 4), and the latter places the Kathas at the head of all Vedic schools, while Patatañgali, the author of the Mahâbhâshya, assigns to the ancient sage Katha, the reputed founder of the Katha or Kâthaka school of the Black Yagur-veda, the dignified position of an immediate pupil of Vaisampâyana, the fountain-head of all schools of the older or Black Yagur-veda, and mentions, in accordance with a similar statement preserved in the Râmâyana (II, 32, 18, 19 ed. Schlegel), that in his own time the 'Kâlâpaka and the Kâthaka' were 'proclaimed in every village[*] [Mahâbhâshya, Benares edition, IV, fols. 82 b, 75 b.].' The priority of the Kathas before all other existing schools of the Yagur-veda may be deduced from the statements of the Karanavyûha[*] [See Weber, find. Stud. III, p. 256 seq.; Max Müller, Hist. Anc. Sansk. Lit., p. 369. I have consulted, besides, two Munich MSS. of the Karanavyûha (cod, Haug 45).], which work assigns to them one of the first places among the divers branches of the Karakas, whom it places at the head of all schools of the Yagur-veda. Another argument in favour of the high antiquity of the Kathas may be derived from their geographical position[*] [See Weber, Über das Râmâyana, p. 9: Ind. Stud. I, p. 189 seq.; III, p. 469 seq.; XIII, pp. 375, 439; Ind. Litteraturgeschichte, pp. 99, 332; Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 102 seq.]. Though the statements of the Mahâbhâshya and Râmâyana regarding the wide-spread and influential position of the Kathas in ancient times are borne out by the fact that the Karanavûtha mentions three subdivisions of the Kathas, viz. the Kathas proper, the Prâkya Kathas, and the Kapishthala Kathas, to which the Kârâyanîyas may be added as a fourth, and by the seeming identity of their name with the name of the {Greek Kaðaîoi} in the Pañgâb on the one hand, and with the first part of the name of the peninsula of Kattivar on the other hand, it seems very likely nevertheless that the original home of the Kathas was situated in the north-west, i. e. in those regions where the earliest parts of the Vedas were composed. Not only the {Greek Kaðaîoi}, but the {Greek Kambísðoloi} as well, who have been identified with the Kapishthala Kathas[*] [See, however, Max Müller, Hist. Anc, Sansk. Lit., p. 333.], are mentioned by Greek writers as a nation living in the Pañgâb; and while the Prâkya Kathas are shown by their name ('Eastern Kathas') to have lived to the east of the two other branches of the Kathas, it is a significant fact that adherents of the Kârâyanîya-kâthaka school survive nowhere but in Kasmîr, where all Brâhmanas perform their domestic rites according to the rules laid down in the Grihya-sûtra of this school[*] [Bühler, Kasmîr Report, p. 20 seq.]. Kasmîr is moreover the country where nearly all the yet existing works of the Kâthaka school have turned up, including the Berlin MS. of the Kâthaka, which was probably written by a Kasmîrian[*] [This was pointed out to me by Dr. Bühler.]. It is true that some of the geographical and historical data contained in that work, especially the way in which it mentions the Pañkâlas, whose ancient name, as shown by the Satapatha Brâhmana (XIII, 5, 4, 7) and Rig-veda (VIII, 20, 24; VIII, 22, 12), was Krivi, take us far off from the north-west, the earliest seat of Aryan civilization, into the country of the Kuru-Pañkâlas in Hindostân proper. But it must be borne in mind that the Kâthaka, if it may be identified with the 'Karaka-sâkhâ,' must have been the Veda of all the Karakas except perhaps the Maitrâyanîyas and Kapishthalas, and may have been altered and enlarged, after the Kathas and Karakas had spread themselves across Hindostân. The Sûtras of a Sâkhâ which appears to have sprung up near the primitive home of Âryan civilization in India, which was probably the original home of the Kathas at the same time, may be far older than those of mere Sûtra schools of the Black Yagur-veda, which have sprung up, like the Âpastamba school, in South India, i. e. far older than the fourth or fifth century B. C.[*] [See Bühler, Introd. to Âpastamba, p. xliii.]

But sufficient space has been assigned to these attempts at fixing the age of the Kâthaka-sûtras which, besides remaining only too uncertain in themselves, can apply with their full force to those parts of the Vishnu-sûtra only, which have been traced in the Kâthaka Grihya-sûtra. It will be seen afterwards that even these sections, however closely connected with the sacred literature of the Kathas, have been tampered with in several places, and it might be argued, therefore, that the whole remainder of the Vishnu-sûtra, to which the Kâthaka literature offers no parallel, may be a subsequent addition. But the antiquity of the great majority of its laws can be proved by independent arguments, which are furnished by a comparison of the Vishnu-sûtra with other works of the same class, whose antiquity is not doubted.

In the foot-notes to my translation I have endeavoured to give as complete references as possible to the analogous passages in the Smritis of Manu, Yâgñavalkya, Âpastamba, and Gautama, and in the four Grihya-sûtras hitherto printed. A large number of analogous passages might have been traced in the Dharma-sûtras of Vâsishtha[*] [ See the Benares edition (1878), which is accompanied with a Commentary by Krishnapandita Dharmâdhikârin, I should have given references to this {footnote p. xvii} work, the first complete and reliable edition of the Vâsishtha-smriti, in the footnotes to my translation, but for the fact that it did not come into my hands till the former had gone to the press. For Baudhâyana I have consulted a Munich MS. containing the text only of his Sûtras (cod. Haug 163).] and Baudhâyana as well, not to mention Hiranyakesin's Dharma-sûtra, which, according to Dr. Bühler, is nearly identical with the Dharma-sûtra of Âpastamba. Two facts may be established at once by glancing at these analogies, viz. the close agreement of this work with the other Sûtra works in point of form, and with all the above-mentioned works in point of contents. As regards the first point, the Sûtras or prose rules of which the bulk of the Vishnu-sûtra is composed, show throughout that characteristic laconism of the Sûtra style, which renders it impossible in many cases to make out the real meaning of a Sûtra without the help of a Commentary; and in the choice of terms they agree as closely as possible with the other ancient law-books, and in some cases with the Grihya-sûtras as well. Numerous verses, generally in the Sloka metre, and occasionally designed as 'Gâthâs,' are added at the end of most chapters, and interspersed between the Sûtras in some; but in this particular also the Vishnu-sûtra agrees with at least one other Dharma-sûtra, the Vâsishtha-smriti, and it contains in its law part, like the latter work, a number of verses in the ancient Trishtubh metre[*] [XIX, 23, 24; XXIII, 61; XXIX, 9, 10; XXX, 47 (see Nirukta 11, 4; Vâsishtha II, 8-10); LVI, 27 see Vâsishtha XXVIII, 15); LIX, 30; LXXII, 7; LXXXVI, 16.]. Four of these Trishtubhs are found in the Vâsishtha-smriti, and three in Yâska's Nirukta as well, and the majority of the Slokas has been traced in the former work and the other above-mentioned law-books, and in other Smritis. In point of contents the great majority both of the metrical and prose rules of the Vishnu-sûtra agrees with one, or some, or all of the works named above. The Grihya-sûtras, excepting the Kâthaka Grihya-sûtra, naturally offer a far smaller number of analogies with it than the Smritis, still they exhibit several rules, in the Snâtaka-dharmas and otherwise, that have not been traced in any other Smriti except the work here translated. Among the Smritis again, each single one maybe seen from the references to contain a number of such rules, as are only met with in this work, which is a very important fact because, if the laws of the Vishnu-sûtra were found either in all other Smritis, or in one of them only, its author might be suspected of having borrowed them from one of those works. As it is, meeting with analogous passages now in one work, and then in another, one cannot but suppose that the author of this work has everywhere drawn from the same source as the other Sûtrakâras, viz. from ancient traditions that were common to all Vedic schools.

There are, moreover, a number of cases in which this work, instead of having borrowed from other works of the same class, can be shown to have been, directly or indirectly, the source from which they drew, and this fact constitutes a third reason in favour of the high antiquity of its laws. The clearest case of this kind is furnished by the Vâsishtha-smriti, with which this work has two entire chapters in common, which are not found elsewhere. I subjoin in a note the text of Vâsishtha XXVIII, 10-15, with an asterisk to those words which contain palpable mistakes (not including blunders in point of metre), for comparison with Chapter LVI of this work in the Calcutta edition, which is exceptionally correct in this chapter and in Chapter LXXXVII, which latter corresponds to Vâsishtha XXVIII, 18-22[*] [ ### {footnote p. xix} ### Vishnu LVI, 15, 16, the best MSS. read ### but the Calc. ed. and one London MS. have ### like Vâsishtha. Of Vishnu LXXXVII the latter has an abridged version, which contains the faulty readings ### ('the skin of a black antelope,' Comm.) and ### (as an epithet of the earth = ### Vishnu LXXXVII, 9).] In both chapters Vishnu has mainly prose Sûtras and throughout a perfectly correct text, whereas Vâsishtha has bad Slokas which, supported as they are by the Commentary or by the metre or by both, can only be accounted for by carelessness or clerical mistakes in some cases, and by a clumsy versification of the original prose version preserved in this work in others. Another chapter of the Vishnu-sûtra, the forty-eighth, nowhere meets with a parallel except in the third Prasna of the Dharma-sûtra of Baudhâyana, where it recurs almost word for word. An examination of the various readings in both works shows that in some of the Slokas Baudhâyana has better readings, while in one or two others the readings of Vishnu seem preferable, though the unsatisfactory condition of the MS. consulted renders it unsafe to pronounce a definitive judgment on the character of Baudhâyana's readings. At all events he has a few Vedic Mantras more than Vishnu, which however seem to be very well-known Mantras and are quoted by their Pratîkas only. But he omits the two important Sûtras 9 and 10 of Vishnu, the latter of which contains a Mantra quoted at full, which, although corrupted (see Vâgas. Samh. IV, 12) and hardly intelligible, is truly Vedic in point of language; and he adds on his part a clause at the end of the whole chapter[*] [###], which inculcates the worship of Ganesa or Siva or both, and would be quite sufficient in itself to cast a doubt on the genuineness and originality of his version. It is far from improbable that both Vâsishtha and Baudhâyana may have borrowed the sections referred to directly from an old recension of this work, as Baudhâyana has borrowed another chapter of his work from Gautama, while Vâsishtha in his turn has borrowed the same chapter from Baudhâyana[*] [See Bühler, Introduction to Gautama, pp. l-liv.]. It may be added in confirmation of this view, that as far as Vâsishtha is concerned, his work is the only Smriti, as far as I know, which contains a quotation from the 'Kâthaka'(in XXIX, 18). The Dharma-sûtras of Âpastamba and Gautama have nowhere a large number of consecutive Sûtras in common with the Vishnu-sûtra, but it is curious to note that the rule, which the latter (X, 45) quotes as the opinion of 'some' (eke), that a non-Brahmanical finder of a treasure, who announces his find to the king, shall obtain one-sixth of the value, is found in no other law-book except in this, which states (III, 61) that a Sûdra shall 'divide a treasure-trove into twelve parts, two of which he may keep for himself. Of the metrical law-books, one, the Yâgñavalkya-smriti, has been shown by Professor Max Müller[*] [Hist. Anc. Sansk. Lit., p. 331.] to have borrowed the whole anatomical section (III, 84-104 including the simile of the soul which dwells in the heart like a lamp (III, 109, III, 201), from this work (XCVI, 43-96; XCVII, 9); and it has been pointed out by the same scholar, that the verse in which the author of the former work speaks of the Âranyaka and of the Yoga-sâstra as of his own works (III, 110) does not occur in the Vishnu-sûtra, and must have been added by the versificator, who brought the Yâgñavalkya-smriti into its present metrical form. Several other Slokas in Yâgñavalkya's description of the human body (111, 99, 105-108), and nearly the whole section on Yoga (Y. III, 111-203, excepting those Slokas, the substance of which is found in this work and in the code of Manu, viz. 131-140, 177-182, 190, 198-201) may be traced to the same source, as may be also the omission of Vishnu's enumeration of the 'six limbs' (XCVI, 90) in the Yâgñavalkya-smriti, and probably all the minor points on which it differs from this work. Generally speaking, those passages which have been justly noticed as marking the comparatively late period in which that law-book must have been composed[*] [See Stenzler, in the Preface to his edition of Yâgñavalkya; Jacobi, on Indian Chronology, in the Journal of the German Oriental Society, XXX, 305 seq., &c. Vishnu's rules (III, 82) concerning the wording &c. of royal grants, which agree with the rules of Yâgñavalkya and other authors, must be allowed a considerable antiquity, as the very oldest grants found in South India conform to those rules. See Burnell, South Indian Palæography, 2nd ed., p. 95.]: such as the allusions to the astrology and astronomy of the Greeks (Y. I, 80, 295), which render it necessary to refer the metrical redaction of the Yâgñavalkya-smriti to a later time than the second century A. D.; the whole passage on the worship of Ganesa and of the planets (I, 270-307), in which, moreover, a heterodox sect is mentioned, that has been identified with the Buddhists; the philosophical doctrines propounded in I, 349, 350; the injunctions regarding the foundation and endowment of monasteries (II, 185 seq.)--all these passages have no parallel in this work, while it is not overstating the case to say that nearly all the other subjects mentioned in the Yâgñavalkya-smriti are treated in a similar way, and very often in the same terms, in the Vishnu-sûtra as well. Some of those rules, in which the posteriority of the Yâgñavalkya-smriti to other law-books exhibits itself, do occur in the Vishnu-sûtra, but without the same marks of modern age. Thus the former has two Slokas concerning the punishment of forgery (II, 240, 241), in which coined money is referred to by the term nânaka; the Vishnu-sûtra has the identical rule (V, 122, 123; cf. V, 9). but the word nânaka does not occur in it. Yâgñavalkya, in speaking of the number of wives which a member of the three higher castes may marry (I, 57), advocates the Puritan view, that no Sûdra wife must be among these; this work has analogous rules (XXIV, 1-4), in which, however, such marriages are expressly allowed. The comparative priority of all those Sûtras of Vishnu, to which similar Slokas of Yâgñavalkya correspond, appears probable on general grounds, which are furnished by the course of development in this as in other branches of Indian literature; and to this it may be added, as far as the civil and criminal laws are concerned, that the former enumerates them quite promiscuously, just like the other Dharma-sûtras, with which he agrees besides in separating the law of inheritance from the body of the laws, whereas Yâgñavalkya enumerates all the laws in the order of the eighteen 'titles of law' of Manu and the more recent law-books, though he does not mention the titles of law by name.

However much the Vishnu-sûtra may have in common with the Yâgñavalkya-smriti, there is no other law-book with which it agrees so closely as with the code of Manu. This fact may be established by a mere glance at the references in the foot-notes to this translation, in which Manu makes his appearance far more frequently and constantly than any other author, and the case becomes the stronger, the more the nature of these analogies is inquired into. Of Slokas alone Vishnu has upwards of 160 in common with Manu, and in a far greater number of cases still his Sûtras agree nearly word for word with the corresponding rules of Manu. The latter also, though he concurs in a very great number of points with the other law authors as well, agrees with none of them so thoroughly as with Vishnu. All the Smritis of Âpastamba, Baudhâyana, Vâsishtha, Yâgñavalkya, and Nârada contain, according to an approximate calculation, no more than about 130 Slokas, that are found in the code of Manu as well. The latter author and Vishnu differ of course on a great many minor points, and an exhaustive discussion of this subject would fill a treatise; I must therefore confine myself to notice some of those differences, which are particularly important for deciding the relative priority of the one work before the other. In a number of Slokas Manu's readings are decidedly older and better than Vishnu's. Thus the latter (XXX, 7) compares the three 'Atigurus' to the 'three gods,' i.e. to the post-Vedic Trimûrti of 'Brahman, Vishnu, and Siva,' as the commentator expressly states, whereas Manu in an analogous Sloka (II, 230) refers to the 'three orders' instead. At the end of the section on inheritance (XVIII, 44) Vishnu mentions among other indivisible objects 'a book,' pustakam; Manu (IX, 219) has the same Sloka, but for pustakam he reads prakakshate. Now pustaka is a modern word[*] [See Max Müller, Hist. Anc. Sansk. Lit., p. 512.], and Varâhamihira, who lived in the sixth century A. D., appears to be the first author, with a known date, by whom it is used. It occurs again, Vishnu-sûtra XXIII, 56 (prokshanena ka pustakam), and here also Manu (V, 122) has a different reading (punahpâkena mrinmayam). The only difference between Vishnu-sûtra XXII, 93 and Manu V, 110 consists in the use of singular forms (te, srinu) in the former work, and of plural forms (vah, srinuta) in the latter. Now there are a great many other Smritis besides the Manu-smriti, such as e. g. the Yâgñavalkya and Parâsara Smritis, in which the fiction is kept up, that the laws contained in them are promulgated to an assembly of Rishis; but there are very few Smritis of the least notoriety or importance besides the Vishnu-sûtra, in which they are proclaimed to a single person. Other instances in which Manu's readings appear preferable to Vishnu's may be found, LI, 60 (pretya keha ka nishkritim) = Manu V, 38 (pretya ganmani ganmani); LI, 64 (iti kathañkana) = M. V, 41 (ity abravînmanuh); LI, 76 (tasya) = M.V, 53 (tayoh); LIV, 27 (brâhmanyât) = M. XI, 193 (brahmanâ); LVII, 11 (purastâd anukoditâm) = M. IV, 248; Vâsishtha XIV, 16; Âpastamba I, 6, 19, 14 (purastâd aprakoditâm); LXVII, 45 (sâyamprâtas tvatithaye) = M. III, 99 (samprâptâya tvatithaye), &c. But these instances do not prove much, as all the passages in question may have been tampered with by the Vishnuitic editor, and as in sonic other cases the version of Vishnu seems preferable. Thus 'practised by the virtuous' (sâdhubhiska nishevitam, LXXI, 90) is a very common epithet of 'âkâra,' and reads better than Manu's nibaddham sveshu karmasu (IV, 155); and krikkhrâtikrikkhram (LIV, 30) seems preferable to Baudhâyana's and Manu's krikkhrâtikrikkhrau (XI, 209). What is more important, the Vishnu-sûtra does not only contain a number of verses in the ancient Trishtubh metre, whereas Manu has none, but it shows those identical three Trishtubhs of Vâsishtha and Yâska, which Dr. Bühler has proved to have been converted into Anushtubh Slokas by Manu (II, 114, 115, 144)[*] [Introduction to Bombay Digest, I, p, xxviii seq.]; and Manu seems to have taken the substance of his three Slokas from this work more immediately, because both he (II, 144) and Vishnu, (XXX, 47) have the reading âvrinoti for âtrinatti, which truly Vedic form is employed both by Vâsishtha and Yâska. The relative antiquity of Vishnu's prose rules, as compared to the numerous corresponding Slokas of Manu, may be proved by arguments precisely similar to those which I have adduced above in speaking of the Yâgñavalkya-smriti. As regards those points in the code of Manu, which are usually considered as marks of the comparatively late date of its composition, it will suffice to mention, that the Vishnu-sûtra nowhere refers to South Indian nations such as the Dravidas and Andhras, or to the Yavanas; that it shows no distinct traces of an acquaintance with the tenets of any other school of philosophy except the Yoga and Sânkhya systems; that it does not mention female ascetics disparagingly, and in particular does not contain Manu's rule (VIII, 363) regarding the comparatively light punishment to be inflicted for violation of (Buddhist and other) female ascetics; and that it does not inveigh (see XV, 3), like Manu (IX, 64-68), against the custom of Niyoga or appointment of a widow to raise offspring to her deceased husband. It is true, on the other hand, that in many cases Vishnu's rules have a less archaic character than the corresponding precepts of Manu, not only in the Slokas, but in the Sûtra part as well. Thus written documents and ordeals are barely mentioned in the code (if Manu (VIII, 114, 115, 168; IX, 232); Vishnu on the other hand, besides referring in divers places to royal grants and edicts, to written receipts and other private documents, and to books, devotes to writings (lekhya) an entire chapter, in which he makes mention of the caste of Kâyasthas, 'scribes,' and he lays down elaborate rules for the performance of five species of ordeals, to which recourse should be had, according to him, in all suits of some importance. But in nearly all such cases the antiquity of Vishnu's rules is warranted to a certain extent by corresponding rules occurring in the Smritis of Yâgñavalkya and Nârada; and the evidence for the modifications and entire transformations, which the code of Manu must have undergone in a number of successive periods, is so abundant, that the archaic character of many of its rules cannot be considered to constitute a sufficient proof of the priority of the whole code before other codes which contain some rules of a comparatively modern character. To this it must be added that the Nârada-smriti, though taken as a whole it is decidedly posterior to the code of Manu[*] [See the evidence collected in the Preface to my Institutes of Nârada (London, 1876), to which the important fact may be added that Nârada uses the word dinâra, the Roman denarius. It occurs in a large fragment discovered by Dr. Bühler of a more bulky and apparently older recension of that work than the one which I have translated; and I may be allowed to mention, incidentally, that this discovery has caused me to abandon my design of publishing the Sanskrit text of the shorter recension, as it may be hoped that the whole text of the original work will soon come to light.], is designated by tradition as an epitome from another and more bulky recension of the code of Manu than the one which we now possess; and if this statement may be credited, which is indeed rather doubtful, the very particular resemblance between both works in the law of evidence and in the rules regarding property (see LVIII) can only tend to corroborate the assumption that the Vishnu-sûtra and the Manu-smriti must have been closely connected from the first.
admin
Site Admin
 
Posts: 36125
Joined: Thu Aug 01, 2013 5:21 am

Re: The Institutes of Vishnu, translated by Julius Jolly

Postby admin » Sun Apr 18, 2021 8:05 am

Part 2 of 2

This view is capable of further confirmation still by a different set of arguments. The so-called code of Manu is universally assumed now to be an improved metrical edition of the ancient Dharma-sûtra of the (Maitrâyaniya-) Mânavas, a school studying the Black Yagur-veda; and it has been shown above that the ancient stock of the Vishnu-sûtra, in which all the parts hitherto discussed may be included, represents in the main the Dharma-sûtra, of the Kârâyanîya-kathas, another school studying the Black Yagur-veda. Now these two schools do not only belong both to that Veda, but to the same branch of it, as may be seen from the Kârânavyûha, which work classes both the Kathas and Kârâyanîyas on the one hand, and the Mânavas together with the six or five other sections of the Maitrâyanîyas on the other hand, as subdivisions of the Karaka Sakhâ of the Black Yagur-veda. What is more, there exists a thorough-going parallelism between the literature of those two schools, as far as it is known. To begin with their respective Samhitâs, it has been shown by L. Schröder[*] [On the Maitrâyanî Samhitâ, journal of the German Oriental Society, XXXIII, 177 seq.] that the Maitrâyanî Samhitâ has more in common with the Kâthaka, the Samhitâ of the Kathas, than with any other Veda. As the Kathas are constantly named, in the Mahâbhâshya and other old works, by the side of the Kâlâpas, whereas the name of the Maitrâyanîyas does not occur in any Sanskrit work of uncontested antiquity, it has been suggested by the same scholar that the Maitrâyanîyas may be the Kâlâpas of old, and may not have assumed the former name till Buddhism began to prevail in India. However this may be, the principal Sûtra works of both schools stand in a similar relation to one another as their Samhitâs. Some of those Mantras, which have been stated above to be common to the Vishnu-sûtra and Kâthaka Grihya only, and to occur in no other Vedic work hitherto printed, have been traced in the Mânava Srauta-sûtra, in the chapter on Pinda-pitriyagña (I, 2 of the section on Prâksoma)[*] [Cod. Haug 53 of the Munich Library.], and the conclusion is, that if the Srauta-sûtra of the Kâthaka school were still in existence, it would be found to exhibit a far greater number of analogies with the Srauta-sûtra of the Mânavas. The Grihya-sûtra of this school[*] [Codd. Haug 55 and 56 of the Munich Library. For details, see my German paper above referred to.] agrees with the Kâthaka Grihya-sûtra even more closely than the latter agrees with the Vishnu-sûtra, as both works have not only several entire chapters in common (the chapter on the Vaisvadeva sacrifice among others, which is found in the Vishnu-sûtra also), but concur everywhere in the arrangement of the subject-matter and in the choice of expressions and Mantras. The Brâhmana stage of Vedic literature is not represented by a separate work in either of the two schools, but a further argument in favour of their alleged historical connection may be derived from their respective geographical position. If it has been rightly conjectured above, that the original seats of the Kathas were in the north-west, whence they spread themselves over Hindostân, the Maitrâyanîyas, though now surviving nowhere except in some villages 'near the Sâtpuda mountain, which is included in the Vindhyas[*] [Bhâû Dâjî, journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, X, 40.].' must have been anciently their neighbours, as the territory occupied by them extended 'from the Mayûra mountain into Gugarât,' and reached 'as far as the north-western country' (vâyavyadesa)[*] [See a passage from the Mahârnava, as quoted by Dr. Bühler, Introduction to Âpastamba, p. xxx seq. The same readings are found in a Munich MS. of the Karanavyûha-vyâkhyâ (cod. Haug 4.5). With the above somewhat unclear statement Manu's definition of the limits of Brahmâvarta (II, 17) may not unreasonably be compared.]. Considering all this evidence regarding the original connection between the Kathas and Mânavas, it may be said without exaggeration, that it would be far more surprising to find no traces of resemblance between their respective Dharma-sûtras, such as we possess them, than to find, as is actually the case, the contrary; and it may be argued, vice versâ, that the supposed connection of the two works with the Vedic schools of the Kathas and Mânavas[*] [The code of Manu has very little in common with the Mânava Grihya-sûtra, both in the Mantras and otherwise. Both Vishnu and Manu agree with the Kâthaka in the use of the curious term abhinimrukta or abhinirmukta; but the same term is used by Âpastamba, Vâsishtha, and others.], respectively, is confirmed by the kinship existing between these two schools.

In turning now from the ancient parts of the Vishnu-sûtra to its more recent ingredients, I may again begin by quoting Professor Max Müller's remarks on this work, which contain the statement, that it is 'enlarged by modern additions written in Slokas[*] [Hist. Anc. Sansk. Lit., p. 134.].' After him, Dr. Bühler pointed out[*] [Introduction to Bombay Digest. p. xxii.] that the whole work appears to have been recast by an adherent of Vishnu, and that the final and introductory chapters in particular are shown by their very style to have been composed by another author than the body of the work. If the latter remark were in need of further confirmation, it might be urged that the description of Vishnu as 'the boar of the sacrifice' (yagñavarâha) in the first chapter is bodily taken from the Harivamsa (2226-2237), while most of the epithets given to Vishnu in I, 49-61 and XCVIII, 7-100 may be found in another section of the Mahâbhârata, the so-called Vishnu-sahasranâma. Along with the introductory and final chapters, all those passages generally are distinctly traceable to the activity of the Vishnuitic editor, in which Vishnu (Purusha, Bhagavat, Vâsudeva, &c.) is mentioned, or his dialogue with the goddess of the earth carried on, viz. I; V, 193; XIX, 24; XX, 16-21; XXII, 93; XXIII, 46; XXIV, 35; XLVII, 10; XLIX; LXIV, 28, 29; LXV; LXVI; LXVII, 2; XC, 3-5,17-23; XCVI, 97,98; XCVII, 7-21; XCVIII-C. The short invocation addressed to Vishnu in LXVII, 12 is proved to be ancient by its recurrence in the corresponding chapter of the Kâthaka Grihya-sûtra, and Chapter LXV contains genuine Kâthaka Mantras transferred to a Vishnuitic ceremony. Chapter LXVI, on the other hand, though it does not refer to Vishnu by name, seems to be connected with the same Vishnuitic rite, and becomes further suspected by the recurrence of several of its rules in the genuine Chapter LXXIX. The contents of Chapter XCVII, in which it is attempted to reconcile some of the main tenets of the Sânkhya system, as propounded in the Sânkhya-kârikâ, Sânkhya-pravakanabhâshya, and other works, with the Vaishnava creed and with the Yoga; the fact that the two Slokas in XCVI (97, 98) and part of the Slokas in XCVII (15-21) have their parallel in similar Slokas of the Bhagavad-gîtâ and of the Bhâgavata-purâna; the terms Mahatpati, Kapila, and Sânkhyâkârya, used as epithets of Vishnu (XCVIII, 26, 85, 86); and some other passages in the Vishnuitic chapters seem to favour the supposition that the editor may have been one of those members of the Vishnuitic sect of the Bhâgavatas, who were conspicuous for their leaning towards the Sânkhya and Yoga systems of philosophy. The arrangement of the Vishnu-sûtra in a hundred chapters is no doubt due to the same person, as the Commentary points out that the number of the epithets given to Vishnu in XCVIII is precisely equal to the number of chapters into which the laws promulgated by him are divided (II-XCVII); though the number ninety-six is received only by including the introductory and final invocations (XCVIII, 6, 101) among the epithets of Vishnu. It seems quite possible, that some chapters were inserted mainly in order to bring up the whole figure to the round number of a hundred chapters, and it is for this reason chiefly that the majority of the following additions, which show no Vishnuitic tendencies, may also be attributed to the Vishnuitic editor.

1. Most or all of the Slokas added at the end of Chapters XX (22-53) and XLIII (32-45) cannot be genuine; the former on account of their great extent and partial recurrence in the Bhagavad-gîtâ[*] [Besides the passages quoted in the notes, 50-53 nearly Bhag.-gîtâ II, 22-26.], Mahâbhârata, and other works of general note, and because they refer to the self-immolation of widows and to Kâla, whom the commentator is probably right in identifying with Vishnu; the latter on account of their rather extravagant character and decidedly Purânic style, though the Gâruda-purâna, in its very long description of the hells, offers no strict parallel to the details given here. The verses in which the Brâhmanas and cows are celebrated (XIX, 22, 23; XXIII, 57-61) are also rather extravagant; however, some of them are Trishtubhs, and the verses in XIX are closely connected with the preceding Sûtras. The two final Slokas in LXXXVI (19, 20) may also be suspected as to their genuineness, because they are wanting in the corresponding chapter of the Kâthaka Grihya-sûtra; and a number of other verses in divers places, because they have no parallel in the Smriti literature, or because they have been traced in comparatively modern works, such as the Bhagavad-gîtâ, the Pañkatantra, &c. 2. The week of the later Romans and Greeks, and of modern Europe (LXXVIII, 1-7), the self-immolation of widows (XXV, 14; cf. XX, 39), and the Buddhists and Pâsupatas (LXIII, 36) are not mentioned in any ancient Sanskrit work. Besides, the passages in question may be easily removed, especially the Sûtras referring to the seven days of the week, which form clearly a subsequent addition to the enumeration of the Nakshatras and Tithis immediately following (LXXVIII, 8-50), and the rule concerning the burning of widows (XXV, 14), which is in direct opposition to the law concerning the widow's right to inherit (XVII, 4) and to other precepts regarding widows. That the three terms kâshâyin, pravragita, malina in LXIII, 36 refer to members of religious orders seems clear, but it maybe doubted whether malina denotes the Pâsupatas, and even whether kâshâyin (cf. pravragita XXXVI, 7) denotes the Buddhists, as dresses dyed with Kashâya are worn by Brahmanical sects also, and prescribed for students, and for ascetics likewise, by some of the Grihya- and Dharma-sûtras. Still the antiquity of the Sûtra in question can hardly be defended, because the acquaintance of the Vishnuitic editor with the Buddhistic system of faith is proved by two other Sûtras (XCVIII, 40, 41), and because the whole subject of good and evil omens is not treated in any other ancient Smriti. On the other hand, such terms as vedanindâ and nâstikatâ (XXXVII, 4, 31, &c.) recur in most Smritis, and can hardly be referred to the Buddhists in particular. 3. The Tîrthas enumerated in LXXXV, some of which are sacred to Vishnu and Siva, belong to all parts of India, and many of them are situated in the Dekhan, which was certainly not included within the limits of the 'Âryâvarta' of the ancient Dharma-sûtra (LXXXIV, 4). As no other Smriti contains a list of this kind, the whole chapter may be viewed as a later addition. 4. The ceremonies described in XC are not mentioned in other Smritis, while some of them are decidedly Vishnuitic, or traceable in modern works; and as all the Sûtras in XC hang closely together, this entire chapter seems also to be spurious. 5. The repetitions in the list of articles forbidden to sell (LIV, 18-22); the addition of the two categories of atipâtakâni, 'crimes in the highest degree,' and prakîrntakam, 'miscellaneous crimes' (XXXIII, 3,5; XXXIV; XLII), to Manu's list of crimes; the frequent references to the Ganges river; and other such passages, which show a modem character, without being traceable in the Smritis of Yâgñavalkya and Nârada, may have been added by the Vishnuitic editor from modern Smritis, either for the sake of completeness, or in order to make up the required number of chapters. 6. All the passages hitherto mentioned are such as have no parallel in other ancient Smritis. But the Vishnuitic editor did evidently not confine himself to the introduction of new matter into the ancient Dharma-sûtra. That he did not refrain, occasionally, from altering the original text, has been conjectured above with regard to his readings of some of those Slokas, which are found in the code of Manu as well; and it can be proved quite clearly by comparing his version of the Vrishotsarga ceremony (LXXXVI) with the analogous chapter of the Kâthaka Grihya-sûtra. In one case (LI, 64; cf. XXIII, 50 = M. V, 131) he has replaced the words, which refer the authorship of the Sloka in question to Manu, by an unmeaning term. The superior antiquity of Manu's reading (V, 41) is vouched for by the recurrence of the same passage in the Grihya-sûtra of Sânkhâyana (II, 16, 1) and in the Vâsishtha-smriti (IV, 6), and the reference to Manu has no doubt been removed by the Vishnuitic editor, because it would have been out of place in a speech of Vishnu. References to sayings of Manu and other teachers and direct quotations from Vedic works are more or less common in all Dharma-sûtras, and their entire absence in this work is apparently due to their systematical removal by the editor. On the other hand, the lists of Vedic and other works to be studied or recited may have been enlarged in one or two cases by him or by another interpolator, namely, XXX, 37 (cf. V, 191), where the Atharva-veda is mentioned after the other Vedas by the name of 'Âtharvana' (not Atharvângirasas, as in the code of Manu and most other ancient works), and LXXXIII, 7, where Vyâkarana, 'Grammar,' i. e. according to the Commentary the grammars of Pânini and others, is mentioned as distinct from the Vedângas. The antiquity of the former passage might indeed be defended by the example of Âpastamba, who, though referring like this work to the 'three Vedas' both separately and collectively, mentions in another place the 'Âtharvana-veda[*] [See Bühler, Introduction to Âpastamba, p. xxiv.].' Besides the above works, and those referred to in LVI, the laws of Vishnu name no other work except the Purânas, Itihâsas, and Dharmasâstras. 7. As the Vishnuitic editor did not scruple to alter the import of a certain number of passages, the modernisation of the language of the whole work, which was probably as rich in archaic forms and curious old terms as the Kâthaka Grihya-sûtra and as the Dharma-sûtra of Âpastamba, may be likewise attributed to him. As it is, the Vishnu-sûtra agrees in style and expressions more closely with the Smritis of Manu and Yâgñavalkya than with any other work, and it is at least not inferior to the former work in the preservation of archaic forms. Thus the code of Manu has seven aorist forms[*] [Whitney. Indische Grammatik, § 826.], while the Vishnu-sûtra contains six, not including those occurring in Vedic Mantras which are quoted by their Pratîkas only. Of new words and meanings of words the Vishnu-sûtra contains also a certain number; they have lately been communicated by me to Dr. von Böhtlingk for, insertion in his new Dictionary.

All the points noticed render it necessary to assign a comparatively recent date to the Vishnuitic editor; and if the introduction of the week of the Greeks into the ancient Dharma-sûtra has been justly attributed to him, he cannot be placed earlier than the third or fourth century A. D.[*] [See Jacobi, journal of the German Oriental Society. XXX, 306. The first author with a known date who shows an acquaintance with the week of the Greeks, is Varâhamihira (sixth century A, D.)] The lower limit must be put before the eleventh century, in which the Vishnu-sûtra is quoted in the Mitâksharâ of Vigñânesvara, From that time downwards it is quoted in nearly every law digest, and a particularly large number of quotations occurs in Aparârka's Commentary, on Yâgñavalkya, which was composed in the twelfth century[*] [See Bühler, Kasmîr Report. p. 52. The MSS. used are from the Dekhan College, Puna.]. Nearly all those quotations, as far as they have been examined, are actually found in the Vishnu-sûtra; but the whole text is vouched for only by Nandapandita's Commentary, called Vaigayantî, which was composed in the first quarter of the seventeenth century. The subscriptions in the London MSS. of the Vaigayantî contain the statement, which is borne out by the Introduction, that it was composed by Nandapandita, the son of Râmapandita, Dharmâdhikârin, an inhabitant of Benares, at the instigation of the Mahârâga Kesavanâyaka, also called Tammasânâyaka, the son of Kodapanâyaka; and a passage added at the end of the work states, more accurately, that 'Nandasarman (Nandapandita) wrote it at Kâsî (Benares) in the year 1679 of the era of Vikrâmabhâsvara (= A. D. 1622), by Command of Kesavanâyaka, his own king. These statements regarding the time and place of the composition of the Vaigayantî are corroborated by the fact that it refers in several cases to the opinions of Haradatta, who appears to have lived in the sixteenth century[*] [Bühler, Introduction to Âpastamba, p. xliii.], while Nandapandita is not among the numerous authors quoted in the Vîramitrodaya of Mitramisra, who lived in the beginning of the seventeenth century[*] [Bühler loc. cit.], and who was consequently a contemporary of Nandapandita, if the above statement is correct; and that he attacks in a number of cases the views of the 'Eastern Commentators' (Prâkyas), and quotes a term from the dialect of Madhyadesa.

The subjoined translation is based upon the text handed down by Nandapandita nearly everywhere except in some of the Mantras, which have been rendered according to the better readings preserved in the Kâthaka Grihya-sûtra. The two Calcutta editions of the Vishnu-sûtra, the second of which is a mere reprint of the first, will be found to agree in the main with the text here translated. They are doubtless based upon the Vaigayantî, as they contain several passages in which portions of Nandapandita's Commentary have crept into the text of the Sûtras. But the MS. used for the first Calcutta edition must have been a very faulty one, as both Calcutta editions, besides differing from the best MSS. of the Vaigayantî on a very great number of minor points, entirely omit the greater part of Chapter LXXXI (3-22), the genuineness of which is proved by analogous passages in the other Smritis[*] [The first edition of the 'Vaishnava Dharmasâstra' was published in Bengali type by Bhavânîkârana; the second, in Devanâgarî type, is contained in Givânanda Vidyâsâgara's Dharmashâstrasangraha (1816).]. An excellent copy of the Vaigayantî in possession of Dr. Bühler has, together with three London MSS. of that work and one London MS. containing the text only, enabled me to establish quite positively nearly in every case the readings sanctioned by Nandapandita. I had hoped to publish a new edition of the text prepared from those MSS., and long ready for the press, before publishing my English version. This expectation has not been fulfilled, but it is hoped that in the mean time this attempt at a translation will be welcome to the students of Indian antiquity, and will facilitate the understanding of the text printed in Givânanda Vidyâsâgara's cheap edition, which is probably in the hands of most Sanskrit scholars. The precise nature of the relation in which the text of my forthcoming edition stands to the Calcutta editions may be gathered from the large specimens of the text as given in the best MSS., that have been edited by Dr. Bühler in the Bombay Digest, and by myself in two papers published in the Transactions of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Science.

Nandapandita has composed, besides the Vaigayantî, a treatise on the law of adoption, called Dattaka-mîmâmsâ[*] [This work has been published repeatedly at Calcutta and Madras, and translated into English by Sutherland (1821), which translation has been reprinted in Stokes' Hindu Law Books. The rest of the above list is made up from an enumeration of Nandapandita's Tikâs at the end of Dr. Bühler's copy of the Vaigayantî, from an occasional remark in the latter work itself (XV, 9), and from professor Weber's Catalogue of the Berlin Sanskrit MSS.], a commentary on the code of Parâsara, a work called Vidvanmanoharâ-smritisindhu, one called Srâddhakalpa-latâ, and commentaries on the Mitâksharâ and on Adityâkârya's Âsaukanirnaya. All these works belong to the province of Hindu law, and both his fertility as a writer in that branch of Indian science, and the reputation enjoyed by some of his works even nowadays, must raise a strong presumption in favour of his knowledge of the subject. The general trustworthiness of his Commentary on the Vishnu-sûtra is further confirmed by the frequent references which it contains to the opinions of earlier commentators of that work; and the wide extent of his reading, though he often makes an unnecessary display of it, has been eminently serviceable to him in tracing the connection of certain chapters and Mantras with the Kâthaka literature[*] [See the notes on LXV, 2 seq.; LXXIII, 5-9; LXXXVI, 13. In his Commentary on LXVII also Nandapandita states expressly that the description of the Vaisvadeva is according to the rites of the Katha-sâkhâ.]. On the other hand, his very learning, combined with a strict adherence to the well-known theory of Hindu commentators regarding the absolute identity between the teaching of all Smritis, has frequently misled him into a too extensive method of interpretation. Even in commenting the Slokas he assigns in many cases an important hidden meaning to such particles as ka, vâ, tathâ, and others, and to unpretending epithets and the like, which have clearly been added for metrical reasons only[*] [For instances, see the notes on XX, 45; LXIV, 40.]. This practice, besides being contrary to common sense, is nowhere countenanced by the authority of Kullûka, in his remarks on the numerous identical Slokas found in the code of Manu. With the Sûtras generally speaking the case is different: many of them would be nearly or quite unintelligible without the explanatory remarks added, in brackets from Nandapandita's Commentary[*] [See e. g. Chapter V passim.], and in a number of those cases even, where his method jars upon a European mind, the clauses supplied by him are probably correct[*] [Thus nearly all the 'intentionally's' and 'unintentionally's,' &c., as supplied in the section on penances might seem superfluous, or even wrong; but as in several places involuntary crimes are expressly distinguished from those intentionally committed (see e. g. XXVIII, 48, 51; XXXVIII, 7), and as in other cases a clause of this kind must needs be supplied (see XXXIX, 2; LII, 3; LIII, 5, &c.), Nandapandita is probably right in supplying it from other Smritis in most remaining cases as well. This method has occasionally carried him too far, when his explanations have not been given in the text.]. The same may be said of his interpretations of the epithets of Vishnu, excepting those which are based on utterly fanciful etymologies[*] [See I, 51, 55; XCVIII, 40, 41, 46, &c.], as the style of the introductory and final chapters is as artificial, though in another way, as the Sûtra style. Though, however, in works composed in the latter style, every ka, vâ, or iti, &c., which is not absolutely required by the sense, was probably intended by their authors to convey a special meaning[*] [For instances of this in the Dharma-sûtras of Âpastamba and Gautama. see Bühler, Âpast. I, 2, 7, 24; 8, 5; Gaut. V, 5, 14, 17; IX, 44; XIV, 45; XIX, 13-15, 20; XXI, 9, &c.; and see also Dr. Bühler's remarks on Gñâpaka-sûtras, Âpast. I, 3, II, 7; Gaut. I, 31, notes.], it is a question of evidence in every single case, whether those meanings which Nandapandita assigns to these and other such particles and expletive words are the correct ones. In several cases of this or of a similar kind he is palpably wrong[*] [See V, 117; VII, 7; XXVII, 10; LI, 26; LXXI, 88; LXXIII, 9; LXXIV, 1, 2, 7, &c.], and in many others the interpretations proposed by him are at least improbable, because the authoritative passages he quotes in support of them are taken from modern works, which cannot have been known to the author of the Vishnu-sûtra. Interpretations of this class have, therefore, been given in the notes only; and they have been omitted altogether in a number of cases where they appeared quite frivolous, or became too numerous, or could not be deciphered completely, owing to clerical mistakes in the MSS. But though it is impossible to agree with some of his general principles of interpretation, or with his application of them, Nandapandita's interpretations of difficult terms and Sûtras are invaluable, and I have never deviated from them in my translation without strong reasons to the contrary, which have in most cases been stated in the notes[*] [See e. g. XVII, 22; XVIII, 44; XXIV, 40; XXVIII, 5, II; LV, 20; LIX, 27, 29; LXIII, 36; LXIV, 18; LXVII, 6-8; XCII, 4; XCVII, 7.]. Besides the extracts given in the notes, a few other passages from the Commentary and several other additions will be given in p. 312; and I must apologize to my readers for having to note along with the Addenda a number of Corrigenda, which will be found in the same page. In compiling the Index of Sanskrit words occurring in this work, which it has been thought necessary to add to the General Index, I have not aimed at completeness except as regards the names of deities and of penances. My forthcoming edition of the Sanskrit text will be accompanied by a full Index of words.

In conclusion I have to express my thanks in the most cordial manner to Dr. Bühler, who has constantly assisted me with his advice in the preparing of this translation, and has kindly lent me his excellent copy of the Vaigayantî; and to Dr. von Böhtlingk and Professor Max Müller, who have favoured me with valuable hints on divers points connected with this work. My acknowledgments are due, in the second place, to K. M, Chatfield, Esq., Director of Public Instruction, Bombay, to Dr. von Halm, Chief Librarian of the Royal Library, Munich, to Professor R. Lepsius, Chief Librarian of the Royal Library, of Berlin, and to Dr. R. Rost, Chief Librarian of the India office Library, London, for the valuable aid received from these gentlemen and the great liberality, with which they have placed Sanskrit MSS. under their care at my disposal.
admin
Site Admin
 
Posts: 36125
Joined: Thu Aug 01, 2013 5:21 am

Re: The Institutes of Vishnu, translated by Julius Jolly

Postby admin » Sun Apr 18, 2021 8:16 am

VISHNU

I.

1. THE night of Brahman being over,[*] [ Regarding the duration of a night of Brahman, see XX, 14. 'Bhûtâni' means living beings of all the four kinds, born from the womb and the rest. (Nand.) The three other kinds consist of those produced from an egg, from sweat, and from a shoot or germ; see Manu I, 43-46.] and the God sprung from the lotus (Brahman) having woke from his slumber, Vishnu purposing to create living beings, and perceiving the earth covered with water,

2. Assumed the shape of a boar, delighting to sport in water, as at the beginning of each former Kalpa,[*] [A Kalpa = a day of Brahman; see XX, 13.] and raised up the earth (from the water).

3. His feet were the Vedas; his tusks the sacrificial stakes; in his teeth were the offerings; his mouth was the pyre; his tongue was the fire; his hair was the sacrificial grass; the sacred texts were his head; and he was (endowed with the miraculous power of) a great ascetic.

4. His eyes were day and night; he was of superhuman nature; his ears were the two bundles of Kusa grass (for the Ishtis, or smaller sacrifices, and for the animal offerings); his ear-rings were the ends of those bundles of Kusa grass (used for wiping the ladle and other sacrificial implements); his nose (the vessel containing) the clarified butter; his snout was the ladle of oblations; his voice was similar in sound to the chanting of the Sâma-veda; and he was of huge size.

5. He was full of piety and veracity; beautiful; his strides and his strength were immense (like those of Vishnu); his large nostrils were penances; his knees the victim; and his figure colossal.

6. His entrails were the (three) chanters of the Sama-veda[*] [This is because the vital breaths, by which the sound of the voice is effected, pass through them, it having been said (in 4) that the sound of his voice was like the chanting of the Sâma-veda.' (Nand.)]; his member was the burnt-oblation; his scrotum was the sacrificial seeds and grains; his mind was the altar (in the hut for the wives and domestic uses of the sacrificer); the hindparts (of Vishnu) in his transformation were the Mantras; his blood was the Soma juice.

7. His shoulders were the (great) altar; his smell was that of the (sacrificial cake and other) oblations; his speed was the oblations to the gods and to the manes and other oblations; his body was the hut for the wives and domestic uses of the sacrificer; he was majestic; and instructed with the initiatory ceremonies for manifold sacrifices (lasting one, or two, three, or twelve years, and others).

8. His heart was the sacrificial fee; he was possessed of the (sacrificial and other) great Mantras employed in order to effect the union of the mind with the Supreme; he was of enormous size (like the long sacrifices lasting more than one day); his lovely, lips were the beginnings of the two hymns recited at the beginning of the animal sacrifice; his ornaments were the whirlpool of the milk poured into the heated vessel (at the Pravargya ceremony introductory to the Soma-sacrifice).

9. All sorts of sacred texts (the Gâyatrî and others) were his path in marching; the mysterious Upanishads (the Vedânta) were his couch; he was accompanied by his consort Khâyâ (Lakshmî); he was in size like the Manisringa mountain.

10. The lord, the creator, the great Yogin, plunging into the one ocean from love of the world,

11. Raised up, with the edge of his tusks, the earth bounded by the sea together with its mountains, forests, and groves, which was immersed in the water of (the seven oceans now become) one ocean, and created the universe anew.

12. Thus the whole earth, after having sunk into (the lower region called) Rasâtala, was in the first place raised in the boar-incarnation by Vishnu, who took compassion upon the living beings.

13, 14. Then, after having raised the earth, the destroyer of Madhu placed and fixed it upon its own (former) seat (upon the oceans) and distributed the waters upon it according to their own (former) station, conducting the floods of the oceans into the oceans, the water of the rivers into the rivers, the water of the tanks into the tanks, and the water of the lakes into the lakes.

15. He created the seven (lower regions called) Pâtâlas[*] [The seven Pâtâlas are, Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Mahâtala, Rasâtala, Talâtala, and Pâtâla; the seven worlds are, Bhûr-loka, Bhuvar-loka, Svar-loka, Mahar-loka, Ganar-loka, Tapar-loka, and Satya-loka; the seven Dvîpas or divisions of the terrestrial world, are, Gambu, Plaksha, Sâlmalî, Kusa, Krauñka, Sâka, and Pushkara; each Dvipa is encircled by one of the seven oceans, viz. the seas of Lavana (salt-water), Ikshu (syrup), Sarpih (butter), Dadhi (sour milk), Dugdha (milk), Svâdhu (treacle), and Udaka (water), (Nand.) The enumerations contained in the Vishnu-purâna and other works differ on two or three points only from that given by Nand.--] and the seven worlds, the seven Dvîpas and the seven oceans, and fixed their several limits[(] [Besides the interpretation followed in the text, Nand. proposes a second explanation of the term 'sthânâni,' as denoting Bhâratavarsha (India) and the other eight plains situated between the principal mountains.].

16. (He created) the rulers of the (seven) Dvîpas and the (eight) guardians of the world (Indra and the rest) [*] [The eight 'guardians of the world' (Lokapâlas) are, Indra, Agni, Yama, Sûrya, Varuna, Pavana, Kubera, and Soma (M.V, 96). The seven Rishis, according to the Satapatha-brâhmana, are, Gotama, Bharadvâga, Visvâmitra, Gamadagni, Vasishtha, Kasyapa, and Atri. The six Vedângas are, Sikshâ (pronunciation), Khandas (metre), Vyâkarana (grammar), Nirukta (etymology), Kalpa (ceremonial), and Gyotisha (astronomy). See Max Müller, Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 108, &c.], the rivers, mountains, and trees, the seven Rishis, who know (and practise) the law, the Vedas together with their Angas, the Suras, and the Asuras.

17. (He created) Pisâkas (ogres), Uragas (serpents), Gandharvas (celestial singers), Yakshas (keepers of Kubera's treasures), Rakshasas (goblins), and men, cattle, birds, deer and other animals, (in short) all the four kinds of living beings[*] [See I.], and clouds, rainbows, lightnings, and other celestial phenomena or bodies (such as the planets and the asterisms), and all kinds of sacrifices.

18. Bhagavat, after having thus created, in the shape of a boar, this world together with all animate and inanimate things in it, went away into a place hidden from the world.

19. Ganârdana, the chief of the gods, having become invisible, the goddess of the earth began to consider, 'How shall I be able to sustain myself (henceforth)?'

20. 'I will go to Kasyapa to ask: he will tell me the truth. The great Muni has my welfare under constant consideration.'

21. Having thus decided upon her course, the goddess, assuming the shape of a woman, went to see Kasyapa, and Kasyapa saw her.

22. Her eyes were similar, to the leaves of the blue lotus (of which the bow of Kâma, the god of love, is made); her face was radiant like the moon in the autumn season; her locks were as dark as a swarm of black bees; she was radiant; her lip was (red) like the Bandhugîva flower; and she was lovely to behold.

23. Her eyebrows were fine; her teeth exceedingly small; her nose handsome; her brows bent; her neck shaped like a shell; her thighs were constantly touching each other; and they were fleshy thighs, which adorned her loins.

24. Her breasts were shining white, firm[*] [ Or 'equal in size,' according to the second of the two explanations which Nand. proposes of the term 'samau.'], plump, very close to each other, (decorated with continuous strings of pearls) like the projections on the forehead of Indra's elephant, and radiant like the gold (of the two golden jars used at the consecration of a king).

25. Her arms were as delicate as lotus fibres; her hands were similar to young shoots; her thighs were resplendent like golden pillars; and her knees were hidden (under the flesh), and closely touching each other.

26. Her legs were smooth and exquisitely proportioned; her feet exceedingly graceful; her loins fleshy; and her waist like that of a lion's cub.

27. Her reddish nails shone (like rubies); her beauty was the delight of every looker-on; and with her glances she filled at every step all the quarters of the sky as it were with lotus-flowers.

28. Radiant with divine lustre, she illuminated all the quarters of the sky with it; her clothing was most exquisite and perfectly white; and she was decorated with the most precious gems.

29. With her steps she covered the earth as it were with lotuses; she was endowed with beauty and youthful charms; and made her approach with modest bearing.

30. Having seen her come near, Kasyapa saluted her reverentially, and said, 'O handsome lady, O earth, radiant with divine lustre, I am acquainted with thy thoughts.

31. 'Go to visit Ganârdana, O large-eyed lady; he will tell thee accurately, how thou shalt henceforth sustain thyself.

32. For thy sake, O (goddess), whose face is lovely and whose limbs are beautiful, I have found out, by profound meditation, that his residence is in the Kshîroda (milk-ocean).'

33. The goddess of the earth answered, 'Yes, (I shall do as you bid me),saluted Kasyapa reverentially, and proceeded to the Kshîroda sea, in order to see Kesava (Vishnu).

34. She beheld (then) the ocean, from which the Amrita arose. It was lovely, like the rays of the moon, and agitated by hundreds of waves produced by stormy blasts of wind.

35. (With its waves) towering like a hundred Himâlayas it seemed another terrestrial globe, calling near as it were the earth with its hands; the rolling waves.

36. With those hands it was as it were constantly producing the radiancy of the moon; and every stain of guilt was removed from it by Hari's (Vishnu's) residence within its limits.

37. Because (it was entirely free from sin) therefore it was possessed of a pure and shining frame; its colour was white; it was inaccessible to birds and its seat was in the lower regions.[*] [See 15, note.]

38. It was rich in blue and tawny gems (sapphires, coral, and others), and looking therefore as if the atmosphere had descended upon the earth, and as if a number of forests adorned with a multitude of fruits had descended upon its surface.

39. Its size was immense, like that of the skin of (Vishnu's) serpent Sesha. After having seen the milk-ocean, the goddess of the earth beheld the dwelling of Kesava (Vishnu) which was in it:

40. (His dwelling), the size of which cannot be expressed in words, and, the sublimity of which is also beyond the power of utterance. In it she saw the destroyer of Madhu seated upon Sesha.

41. The lotus of his face was hardly visible on account of the lustre of the gems decorating the neck of the snake Sesha; he was shining like a hundred moons; and his splendour was equal to the rays of a myriad of suns.

42. He was clad in a yellow robe (radiant like gold); imperturbable; decorated with all kinds of gems; and shining with the lustre of a diadem resembling the sun in colour, and with (splendid) ear-rings.

43. Lakshmî was stroking his feet with her soft palms; and his attributes (the shell, the discus, the mace, and the lotus-flower) wearing bodies were attending upon him on all sides.

44. Having espied the lotus-eyed slayer of Madhu, she knelt down upon the ground and addressed him as follows:

45. 'When formerly I was sunk into the region of Rasâtala, I was raised by thee, O God, and restored to my ancient seat, O Vishnu, thanks to thy benevolence towards living beings.

46. 'Being there, how am I to maintain myself upon it, O lord of the gods?' Having been thus addressed by the goddess, the god enunciated the following answer:

47. 'Those who practise the duties ordained for each caste and for each order, and who act up strictly to the holy law, will sustain thee, O earth; to them is thy care committed.'[*] [Regarding the four castes and the four orders, see II, 1; III, 3.]

48. Having received this answer, the goddess of the earth said to the chief of the gods, 'Communicate to me the eternal laws of the castes and of the orders.

49. I desire to learn them from thee; for thou art my chief stay. Adoration be to thee, O brilliant[*] [his is Nand.'s interpretation of the term 'deva,' but it may also be taken in its usual acceptation of 'god.'] chief of the gods, who annihilatest the power of the (Daityas and other) enemies of the gods.

50. 'O Nârâyana (son of Nara), O Gagannâtha (sovereign of the world); thou holdest the shell, the discus, and the mace (in thy hands); thou hast a lotus (Brahman) springing from thy navel; thou art the lord of the senses; thou art Most powerful and endowed with conquering strength.

51. 'Thou art beyond the cognisance of the senses; thy end is most difficult to know; thou art brilliant; thou holdest the bow Sârnga; thou art the boar[*] [This is the third of the three interpretations of the term varâha, which Nand. proposes. According to the first, it would mean 'one who kills his worst or most prominent foes;' according to the second, 'one who gratifies his own desires.' But these two interpretations are based upon a fanciful derivation of varâha from vara and â-han. Of many others among the epithets Nand. proposes equally fanciful etymologies, which I shall pass over unnoticed.-- ]; thou art terrible; thou art Govinda[*] [This epithet, which literally means 'he who finds or wins cows,' is usually referred to Vishnu's recovering the 'cow,' i.e. the earth, when it was lost in the waters: see Mahâbh. XII, 13228, which verse is quoted both by Nand. and by Sankara in his Commentary on the Vishnu-sahasranâma. It originally refers, no doubt, to Vishnu or Krishna as the pastoral god.] (the herdsman); thou art of old; thou art Purushottama (the spirit supreme).

52. 'Thy hair is golden; thy eyes are everywhere; thy body is the sacrifice; thou art free from stain; thou art the "field." (the corporeal frame); thou art the principle of life; thou art the ruler of the world; thou art lying on the bed of the ocean.

53. 'Thou art Mantra (prayer); thou knowest the Mantras; thou surpassest all conception; thy frame is composed of the Vedas and Vedângas; the creation and destruction of this whole world is effected through thee.

54. 'Thou knowest right and wrong; thy body is law; law springs from thee; desires are gratified by thee: thy powers are everywhere; thou art (imperishable like) Amrita (ambrosia); thou art heaven; thou art the destroyer of Madhu and Kaitasa.

55. 'Thou causest the increase of the great thou art inscrutable; thou art all thou givest shelter to all; thou art the chief one thou art free from sin; thou art Gîmûta; thou art inexhaustible; thou art the creator.[*] ['The great (brihat) means time, space, and the like. . . . He is called "all" because he is capable of assuming any shape.' (Nand.) The sense of the term 'gimûta,' as an epithet of divine beings, is uncertain. According to Nand., it would mean 'he who sprinkles living beings;' but this interpretation is based upon a fanciful derivation, from gîva and mûtrayati.]

56. 'Thou increasest the welfare (of the world), the waters spring from thee; thou art the seat of intelligence; action is not found in thee; thou presidest over seven chief things[*] [This refers either to the seven divisions of a Sâman; or to the seven species, of which each of the three kinds of sacrifices, domestic offerings, burnt-offerings, and Soma-sacrifices, consists (cf. Gaut. VIII, 18-20); or to the seven worlds (see 15, note), Bhûr and the rest. (Nand.)]; thou art the teacher of religious rites; thou art of old; thou art Purushottama.

57, 'Thou art not to be shaken; thou art undecaying; thou art the producer of the atoms; thou art kind to faithful attendants; thou art the purifier (of sinners); thou art the protector of all the gods thou art the protector of the pious.

58. 'Thou art also the protector of those who know the Veda, O Purushottama. I have come, O Gagannâtha, to the immovable Vâkaspati (the lord of holy speech), the lord;

59. 'To him, who is very pious; invincible; Vasushena (who has treasures for his armies); who bestows largesses upon his followers, who is endowed with the power of intense devotion; who is the germ of the ether; from whom the rays (of the sun and moon) proceed;

60. 'To Vâsudeva; the great soul of the universe; whose eyes are like lotuses; who is eternal; the preceptor of the Suras and of the Asuras; brilliant; omnipresent; the great lord of all creatures;

61. 'Who has one body and four faces; who is the producer of (the five grosser elements, ether, air, fire, water, and earth), the producers of the world. Teach me concisely, O Bhagavat, the eternal laws ordained for the aggregate of the four castes,

62. 'Together with the customs to be observed by each order and with the secret ordinances.' The chief of the gods, thus addressed by the goddess of the earth, replied to her as follows:

[62. According to Nand., the term rahasya, 'secret ordinances or doctrines,' has to be referred either to the laws regarding the occupations lawful for each caste in times of distress see II, 15), or to the penances (XLVI seq.) The latter interpretation seems to be the more plausible one, with the limitation, however, that rahasya is only used to denote the penances for secret faults, which are termed rahasya in LV, 1.]

63. Learn from me, in a concise form, O radiant goddess of the earth, the eternal laws for the aggregate of the four castes, together with the customs to be observed by each order, and with the secret ordinances,

64. 'Which will effect the final liberation of the virtuous persons, who will support thee. Be seated upon this splendid golden seat, O handsome-thighed goddess.

65. 'Seated at ease, listen to me proclaiming the sacred laws.' The goddess of the earth, thereupon, seated at case, listened to the sacred precepts as, they came from the mouth of Vishnu.
admin
Site Admin
 
Posts: 36125
Joined: Thu Aug 01, 2013 5:21 am

Re: The Institutes of Vishnu, translated by Julius Jolly

Postby admin » Sun Apr 18, 2021 8:17 am

II.

1. Brâhmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and Sûdras are the four castes.[*] [Âpast. I, 1, 1, 3.--1, 2. M. X, 4; Y. I, 10,--3. M. II, 26; Y. I, 10.--4-9. M. I, 88-91; VIII, 410; IX, 326-335; X, 75-79; X. I, 118-120; Âpast. I, 1, 1, 5, 6; II, 5, 10, 4-7; Gaut. X, 2, 7, 49, 56.-15. M. X. 81; Y. III, 35; Gaut. VII, 6.--16, 17. Gaut. VIII, 23; X, 51. 'This chapter treats of the four castes.' (Nand.)]

2. The first three of these are (called) twice-born.

3. For them the whole number of ceremonies, which begin with the impregnation and end with the ceremony of burning the dead body, have to be performed with (the recitation of) Mantras.

4. Their duties are.

5. For a Brâhmana, to teach (the Veda);

6. For a Kshatriya, constant practice in arms;

7. For a Vaisya, the tending of cattle;

8. For a Sûdra, to serve the twice-born;

9. For all the twice-born, to sacrifice and to study (the Veda).

10. Again, their modes of livelihood are:

11. For a Brâhmana, to sacrifice for others and to receive alms;

12. For a Kshatriya, to protect the world (and receive due reward, in form of taxes);

13. For a Vaisya, tillage, keeping cows (and other cattle), traffic, lending money upon interest, and growing seeds;

14. For a Sûdra, all branches of art (such as painting and the other fine arts)[*] [According to Nand., the use of the term sarva, 'all,' implies that Sûdras may also follow the occupations of a Vaisya, tillage and the rest, as ordained by Devala.];

15. In times of distress, each caste may follow the occupation of that next (below) to it in rank.

16. Forbearance, veracity, restraint, purity, liberality, self-control, not to kill (any living obedience towards one's Gurus, visiting places of pilgrimage, sympathy (with the afflicted)[*] [The term Guru, 'superior,' generally denotes the parents and the teacher, or Guru in the narrower sense of the term; see XXXI, 1, 2. It may also include all those who are one's elders or betters see XXXII, 1-3.],

17. Straightforwardness, freedom from covetousness, reverence towards gods and Brâhmanas, and freedom from anger are duties common (to all castes).
admin
Site Admin
 
Posts: 36125
Joined: Thu Aug 01, 2013 5:21 am

Re: The Institutes of Vishnu, translated by Julius Jolly

Postby admin » Sun Apr 18, 2021 8:29 am

III.[*] [2, 3. M. VII, 35, 144; Gaut. X, 7; XI, 9.--4, 5. M. VII, 69; Y. I, 320.--6. M. VII, 70; Y. I, 320; Âpast. II, 10, 25, 2.--{footnote p. 14} 7-10. M. VII, 115; Âpast. II, 10, 26, 4, 5.--11-15. M. VII, 116, 117--16-21. M. VII, 61, 62; Y. I, 321.--22-25. M. VII, 130-132; Y. I, 327; Âpast. II, 10, 26, 9; Gaut. X, 24, 25.--26. M. VII, 133; Âpast. II, 10, 26, 10.--28. M. VIII, 304; Y. I, 334; Gaut. XI, 11.--29, 30. M. VII, 128; VIII, 398; Y. II, 161; Gaut. X, 26.--31. M. VIII, 400; Y. II, 262.--32. M. VII, 138; Gaut. X, 31-33.--33. M. IX, 294; Y. I, 352-35. M. VII, 122, 184; Y. I, 331, 337.--36, 37. Y. I, 337.--38-41. M. VII, 158-161, 182, 183; Y. I, 344-347.--42. M. VII, 203; Y. I, 342-43. M. VII, 215.--44. M. VII, 88.--45. M. VII, 89; Y. I, 324; Âpast. II, 20, 26, 2, 3.--47. M. VII, 202.--50-52. M. VII, 50, 51.--55. M. VII, 62; VIII, 39--56-58. M. VIII, 37, 38; Y. II, 34; Gaut. X, 43, 44.--61. Gaut. X, 45.--62. Y. II, 35--63. M. VIII, 35.--64. M. VIII, 36.--65. M. VIII, 27, 28; Gaut. X, 48.--66, 67. M. VIII, 40; Y. II, 36; Âpast. II, 10, 26, 8; Gaut. X, 46, 47.--68. Gaut. X, 17.--70. M. VII, 78; Y. I, 312; Gaut. XI, 12.--71. M. VII, 54, 60; Y. I, 311.--72. M. VIII, 1; Y. II, 1.--73. M. VIII, 9; Y. II, 3; Gaut. XIII, 96.--74. M. VIII, 12-19; Y. II, 2; Âpast. II, 11, 29, 5.--75. Gaut. XI, 15.--76, 77. M. VII, 38.--79, 80. M. VIII 134; Y. I, 338; Âpast. II, 10, 25, 11; Gaut. X, 9, 10.--81. Âpast. II, 10, 26, 1.--81, 82. Y. I, 317-319.--84. M. VII, 82; Y. I, 314.--85. M. VII, 220.--87, 88. M. VII, 217, 218.--89. M. VII, 146.--91, 92. M. VII, 16; VIII, 126; Y. I, 367; Gaut. X, 8.--94. M. VIII, 335; Y. I, 357; Âpast. II, 11, 28, 13.--95. M. VII, 25.--96. M. VII, 32; Y. I. 333---97. M. VII, 33. Chapters III-XVIII contain the section on vyavahâra, 'jurisprudence.' (Nand.)]

1. Now the duties of a king, are:

2. To protect his people,

3. And to keep the four castes and the four orders[*] [Of student, householder, hermit, and ascetic.] in the practice of their several duties.

4. Let the king fix his abode in a district containing open plains, fit for cattle, and abounding in grain;

5. And inhabited by many Vaisyas and Sûdras.[*] ['And there should be many virtuous men in it, as stated by Manu, VII, 69.' (Nand.)]

6. There let him reside in a stronghold (the strength of which consists) either in (its being surrounded by) a desert, or in (a throng of) armed men, or in fortifications (of stone, brick, or others), or in water (enclosing it on all sides), or in trees, or in mountains (sheltering it against a foreign invasion).

7. (While he resides) there, let him appoint chiefs (or governors) in every village;

8. Also, lords of every ten villages;

9. And lords of every hundred villages;

10. And lords of a whole district.

11. If any offence has been committed in a village, let the lord of that village suppress the evil (and give redress to those that have been wronged).[*] [See 67 and Dr. Bühler's note on Âpast. II, 10, 26, 8.]

12. If he is unable to do so, let him announce it to the lord of ten villages;

13. If he too is unable, let him announce it to the lord of a hundred villages;

14. If he too is unable, let him announce it to the lord of the whole district.

15. The lord of the whole district must eradicate the evil to the best of his power.

16. Let the king appoint able officials for the working of his mines, for the levying of taxes and of the fares to be paid at ferries, and for his elephants and forests.[*] [The term nâgavana, which has been translated as a Dvandva compound, denoting elephants and forests, may also be taken to mean 'forests in which there are elephants;' or nâga may mean 'situated in the mountains' or I a mountain fort.' (Nand.)]

17. (Let him appoint) pious persons for performing acts of piety (such as bestowing gifts on the indigent, and the like);

18. Skilled men for financial business (such as examining gold and other precious metals)[*] [Or, 'he must appoint men skilled in logic as his advisers in knotty points of argument.' (Nand.)];

19. Brave men for fighting;

20. Stern men for acts of rigour (such as beating and killing);

21. Eunuchs for his wives (as their guardians).

22. He must take from his subjects as taxes a sixth part every year of the grain;

23. And (a sixth part) of all (other) seeds [*] [This rule relates to Syâmâka grain and other sorts of grain produced in the rainy season. (Nand.)];

24. Two in the hundred, of cattle, gold, and clothes;

25. A sixth part of flesh, honey, clarified butter, herbs, perfumes, flowers, roots, fruits, liquids and condiments, wood, leaves (of the Palmyra, tree and others), skins, earthen pots, stone vessels, and anything made of split bamboo. [*] ['Haradatta says that "a sixth part" means "a sixtieth part." But this is wrong, as shown by M. VII, 131.' (Nand.) Haradatta's false interpretation was most likely called forth by Gaut. X, 2 7.]

26. Let him not levy any tax upon Brâhmanas.

27. For they pay taxes to him in the shape of their pious acts.

28. A sixth part both of the virtuous deeds and of the iniquitous acts committed by his subjects goes to the king.

29. Let him take a tenth part of (the price of) marketable commodities (sold) in his own country;

30. And a twentieth part of (the price of) goods (sold) in another country.

31. Any (seller or buyer) who (fraudulently) avoids a toll-house (situated on his road), shall lose all his goods.

32. Artizans (such as blacksmiths), manual labourers (such as carpenters), and Sûdras shall do work for the king for a day in each month. [*] [According to Nand., the particle ka, 'and,' implies that servile persons, who get their substance from their employers, are also implied. See Manu VII, 138.]

33. The monarch, his council, his fortress, his treasure, his army, his realm, and his ally are the seven constituent elements of a state.

34. (The king) must punish those who try to subvert any one among them.

35. He must explore, by means of spies, both the state of his own kingdom and of his foe's [*] [The particle ka, according to Nand., is used in order to include the kingdoms of an ally and of a neutral prince.].

36. Let him show honour to the righteous;

37. And let him punish the unrighteous.

38. Towards his (neighbour and natural) enemy, his ally (or the power next beyond his enemy), a neutral power (situated beyond the latter), and a power situated between (his natural enemy and an aggressive power): let him adopt (alternately), as the occasion and the time require, (the four modes of obtaining success, viz.) negotiation, division, presents, and force of arms. [*] [The term madhyama has been rendered according to Nand.'s and Kullûkâ's (on M. VII, 156) interpretation of it. Kullâka, however, adds, as a further characteristic, that it denotes a prince, who is equal in strength to one foe, but no match for two when allied.]

39. Let him have resort, as the time demands, to (the six measures of a military monarch, viz.) making alliance and waging war, marching to battle and sitting encamped, seeking the protection (of a more powerful king) and distributing his forces.

40. Let him set out on an expedition in the months of Kaitra or Mârgasîrsha [*] [The particle vâ indicates, according to Nand., that he may also set out in the month Phâlguna.];

41. Or when some calamity has befallen his foe.

42. Having conquered the country of his foe, let him not abolish (or disregard) the laws of that country.

43. And when he has been attacked by his foe, let him protect his own realm to the best of his power.

44. There is no higher duty for men of the military caste, than to risk their life in battle.

45. Those who have been killed in protecting a cow, or a Brâhmana, or a king, or a friend, or their own property, or their own wedded wife, or their own life, go to heaven.

46. Likewise, those (who have been killed) in trying to prevent mixture of castes (caused by adulterous connections).

47. A king having conquered the capital of his foe, should invest there a prince of the royal race of that country with the royal dignity.

48. Let him not extirpate the royal race

49. Unless the royal race bc of ignoble descent.

50. He must not take delight in hunting, dice, women, and drinking;

51. Nor in defamation and battery.

52. And let him not injure his own property (by bootless expenses).

53. He must not demolish (whether in his own town, or in the town of his foe conquered by him, or in a fort) doors which had been built there before his time (by a former king).

54. He must not bestow largesses upon unworthy persons (such as dancers, eulogists, bards, and the like).

55. Of mines let him take the whole produce.

56. Of a treasure-trove he must give one half to the Brâhmanas;

57. He may deposit the other half in his own treasury.

58. A Brâhmana who has found a treasure may keep it entire.

59. A Kshatriya (who has found a treasure) must give one fourth of it to the king, another fourth to the Brâhmanas, and keep half of it to himself

60. A Vaisya (who has found a treasure) must give a fourth part of it to the king, one half to the Brâhmanas, and keep the (remaining fourth) part to himself.

61. A Sûdra who has found a treasure must divide it into twelve parts, and give five parts to the king, five parts to the Brâhmanas, and keep two parts to himself.

62. Let the king compel him who (having found a treasure) does not announce it (to the king) and is found out afterwards, to give up the whole.

63. Of a treasure anciently hidden by themselves let (members of) all castes, excepting Brâhmanas, give a twelfth part to the king [*] [This rule refers to a treasure, which has been found by some one and announced to the king. -The original owner is bound to prove his ownership. (Nand.) See "M. VIII, 35.].

64. The man who falsely claims property hidden by another to have been hidden by himself, shall be condemned to pay a fine equal in amount to the property falsely claimed by him.

65. The king must protect the property of minors, of (blind, lame or other) helpless persons (who have no guide), and of women (without a guardian).

66. Having recovered goods stolen by thieves, let him restore them entire to their owners, to whatever caste they may belong.

67. If he has been unable to recover them, he must pay (their value) out of his own treasury.

68. Let him appease the onsets of fate by ceremonies averting evil omens and propitiatory ceremonies;

69. And the onsets of his foe (let him repel) by force of arms.

70. Let him appoint as Purohita (domestic priest) a man conversant with the Vedas, Epics, the Institutes of Sacred Law, and (the science of) what is useful in life, of a good family, not deficient in limb, and persistent in the practice of austerities [*] ['The science of what is useful in life' comprises the fine arts, except music, and all technical knowledge.].

71. And (let him appoint) ministers (to help and advise him) in all his affairs, who are pure, free from covetousness, attentive, and able.

72. Let him try causes himself, accompanied by well-instructed Brâhmanas.

73. Or let him entrust a Brâhmana, with the judicial business.

74. Let the king appoint as judges men of good [*] [According to Nand., the particle ka indicates that the judges should be well acquainted, likewise, with the sacred revelation, {footnote p. 21} and intent upon performing their daily study of the Veda, as ordained by Yâgñavalkya, II, 2.] families, for whom the ceremonies (of initiation and so forth) have been performed, and who are eager in keeping religious vows, impartial towards friend and foe, and not likely to be corrupted by litigants either by (ministering to their) lustful desires or by (stimulating them to) wrath or by (exciting their) avarice or by other (such practices).

75. Let the king in all matters listen to (the advice of) his astrologers [*] [According to Nand., the particle ka indicates that the king's ministers should also consult the astrologers.].

76. Let him constantly show reverence to the gods and to the Brâhmanas [*] ['The particle ka is used here in order to imply that the king should bestow presents upon the Brâhmanas, as Ordained by Manu, VII, 79.' (Nand.) See Introduction.].

77. Let him honour the aged;

78. And let him offer sacrifices;

79. And he must not suffer any Brâhmana in his realm to perish with want;

80. Nor any other man leading a pious life.

81. Let him bestow landed property upon Brâhmanas.

82. To those upon whom he has bestowed (land) he must give a document, destined for the information of a future ruler, which must be written upon a piece of (cotton) cloth, or a copper-plate, and must contain the names of his (three) immediate ancestors, a declaration of the extent of the land, and an imprecation against him who should appropriate the [*] [The repeated use of the particle ka in this Sûtra signifies that the document in question should also contain the name of the {footnote p. 22} donor, the date of the donation, and the words, written in the donor's own hand, 'What has been written above, by that is my own will declared.' The term dânakkhedopavarnanam, 'containing a declaration of the punishment awaiting the robber of a grant,' may also mean, 'indicating the boundaries (such as fields and the like) of the grant.' The seal must contain the figure of a flamingo, boar, or other animal. (Nand.) Numerous grants on copper-plates, exactly corresponding to the above description, have been actually found in divers parts of India. See, particularly, Dr. Burnell's Elements of South Indian Palaeography.] donation to himself, and should be signed with his own seal.

83. Let him not appropriate to himself landed property bestowed (upon Brâhmanas) by other (rulers) [*] [According to Nand., the particle ka is used in order to include in this prohibition a grant made by himself.].

84. Let him present the Brâhmanas with gifts of every kind.

85. Let him be on his guard, whatever he may be about.

86. Let him be splendid (in apparel and ornaments) [*] [Nand. proposes a second interpretation of the term sudarsana besides the one given above, 'he shall often show himself before those desirous of seeing him.' {footnote p. 23} IV. 1-14. M. VIII, 132-138; Y. I, 361-365.].

87. Let him be conversant with incantations dispelling the effects of poison and sickness.

88. Let him not test any aliments, that have not been tried before (by his attendants, by certain experiments).

89. Let him smile before he speaks to any one.

90. Let him not frown even upon (criminals) doomed to capital punishment.

91. Let him inflict punishments, corresponding to the nature of their offences, upon evil-doers.

92. Let him inflict punishments according to justice (either personally or through his attendants).

93. Let him pardon no one for having offended twice.

94. He who deviates from his duty must certainly not be left unpunished by the king.

95. Where punishment with a black hue and a red eye advances with irresistible might, the king deciding causes justly, there the people will prosper.

96. Let a king in his own domain inflict punishments according to justice, chastise foreign foes with rigour, behave without duplicity to his affectionate friends, and with lenity to Brâhmanas.

97. Of a king thus disposed, even though he subsist by gleaning, the fame is far spread in the world, like a drop of oil in the water.

98. That king who is pleased when his subjects are joyful, and grieved when they are in grief, will obtain fame in this world, and will be raised to a high station in heaven after his death.

https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe07/sbe07006.htm
admin
Site Admin
 
Posts: 36125
Joined: Thu Aug 01, 2013 5:21 am

Re: The Institutes of Vishnu, translated by Julius Jolly

Postby admin » Tue Apr 27, 2021 11:03 pm

IV.

1. The (very small mote of) dust which may be discerned in a sun-beam passing through a lattice is called trasarenu (trembling dust).

2. Eight of these (trasarenus) are equal to a nit.

3. Three of the latter are equal to a black mustard-seed.

4. Three of these last are equal to a white mustard-seed.

5. Six of these are equal to a barley-corn.

6. Three of these equal a Krishnala.* [Krishnala (literally, 'seed, of the Guñgâ creeper') is another {footnote p. 24} name for Raktikâ or Ratî, the lowest denomination in general use. According to Prinsep (Useful Tables, p. 97) it equals 1.875 grains = 0.122 grammes of the metrical system. According to Thomas (see Colebrooke's Essays, ed. by Cowell, I, p. 529, note) it equals 1.75 grains.]

7. Five of these equal a Mâsha.

8. Twelve of these are equal to half an Aksha.

9. The weight of half an Aksha, with four Mâshas added to it, is called a Suvarna.

10. Four Suvarnas make a Nishka.* [These names refer to weights of gold. V. 2, 3. M. VIII, 124; IX, 239, 241; Gaut. XII, 46, 47.--3-7. M. IX, 237.--8. M. IX, 241; VIII, 380.--9, 11. M. IX, 232.--12, 13. M. VIII, 320, 321.--18. M. VIII, 371.--19. M. VIII, 279; Y. II, 215; Âpast. II., 10, 27, 14; Gaut. XII, 1.--20-22. M. VIII, 281, 282; Âpast. II, 10, 27, 15; Gaut. XII, 7.--23. M. VIII, 270, Âpast. II, 10, 27, 14.--24. M. VIII, 272.--25. M. VIII, 271.--26-28. M. VIII, 273-275.--27. Y. II, 204.--29, 30, Y. II. 210.--31-33. Y. II, 211-- 35. M. VIII, 269.--36. M. VIII, 268; Gaut. XII, 12.--40, 41. M. VIII, 382-385.--40, 44. Y. II, 286, 289-45. M. VIII, 224.--47. M. VIII, 225.--49. Y. II, 297.--50, 52. M. VIII, 296-298; Y. II, 225, 226.--55-58. M. VIII, 285; Y. II, 227-229.--60, 61. M. VIII, 280.--60-73. Y. II, 216-221.--66-68. M. VIII, 283, 284.--74. M. IX, 274.--75. {footnote p. 25} M. VIII, 289; Y. II, 222.--77. M. VIII, 325.--79. 320.--81, 82. M. VIII, 322.--83, 84. M. VIII, 326-329.--85, 86. M. VIII, 330; Gaut. XII, 18.--89, 90. Y. II, 270-94. M. VIII, 392; Y. II, 263.--96, 97. M. VIII, 393.--98-103. Y. II, 296.--104. Y. II, 234.--106, 107. M. IX, 282.--108. Y. II, 223.--110. Y. II, 224.--111. Y. II, 236.--113. M. VIII, 389; Y. II, 237.--115-123. Y. II, 232, 235, 236, 239-241.--124-126. Y. II, 246, 250.--127. Y. II, 254.--127, 128, Colebrooke, Dig. III, 3, XXII.--129. Y. II, 255.--130. M. VIII, 399; Y. II. 261.--131. Y. II, 263.--132. M. VIII, 407.--134, 135. Y. II, 202.--136. M. IX, 277; Y. II, 274.--137, 138. M. VIII, 235; Y. II, 164.--137-139, Colebrooke, Dig. III, 4, XIV.--140. Y. II, 159.--10. Gaut. XII, 19.--142-145. Y. II, 159, 160.--142-144. Gaut. XII, 22-25.--140-146. Colebrooke, Dig. III, 4, XLV, 4.--146. M. VIII, 241; Y. II, 161; Gaut. XII, 19.--147, 148. M. VIII, 238, 240; Y. II, 162; Gaut. XII, 21.--147-149. Colebrooke, Dig. III, 4, XXI.--150. M. VIII, 242; Y. II, 163-151. M. VIII, 412; Y. II, 183; Colebrooke, Dig. III, 1, LVIII.--152. Y. II, 183.--153, 154. M. VIII, 215; Y. II, 193; Âpast. II, 11, 28, 2, 3.--153-159. Colebrooke, Dig. III, 1, LXXX.--155, 156. Y. II, 197.--160. M. IX, 71; Y. I, 65.--162. M. IX, 72; Y. I, 66.--163. M. VIII, 399.--162, 163. Colebrooke, Dig. IV, 1, LX.--164, 165. M. VIII, 202; Y. II, 170.--166. Y. II, 168.--167, 168. Y. II, 187.--169-171. M. VIII 191.--172. M. IX, 291; Y. II, 155.--174. M. IX, 285; Y. II, 297.--175-177. M. IX, 284; Y. II, 242.--178. Y. II, 232.--179- M. VIII, 123; Y. II, 81; Âpast. II, 11, 29, 8; Gaut, XIII, 23.--180. Y. I, 338.--183. Colebrooke, Dig. I, 3, CXX.--189. M. VIII, 350.--190. M. VIII, 351.--194. M. VIII, 126; Y. I, 367.--195. M. VIII, 128; Y. II, 243, 305.]

11. Two Krishnalas of equal weight are equal to one Mâshaka of silver.

12. Sixteen of these are equal to a Dharana (of silver).

13. A Karsha (or eighty Raktikâs) of copper is called Kârshâpana.

14. Two hundred and fifty (copper) Panas are declared to be the first (or lowest) amercement, five hundred are considered as the middlemost, and a thousand as the highest.
admin
Site Admin
 
Posts: 36125
Joined: Thu Aug 01, 2013 5:21 am

Re: The Institutes of Vishnu, translated by Julius Jolly

Postby admin » Tue Apr 27, 2021 11:06 pm

V.

1. Great criminals should all be put to death.* [The crimes by the commission of which a man becomes a Mahâpatakin, 'mortal sinner,' will be enumerated below, XXXV.]

2. In the case of a Brâhmana. no corporal punishment must be inflicted.* [The use of the particle ka implies, according, to Nand. and a passage of Yama quoted by him, that, besides brawling him, the criminal should be shorn, his deed publicly proclaimed, and himself mounted upon an ass and led about the town.]

3. A Brâhmana must be banished from his own country, his body having been branded.

4. For murdering another Brâhmana, let (the figure of) a headless corpse be impressed on his forehead;

5. For drinking spirits, the flag of a seller of spirituous liquor;

6. For stealing (gold), a dog's foot,

7. For incest, (the mark of) a female part.

8. If he has committed any other capital crime, he shall be banished, taking with him all his property, and unhurt.

9. Let the king put to death those who forge royal edicts;

10. And those who forge (private) documents;* [The use of the particle ka indicates that this rule includes those who corrupt the king's ministers, as stated by Manu, IX, 232. (Nand.)]

11. Likewise poisoners, incendiaries, robbers, and killers of women, children, or men;* [11. Nand. infers from the use of the particle ka, and from a passage of Kâtyâyana, that false witnesses are also intended here.]

12. And such as steal more than ten Kumbhas of grain,* [Nand. here refers ka to women who have committed a capital offence, as mentioned by Yâgñavalkya,(II, 278). A Kumbha is a measure of grain equal to twenty Dronas, or a little more than three bushels and three gallons. Nand. mentions, as the opinion of some, that 1 Kumbha = 2 Dronas. For other computations of the amount of a Kumbha, see Colebrooke's Essays, I, 533 seq.]

13. Or more than a hundred Mâshas of such things as are usually sold by weight (such as gold and silver);* [Regarding the value of a Mâsha, see IV, 7, I 1.]

14. Such also as aspire to sovereignty, though being of low birth;

15. Breakers of dikes;* [Nand. infers from the use of the particle ka and from a {footnote p. 27} passage of Manu (IX, 280), that robbers who forcibly enter the kings treasury, or the arsenal, or a temple, are likewise intended here.]

16. And such as give shelter and food to robbers,

17. Unless the king be unable (to protect his subjects against robbers); the duty which* [In the case to which this Sûtra refers, the villagers may satisfy the demands of the robbers with impunity, as they are obliged to do so out of regard for their own safety. (Nand.)]

18. And a woman who violates she owes to her lord, the latter being unable to restrain her.

19. With whatever limb an inferior insults or hurts his superior in caste, of that limb the king shall cause him to be deprived.

20. If he places himself on the same seat with his superior, he shall be banished with a mark on his buttocks. he shall lose both lips;* [The particle ka, indicates here that if he urinates against a superior his organ shall be cut off. (Nand.) See M. VIII, 282.]

21. If he spits on him,

22. If he breaks wind against him, his hindparts;

23. If he uses abusive language, his tongue.

24. If a (low-born) man through pride give instruction (to a member of the highest caste) concerning his duty, let the king order hot oil to be dropped into his mouth.

25. If a (low-born man) mentions the name or caste of a superior revilingly, an iron pin, ten inches long, shall be thrust into his mouth (red hot).

26. He who falsely denies the sacred knowledge, the country, or the caste (of such), or who says* [This Sûtra has been rendered in accordance with Kullûkâ's gloss on M. VIII, 273, Nand.'s interpretation of it being palpably wrong.] that his religious duties have not been fulfilled by (or that the initiatory and other sacramental rites have not been performed for) him, shall be fined two hundred Panas.

27. If a man is blind with one eye, or lame, or defective in any similar way, and another calls him so, he shall be fined two Kârshâpanas, though he speaks the truth.

28. He shall be fined a hundred Kârshâpanas for defaming a Guru.

29. He shall pay the highest amercement for imputing to another (a great crime) entailing loss of caste;

30. The second amercement for (imputing to another) a minor offence (such as the slaughter of a cow);

31. The same for reviling a Brâhmana versed in the three Vedas, or an old man, or a (whole) caste or corporation (of judges or others);

32. For reviling a village or district, the lowest amercement;* [Nand. infers from the use of the particle ka that 'a family' is also intended here.]

33. For using insulting language (such as 'I shall visit your sister,' or 'I shall visit your daughter'), a hundred Kârshâpanas;

34. For insulting a man by using bad language regarding his mother (such as 'I shall visit your mother' or the like speeches), the highest amercement.

35. For abusing a man of his own caste, he shall be fined twelve Panas.

36. For abusing a man of a lower caste, he shall be fined six (Panas).

37. For insulting a member of the highest caste or of his own caste (he having been insulted by him) at the same time, the same fine is ordained;

38. Or (if he only returns his insult, a fine amounting to) three Kârshâpanas.

39. The same (punishment is ordained) if he calls him bad names.

40. An adulterer shall be made to pay the highest amercement if he has had connection with a woman of his own caste;

41. For adultery with women of a lower caste, the second amercement;

42. The same (fine is ordained) for a bestial crime committed with a cow.

43. He who has had connection with a woman of one of the lowest castes, shall be put to death.* [The lowest castes (antyâh), according to Angiras, are the following seven, Kandâlas, Svapakas, Kshattris, Sûtas, Vaidehakas, Mâgadhas, and Âyogavas.]

44. For a bestial crime committed with cattle (other than cows) he shall be fined a hundred Kârshâpanas.

45. (The same fine is ordained) for giving a (blemished) damsel in marriage, without indicating her blemish (whether the bride be sick, or no longer a maid, or otherwise faulty);

46. And he shall have to support her.

47. He who says of an unblemished damsel, that she has a blemish (shall pay) the highest amercement.

48. For killing an elephant, or a horse, or a camel, or a cow, (the criminal) shall have one hand, or one foot, lopped off.

49. A seller of forbidden meat (such as pork, shall be punished in the same way).

50. He who kills domestic animals, shall pay a hundred Kârshâpanas.

51. He shall make good their value to the owner of those animals.

52. He who kills wild animals, shall pay five hundred Kârshâpanas.

53. A killer of birds, or of fish, (shall pay) ten Kârshâpanas.* [Nand. infers from a passage of Kâtyâyana that the particle ka is used here in order to include serpents.]

54. A killer of insects shall pay one Kârshâpanas.

55. A feller of trees yielding fruit (shall pay) the highest amercement.

56. A feller of trees yielding blossoms only (shall pay) the second amercement.

57. He who cuts creepers, shrubs, or climbing plants (shall pay) a hundred Kârshâpanas.

58. He who cuts grass (shall pay) one Kârshâpanas.

59. And all such offenders (shall make good) to the owners (of the trees or plants cut down by them) the revenue which they yield.

60. If any man raises his hand (against his equal in caste, with intent to strike him, he shall pay) ten Kârshâpanas;

61. If he raises his foot, twenty;

62. If he raises a piece of wood, the first amercement;

63. If he raises a stone, the second amercement;

64. If he raises a weapon, the highest amercement.

65. If he seizes him by his feet, by his hair, by his garment, or by his hand, he shall pay ten Panas as a fine.

66. If he causes pain to him, without fetching blood from him, (he shall pay) thirty-two Panas;

67. For fetching blood from him, sixty-four.

68. For mutilating or injuring a hand, or a foot, or a tooth, and for slitting an ear, or the nose, the second amercement (is ordained).

69. For rendering a man unable to move about, or to eat, or to speak, or for striking him (violently, the same punishment is ordained).

70. For wounding or breaking an eye, or the neck, or an arm, or a bone, or a shoulder, the highest amercement (is ordained).

71. For striking out both eyes of a man, the king shall (confine him and) not dismiss him from jail as long as he lives;

72. Or he shall order him to be mutilated in the same way (i.e. deprived of his eyes).

73. Where one is attacked by many, the punishment for each shall be the double of that which has been ordained for (attacks by) a single person.

74. (The double punishment is) likewise (ordained) for those who do not give assistance to one calling for help, though they happen to be on the spot, or (who run away) after having approached it.

75. All those who have hurt a man, shall pay the expense of his cure.

76. Those who have hurt a domestic animal (shall also pay the expense of his cure).

77. He who has stolen a cow, or a horse, or a camel, or an elephant, shall have one hand, or one foot, cut off;

78. He who has stolen a goat, or a sheep, (shall have) one hand (cut off).

79. He who steals grain (of those sorts which grow in the rainy season), shall pay eleven times its value as a fine;

80. Likewise, he who steals grain (of those sorts, which grow in winter and spring, such as rice and barley).

81. A stealer of gold, silver, or clothes, at a value of more than fifty Mâshas, shall lose both hands.

82. He who steals a less amount than that, shall pay eleven times its value as a fine.

83. A stealer of thread, cotton, cow-dung, sugar, sour milk, milk, butter-milk, grass, salt, clay, ashes, birds, fish, clarified butter, oil, meat, honey, basketwork, canes of bamboo, earthenware, or iron pots, shall pay three times their value as a fine.

84. (The same fine is ordained for stealing) dressed food.

85. For stealing flowers, green (grain), shrubs, creepers, climbing plants or leaves, (he shall pay) five Krishnalas.

86. For stealing pot-herbs, roots, or fruits (the same punishment is ordained).

87. He who steals gems, (shall pay) the highest amercement.

88. He who steals anything not mentioned above, (shall make good) its value (to the owner).

89. Thieves shall be compelled to restore all stolen goods to the owners.

90. After that, they shall suffer the punishment that has been ordained for them.

91. He who does not make way for one for whom way ought to be made, shall be fined twenty-five Kârshâpanas.

92. (The same fine is ordained) for omitting to offer a seat to (a guest or others) to whom it ought to be offered.

93. For neglecting to worship such as have a claim to be worshipped, (the same fine is ordained);* [Those persons 'have a claim to be worshipped' who are worthy to receive the Madhuparka or honey-mixture. (Nand.) See M. III, 119, 120; Y. I, 110; Âpast. II, 4, 8, 5-9; Gaut. V, 27; Weber, Ind. Stud. X, 125.]

94. Likewise, for neglecting to invite (at a Srâddha) a Brâhmana, one's neighbour;

95. And for offering him no food, after having invited him.

96. He who does not eat, though he has received and accepted an invitation, shall give a gold Mâshaka as a fine;

97. And the double amount of food to his host.

98. He who insults a Brâhmana by offering him uneatable food (such as excrements and the like, or forbidden food, such as garlic, must pay) sixteen Suvarnas (as a fine).

99. (If he insults him by offering him) such food as would cause him to be degraded (were he to taste it, he must pay) a hundred Suvarnas.

100. (If he offers him) spirituous liquor, he shall be put to death.

101. If he insults a Kshatriya (in the same way), he shall have to pay half of the above amercement;

102. If he insults a Vaisya, half of that again;

103. If he insults a Sûdra, the first amercement.

104. If one who (being a member of the Kandâla or some other low caste) must not be touched, intentionally defiles by his touch one who (as a member of a twice-born caste) may be touched (by other twice-born persons only), he shall be put to death.

105. If a woman in her courses (touches such a person), she shall be lashed with a whip.

106. If one defiles the highway, or a garden, or the water (by voiding excrements) near them (or in any other way), he shall be fined a hundred Panas;

107. And he must remove the filth.

108. If he demolishes a house, or a piece of ground (a court-yard or the like), or a wall or the like, he shall have to pay the second amercement;

109. And he shall have it repaired (at his own cost).

110. If he throws into another man's house (thorns, spells, or other) such things as might hurt some one, he shall pay a hundred Panas.

111. (The same punishment is ordained) for falsely denying the possession of common property;

112. And for not delivering what has been sent (for a god or for a Brâhmana).

113. (The same punishment is) also (ordained) for father and son, teacher (and pupil), sacrificer and officiating priest, if one should forsake the other, provided that he has not been expelled from caste.

114. And he must return to them (to the parents and the rest).

115. (The same punishment is) also (ordained) for hospitably entertaining a Sûdra or religious ascetic at an oblation to the gods or to the manes;* [According to Nand., the particle ka indicates here, that the same punishment is ordained for him who visits a widow by his own accord, as mentioned by Yâgñavalkya (II, 234).]

116. And for following an unlawful occupation (such as studying the Vedas without having been initiated);

117. And for breaking open a house on which (the king's) seal is laid;* [Nand. considers the particle ka to imply that the exchange of sealed goods for others shall be punished in the same way. But this assertion rests upon a false reading (samudraparivarta for samudgaparivarta) Of Y. II, 247, which passage Nand. quotes in support of his view.]

118. And for making an oath without having been asked to do so (by the king or a judge);

119. And for depriving cattle of their virility.

120. The fine for the witnesses in a I dispute between father and son shall be ten Panas.

121. For him who acts as surety for either of the two parties in such a contest, the highest amercement (is ordained).

122. (The same punishment is ordained) for forging a balance, or a measure;

123. Also, for pronouncing them incorrect, although they are correct.

124. (The same punishment is) also (ordained) for selling adulterated commodities;

125. And for a company of merchants who prevent the sale of a commodity (which happens to be abroad) by selling it under its price.

126. (The same punishment is ordained) for those (members of such a company) who sell (an article belonging to the whole company for more than it is worth) on their own account.

127. He who does not deliver to the purchaser a commodity (sold), after its price has been paid to him, shall be compelled to deliver it to him with interest;

128. And he shall be fined a hundred Panas by the king.

129. If there should be a loss upon a commodity purchased, which the purchaser refuses to accept (though it has been tendered to him), the loss shall fall upon the purchaser.

130. He who sells a commodity on which the king has laid an embargo, shall have it confiscated.

131. A ferry-man who takes a toll payable (for commodities conveyed) by land shall be fined ten Panas.* [The toll mentioned here is the duty on marketable commodities mentioned above, III, 29, 30. (Nand.)]

132. Likewise, a ferry-man, or an official at a toll-office, who takes a fare or toll from a student, or Vânaprastha (hermit), or a Bhikshu (ascetic or religious mendicant), or a pregnant woman, or one about to visit a place of pilgrimage;

133. And he shall restore it to them.

134. Those who use false dice in gaming shall lose one hand.

135. Those who resort to (other) fraudulent practices in gaming shall lose two fingers (the thumb and the index).

136. Cutpurses shall lose one hand.

137. Cattle being attacked, during day-time, by wolves or other ferocious animals, and the keeper not going (to repel the attack), the blame shall fall upon him;

138. And he shall make good to the owner the value of the cattle that has perished.

139. If he milks a cow without permission, (he shall pay) twenty-five Kârshâpanas (as a fine).

140. If a female buffalo damages grain, her keeper shall be fined eight Mâshas.

141. If she has been without a keeper, her owner (shall pay that fine).

142. (For mischief done by) a horse, or a camel, or an ass (the fine shall be the same).

143. (For damage done by) a cow, it shall be half.

144. (For damage done by) a goat, or a sheep, (it shall be) half of that again.

145. For cattle abiding (in the field), after having eaten (grain), the fine shall be double.

146. And in every case the owner (of the field) shall receive the value of the grain that has been destroyed.

147. There is no offence if the damage has been done near a highway, near a village, or (in a field adjacent to) the common pasture-ground for cattle;

148. Or (if it has been done) in an uninclosed field;

149. Or if the cattle did not abide long;

150. Or if the damage has been done by bulls that have been set at liberty, or by a cow shortly after her calving.

151. He who commits members of the highest (or Brâhmana) caste to slavery, shall pay the highest amercement.

152. An apostate from religious mendicity shall become the king's slave.

153. A hired workman who abandons his work before the term has expired shall pay the whole amount (of the stipulated wages) to his employer .

154. And he shall pay a hundred Panas to the king.

155. What has been destroyed through his want of care, (he must make good) to the owner;

156. Unless the damage have been caused by an accident.

157. If an employer dismisses a workman (whom he has hired) before the expiration of the term, he shall pay him his entire wages;

158. And (he shall pay) a hundred Panas to the king;

159. Unless the workman have been at fault.

160. He who, having promised his daughter to one suitor, gives her in marriage to another, shall be punished as a thief;

161. Unless the (first) suitor have a blemish.

162. The same (punishment is ordained for a suitor) who abandons a faultless girl;

163. (And for a husband who forsakes) a (blameless) wife.

164. He who buys unawares in open market the property of another man (from one not authorised to sell it) is not to blame;

165. (But) the owner shall recover his property.

166. If he has bought it in secret and under its price, the purchaser and the vendor shall be punished as thieves.

167. He who embezzles goods belonging to a corporation (of Brâhmanas, and which have been sent to them by the king or by private persons), shall be banished.

168. He who violates their established. rule (shall) also (be banished).

169. He who retains a deposit shall restore the commodity deposited to the owner, with interest.

170. The king shall punish him as a thief

171. (The same punishment is ordained for him) who claims as a deposit what he never deposited.* [According to Nand., the particle ka indicates that those who state the nature or amount of a deposit wrongly ate also intended here.]

172. A destroyer of landmarks shall be compelled to pay the highest amercement and to mark the boundary anew with landmarks.

173. He who (knowingly) eats forbidden food effecting loss of caste shall be banished.* [Thus according to Nand., who says expressly that the causative form cannot here mean causing to eat, because the punishment for the latter offence has been mentioned in Sûtra 98.]

174. He who sells forbidden food (such as spirituous liquor and the like), or food which must not be sold, and he who breaks an image of a deity, shall pay the highest amercement;

175. Also, a physician who adopts a wrong method of cure in the case of a patient of high rank (such as a relative of the king's);

176. The second amercement in the case of another patient;

177. The lowest amercement in the case of an animal.

178. He who does not give what he has promised, shall be compelled to give it and to pay the first amercement.

179. To a false witness his entire property shall be confiscated.

180. (The same punishment is ordained) for a judge who lives by bribes.

181. He who has mortgaged more than a bull's hide of land to one creditor, and without having redeemed it mortgages it to another, shall be corporally punished (by whipping or imprisonment).

182. If the quantity be less, he shall pay a fine of sixteen Suvarnas.

183. That land, whether little or much, on the produce of which one man can subsist for a year, is called the quantity of a bull's hide.

184. If a dispute should arise between two (creditors) concerning (a field or other immovable property) which has been mortgaged to both at the same time, that mortgagee shall enjoy its produce who holds it in his possession, without having obtained it by force.

185. What has been possessed in order and with a legitimate title (such as purchase, donation, and the like), the possessor may keep; it can never be taken from him.

186. Where (land or other) property has been held in legitimate possession by the father (or grandfather), the son's right to it, after his death, cannot be contested; for it has become his own by force of possession.

187. If possession has been held of an estate by three (successive) generations in due course, the fourth in descent shall keep it as his property, even without a written title.

188. He who kills (in his own defence a tiger or other) animal with sharp nails and claws, or a (goat or other) horned animal (excepting cows), or a (boar or other) animal with sharp teeth, or an assassin, or an elephant, or a horse, or any other (ferocious animal by whom he has been attacked), commits no crime.

189. Any one may unhesitatingly slay a man who attacks him with intent to murder him, whether his spiritual teacher, young or old, or a Brâhmana, or even (a Brâhmana) versed in many branches of sacred knowledge.

190. By killing an assassin who attempts to kill, Whether in public or in private, no crime is committed by the slayer: fury recoils upon fury.

191. Assassins should be known to be of seven kinds: such as try to kill with the sword, or with poison, or with fire, such as raise their hand in order to pronounce a curse, such as recite a deadly incantation from the Atharva-veda, such as raise a false accusation which reaches the ears of the king,

192. And such as have illicit intercourse with another man's wife. The same designation is given to other (evil-doers) who deprive others of their worldly fame or of their wealth, or who destroy religious merit (by ruining pools, or other such acts), or property (such as houses or fields).

193. Thus I have declared to thee fully, O Earth, the criminal laws, enumerating at full length the punishments ordained for all sorts of offences.

194. Let the king dictate due punishments for other offences also, after having ascertained the class and the age (of the criminal) and the amount (of the damage done or sum claimed), and after having consulted the Brâhmanas (his advisers).

195. That detestable judge who dismisses without punishment such as deserve it, and punishes such as deserve it not, shall incur twice as heavy a penalty as the criminal himself.

196. A king in whose dominion there exists neither thief, nor adulterer, nor calumniator, nor robber, nor murderer, attains the World of Indra.
admin
Site Admin
 
Posts: 36125
Joined: Thu Aug 01, 2013 5:21 am

Re: The Institutes of Vishnu, translated by Julius Jolly

Postby admin » Tue Apr 27, 2021 11:16 pm

VI.

1. A creditor shall receive his principal back from his debtor exactly as he had lent it to him.

2. (As regards the interest to be paid), he shall take in the direct order of the castes two, three, four, or five in the hundred by the month (if no pledge has been given).

3. Or let debtors of any caste pay as much interest as has been promised by themselves.

4. After the lapse of one year let them pay interest according to the above rule, even though it have not been agreed on.

5. By the use of a pledge (to be kept only) interest is forfeited.

[VI. 2. M. VIII, 142; Y. II, 37.--1, 2. Colebrooke, Dig. I, 2, XXXI.--3. M. VIII, 157; Y. II, 38.--4. Colebrooke, Dig. I, 2, LII.--5. M. VIII, 143; Y. II, 59; Gaut. XII, 32; Colebrooke, Dig. I, 2, LXXVIII.--6. Y. II, 59; Colebrooke, Dig. I, 3, LXXXII.--7. M. VIII, 151; Gaut. XII, 31; Colebrooke, Dig. I, 3, CX.--8. Colebrooke loc. cit.--9. Colebrooke, Dig. I, 3, CVII.--10. Y. II, 44; Colebrooke, Dig. I, 2, LXXVII.--11-15. M. VIII, 151; Y. II, 39; Gaut. XII, 36; Colebrooke, Dig. I, 2, LXIV.--16, 17. Colebrooke, Dig. I, 2, LXX.--18, 19. M. VIII, 50, 176; Y. II, 40; Colebrooke, Dig. I, 6, CCLII.--20, 21. M. VIII, 139; Y. II, 42; Colebrooke, Dig. I, 6, CCLXXVII.--22. Y. II, 20-24, 25. Y. II, 94; Colebrooke, Dig. I, 6, CCLXXXIII.--26. Y. II, 93; Colebrooke, Dig. I, 6, CCLXXXVI.--27. Y. II, 50; Colebrooke, Dig. I, 5, CLXVIII.--28. Colebrooke, Dig. I, 5, CLXVIII.--29. Gaut. XII, 40.--29, 30. Y. II, 51; Colebrooke, Dig. I. 5, CCXX,--31-33. Y. II, 46; Colebrooke, Dig. I. 5, CCVIII.--34-36. M VIII, 166; Y. II, 45.--38, 39. M. VIII, 166, 167; Y. II, 45; Colebrooke, Dig. I, 5, CXCII.--41. M. VIII, 158, 160; Y. II, 53; Colebrooke, Dig. I, 4, CXLIV.--42, 43, Y. II, 55, 56; Colebrooke, Dig. I, 4, CLVI, CLXI.

I, 2. Colebrooke loc. cit. seems to have translated a different reading.]

p. 43

6. The creditor must make good the loss of a, pledge, unless it was caused by fate or by the king.

7. (The pledge must) also (be restored to the debtor) when the interest has reached its maximum amount (on becoming equal to the principal, and has all been paid).

8 But he must not restore an immovable pledge without special agreement (till the principal itself has been paid).

9. That immovable property which has been delivered, restorable when the sum borrowed is made good, (the creditor) must restore when the sum borrowed has been made good.

10. Property lent bears no further interest after it has been tendered, but refused by the creditor.

11. On gold the interest shall rise no higher than to make the debt double;

12. On grain, (no higher than to make it) threefold;.

13. On cloth, (no higher than to make it) fourfold;

14. On liquids, (no higher than to make it) eightfold;

15. Of female slaves and cattle, the offspring (shall be taken as interest).

16. On substances from which spirituous liquor

[7. Colebrooke loc. cit. connects this Sûtra with the next. My rendering rests on Nand.'s interpretation.

8. Nand. cites as an instance of an agreement of this kind one made in the following form, 'You shall have the enjoyment of this or that mango grove as long as interest on the principal lent to me has not ceased to accrue.']

p. 44

is extracted, on cotton, thread, leather, weapons, bricks, and charcoal, the interest is unlimited.

17. On such objects as have not been mentioned it may be double.

18. A creditor recovering the sum lent by any (lawful) means shall not be reproved by the king.

19. If the debtor, so forced to discharge the debt, complains to the king, he shall be fined in an equal sum.

20. If a creditor sues before the king and fully proves his demand, the debtor shall pay as a fine to the king a tenth part of the sum proved;

21. And the creditor, having received the sum due, shall pay a twentieth part of it.

22. If the whole demand has been contested by the debtor, and even a part of it only has been proved against him, he must pay the whole.

23. There are three means of proof in case of a demand having been contested, viz. a writing, witnesses, and proof by ordeal.

24. A debt contracted before witnesses should be discharged in the presence of witnesses.

25. A written contract having been fulfilled, the writing should be torn.

26. Part only being paid, and the writing not being at hand, let the creditor give an acquittance.

27. If he who contracted the debt should die, or

[17. Nand. infers from a passage of Kâtyâyana that this rule refers to gems, pearls, coral, gold, silver, cotton, silk, and wool.

18. The 'lawful means' are mediation of friends, and the four other modes of compelling payment of an unliquidated demand (Nand.) See M. VIII, 49.

22. 'The particle api indicates that he must pay a fine to the king besides, as ordained by Yâgñavalkya.' (Nand.)]

p. 45

become a religious ascetic, or remain abroad for twenty years, that debt shall be discharged by his sons or grandsons;

28. But not by remoter descendants against their will.

29. He who takes the assets of a man, leaving or not leaving male issue, must pay the sum due (by him);

30. And (so must) he who has the care of the widow left by one who had no assets.

31. A woman (shall) not (be compelled to pay) the debt of her husband or son;

32. Nor the husband or son (to pay) the debt of a woman (who is his wife or mother);

33.. Nor a father to pay the debt of his son.

34. A debt contracted by parceners shall be paid by any one of them who is present.

35. And so shall the debt of the father (be paid) by (any one of) the brothers (or of their sons) before partition.

36. But after partition they shall severally pay according to their shares of the inheritance.

37. A debt contracted by the wife of a herdsman, distiller of spirits, public dancer, washer, or hunter shall be discharged by the husband (because he is supported by his wife).

38. (A debt of which payment has been previously) promised must be paid by the householder;

39. And (so must he pay that debt) which was

[38, 39. Regarding these two Sûtras see Jolly, Indisches Schuldrecht, in the Transactions of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences, 1877, p. 309, note.]

p. 46

contracted by any person for the behoof of the family.

40. He who on receiving the whole amount of a loan, promises to repay the principal on the following day (or some other date near at hand), but from covetousness does not repay it, shall give interest for it.

41. Suretiship is ordained for appearance, for honesty, and for payment; the first two (sureties, and not their sons), must pay the debt on failure of their engagements, but even the sons of the last (may be compelled to pay it).

42. When there are several sureties (jointly bound), they shall pay their proportionate shares of the debt, but when they are bound severally, the payment shall be made (by any of them), as the creditor pleases.

43. If the surety, being harassed by the creditor, discharges the debt, the debtor shall pay twice as much to the surety.
admin
Site Admin
 
Posts: 36125
Joined: Thu Aug 01, 2013 5:21 am

Next

Return to Ancien Regime

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 21 guests