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The Sacred Laws of the Âryas: Baudhâyana - Prasna I, Adhyâya 1
Kandikâ 1
1. The sacred law is taught in each Veda.1
2. We will explain (it) in accordance with that.
3. (The sacred law), taught in the Tradition (Smriti, stands) second.2
4. The practice of the Sishtas (stands) third.3
5. Sishtas, forsooth, (are those) who are free from envy, free from pride, contented with a store of grain sufficient for ten days, free from covetousness, and free from hypocrisy, arrogance, greed, perplexity, and anger.4
6. '(Those are called) Sishtas who, in accordance with the sacred law, have studied the Veda together5 with its appendages, know how to draw inferences from that, (and) are able to adduce proofs perceptible by the senses from the revealed texts.'
7. On failure of them, an assembly consisting at least of ten members (shall decide disputed points of law).
8. Now they quote also (the following verses): 'Four men, who each know one of the four Vedas, a Mîmâmsaka, one who knows the Aṅgas, one who recites (the works on) the sacred law, and three Brâhmanas belonging to (three different) orders, (constitute) an assembly consisting, at least, of ten members.'6
9. 'There may be five, or there may be three, or there may be one blameless man, who decides (questions regarding) the sacred law. But a thousand fools (can)not (do it).'7
10. 'As an elephant made of wood, as an antelope made of leather, such is an unlearned Brâhmana: those three having nothing but the name (of their kind).'8
11. 'That sin which dunces, perplexed by ignorance and unacquainted with the sacred law, declare (to be duty), falls, increased a hundredfold, on those who propound it.'9
12. 'Narrow and difficult to find is the path of the sacred law, towards which many gates lead. Hence, if there is a doubt, it must not be propounded by one man (only), however learned he may be.'10
13. 'What Brâhmanas, riding in the chariot of the law (and) wielding the sword of the Veda, propound even in jest, that is declared to be the highest law.'
14. 'As wind and sun will make water, collected on a stone, disappear, even so the sin that (cleaves) to an offender completely vanishes like water.'11
15. 'He who knows the sacred law shall fix the penances with discernment, taking into consideration the constitution, the strength, the knowledge, and the age (of the offender), as well as the time and the deed.'12
16. Many thousands (of Brâhmanas) cannot form a (legal) assembly (for declaring the sacred law), if they have not fulfilled their sacred duties, are unacquainted with the Veda, and subsist only by the name of their caste.'13
Kandikâ 2
1. There is a dispute regarding five (practices) both in the south and in the north.14
2. We will explain those (peculiar) to the south.
3. They are, to eat in the company of an uninitiated person, to eat in the company of one's wife, to eat stale food, to marry the daughter of a maternal uncle or of a paternal aunt.15
4. Now (the customs peculiar) to the north are, to deal in wool, to drink rum, to sell animals that have teeth in the upper and in the lower jaws, to follow the trade of arms, to go to sea.16
5. He who follows (these practices) in any other country than where they prevail, commits sin.17
6. For each (of these customs) the (rule of the) country should be (considered) the authority.
7. Gautama declares that that is false.18
8. And one should not take heed of either (set of practices) because they are opposed to the tradition of the Sishtas.
9. The country of the Âryas (Âryâvarta) lies to the east of the region where (the river Sarasvatî) disappears, to the west of the Black-forest (Kâlakavana), to the north of the Pâripâtra (mountains), to the south of the Himâlaya. The rule of conduct which (prevails) there, is authoritative.19
10. Some (declare) the country between the (rivers) Yamunâ and Ganges (to be the Âryâvarta).20
11. Now the Bhâllavins quote also the (following) verse:21
12. 'In the west the boundary-river, in the east the region where the sun rises,--as far as the black antelopes wander (between these two limits), so far spiritual pre-eminence (is found).'22
13. The inhabitants of Avantî, of Aṅga, of Magadha, of Surâshtra, of the Dekhan, of Upâvrit, of Sindh, and the Sauvîrâs are of mixed origin.23
14. He who has visited the (countries of the) Ârattas, Kâraskaras, Pundras, Sauvîras, Vaṅgas, Kaliṅgas, (or) Prânûnas shall offer a Punastoma or a Sarvaprishthâ (ishti).24
15. Now they quote also (the following verses): 'He commits sin through his feet, who travels to the (country of the) Kaliṅgas. The sages declare the Vaisvânarî ishti to be a purification for him.'25
16. 'Even if many offences have been committed, they recommend for the removal of the sin the Pavitreshti. For that (sacrifice) is a most excellent means of purification.'
17. Now they quote also (the following verse): 'He who performs (by turns) in each season the Vaisvânarî (ishti), the Vrâtapatî (ishti), and the Pavitreshti is freed from (all) sins.'26
Footnotes
1. Vasishtha I, 4. Each Veda, i.e. each sâkhâ or redaction of the Veda.--Govinda.
2. Vasishtha I, 4. Govinda takes smriti, 'the tradition,' in the sense of works (grantha) explaining the recollections of the Rishis, and is no doubt right in doing so.
3. Vasishtha I, 5. The explanation of âgama by 'practice' rests on the authority of Govinda and the parallel passages where sîla and âkâra, 'conduct,' are used.
4. Âpastamba I, 7, 20, 8; Gautama XXVIII, 48. Kumbhidhânya, translated according to Govinda by 'contented with a store of grain sufficient for ten days,' means, according to others, 'contented with a store of grain sufficient for six days or for a year.'
5. Vasishtha VI, 43. Govinda omits the word 'iti,' given by the MSS. after the verse, whereby it is marked as a quotation. 'The appendages,' i.e. the Itihâsas and Purânas.--Govinda.
6. Vasishtha III, 20. Govinda, quoting Gautama XXVIII, 49, says that Vânaprasthas cannot serve as members of Parishads, because they live in the forest. He also notices a different reading, not found in my MSS. 'Âsramasthâs trayo mukhyâh.' He asserts that thereby professed students are intended, because professed students are declared to be particularly holy in the Dharmaskandha-brâhmana.
7. Vasishtha III, 7. Itare, translated by 'fools,' means literally, those different from the persons enumerated in the preceding verse.' Govinda remarks that according to Sûtra 12 one learned Brâhmana must be taken only in cases of the most pressing necessity.
8. Vasishtha III, 11.
9. Vasishtha III, 6.
10. The 'gates' of the sacred law are the Vedas, the Smritis, and the practice of the Sishtas. They are many, because the redactions of the Vedas and Smritis are numerous and the practices vary in different countries.
11. I.e. provided the offender performs the penance imposed by learned and virtuous Brâhmanas. Pranâsayet, 'will make disappear,' is ungrammatical, as the subject stands in the dual. Grammatical accuracy has probably been sacrificed to the exigencies of the metre.
12. Vasishtha XIX, 9. Sarîram, literally 'the body,' means here the constitution, which may be bilious, 'windy,' and so forth. Âyuh, literally 'life' or 'long life,' has been translated by 'knowledge,' in accordance with Govinda's explanation gñânam. As the word vayah, 'age,' also occurs in this verse, it is clear that âyuh cannot have its usual meaning.
13. Vasishtha III, 5. The two copies of the commentary omit this Sûtra, though it is quoted in the explanation of Sûtra 9. The best MSS. repeat the last words of the Sûtra in order to show that the Kandikâ ends here. The same practice is observed, though not quite regularly, in the sequel.
14. The boundary between the north and south of India is, as Govinda also points out, the river Narmadâ.
15. Some of the customs mentioned here still prevail in parts of southern India. Thus the marriages between cousins occur among the Desastha and Karhâdâ Brâhmanas of the Dekhan.
16. The first two customs mentioned still prevail in the north, especially in Kasmîr, where Brâhmanas commonly deal in wool and woollen cloth. Spirituous liquor is not now drunk openly, but its use is sanctioned in the Kasmîrian Nîlamata-purâna. Many Brâhmanical families in the north, especially in the North-western Provinces, subsist by enlisting as soldiers in the British and native armies.
17. A similar argument is given by the Kasmîrians for the lawfulness of the consumption of meat, which they justify by a desaguna or 'virtue of their country.'
18. Gautama XI, 20.
19. Vasishtha I, 8, 10. Many MSS., and among them the Telugu copy of the commentary, read Pâriyâtra instead of Pâripâtra, which latter I consider to be the correct form of the word.
20. Vasishtha I, 12.
21. Vasishtha I, 14. Govinda remarks that the Bhâllavins are a school studying the Sâma-veda. See also Max Müller, Hist. Anc. Sansk. Lit., pp. 193, 364.
22. Vasishtha I, 15. There is a great uncertainty in the MSS. about the word following sindhuh. I have adopted the reading of M., sindhur vidharanî, 'the boundary-river,' which occurs also in the parallel passage of Vasishtha. The Dekhan and Gugarât MSS. read vikaranî or vikaranâ, and the two copies of the commentary visaranî. The sense of these various readings appears to be 'the river that vanishes or looses itself,' i.e. the Sarasvatî.
23. This and the following two Sûtras are intended to show that the customs prevailing in the countries named have no authority and must not be followed. Avantî corresponds to western Mâlvâ, Aṅga to western Bengal, Magadha to Bihar, and Surâshtra to southern Káthîâvâd. The Sauvîras, who are always associated with the Sindhians, probably dwelt in the south-west of the Pañgâb, near Multân. The Upâvrits probably are the same as the Upâvrittas mentioned Mahâbhârata VI, 49. But I am unable to deter-mine their seats.
24. The Ârattas dwelt in the Pañgâb (Lassen, Ind. Alth. I, p. 973, sec. ed.), and are greatly blamed, Mahâbhârata VIII, 44, 36 seq. The Kâraskaras are named in the same chapter of the Mahâbhârata as a degraded tribe, but seem to belong to the south of India. The Kaliṅgas are the inhabitants of the eastern coast of India, between Orissa and the mouth of the Krishnâ river. The Pundras, who are mentioned as a degraded tribe in the Aitareya-brâhmana VII, 18, and occur frequently in the Mahâbhârata, and the Vaṅgas belong to Bengal (see Lassen, Ind. Alth. I, 669, sec. ed.; Cunningham, Anc. Geog. p. 480). Regarding the Puna-stoma, see Gautama XIX, 7 note; and regarding the Sarvaprishthâ ishti, Taittirîya-samhitâ II, 3, 7, 1-2.
25. Âpastamba I, 11, 32, 18.
26. Vasishtha XXII, 10. The meaning is that in each of the three seasons of the year, Grîshma, Varsha, Hemanta, one of the three sacrifices is to be offered.
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