Reserved for him by Yama; then in life His partings from his loved ones and his meetings Of sickness and decrepitude and death; Passing from womb to womb to undergo Ten thousand millions of existences1 (VI. 61-63). Then do thou contemplate with fixed attention He who perceives the omnipresent God Who sees him not, can never be released (VI. 74). Those who repeat their vicious acts are doomed To misery, increasing more and more, In forms becoming more and more debased (XII. 74). They shall be born as despicable beasts, Suffer the worst extremes of cold and heat, Painful diseases, various kinds of terror (XII. 77, 80). He who by firmness gains the mastery Over his words, his mind, and his whole body, Exerting thus a threefold self-command And yet is not eternal, is in Soul. 1 Yoni-koti-sahasreshu sritiś-ća antar-atmanaḥ. 2 This is the Tri-dandin (see note, p. 144). It is noticeable that the Indian ascetic, who is described by Arrian (VII. 2) as exciting the wonder of Alexander the Great by his kapтepía, is named Aávdaus, probably from the same root as danda (dam, 'to subdue,' in Intens.). By others he is called Mandanis (root mand?). 3 This seems to mean, as explained by Dr. Johaentgen, that to which belongs a real existence and yet not eternity, because it is a product. Cf. Sankhya-pravaćana V. 56. He who with fixed abstraction sees himself Cannot apply his soul to wickedness (XII. 118). Is all the worlds, and is the only source Of all the actions of embodied spirits (XII. 119). In regular and constant revolution Through birth and growth, decay and dissolution (XII. 122, 124). The man who sees by means of his own soul The universal Spirit present there, Present in every creature everywhere, With perfect equanimity may wait Till he has reached the state of bliss supreme Complete absorption in the eternal essence (XII. 125). The Code of Yajnavalkya. The most important Law-book next to Manu is the Dharma-sastra of Yajnavalkya, which, with its most celebrated commentary, the Mitaksharā by Vijnāneśvara, is at present the principal authority of the school of Benares and Middle India. It seems originally to have emanated from a school of the White Yajur-veda in Mithila or North Behar, just as we have seen (p. 213) that the Code of the Manavas did from a school of the Black 2 1 Dr. Johaentgen thinks that Atman in these passages is wrongly translated the supreme Soul.' He believes that it denotes the whole self or soul' of man, regarded as an epitome of the universe, and he refers in confirmation of his view to Tattva-samāsa 56. See also Manu VIII. 84, translated p. 284. 2 According to Dr. Röer, it is still the leading authority of the Mithila school, but Colebrooke names other works as constituting the chief texts of this school. Yajur-veda in the neighbourhood of Delhi. Book I. 2 makes the author say: The chief of devout sages (Yajnavalkya), dwelling in Mithila, having reflected for a moment, said to the Munis, 'Listen to the laws which prevail in the country where the black antelope is found' (cf. Manu II. 23). 1 Yajnavalkya's work is much more concise than that of Manu, being all comprised in three books instead of twelve, which circumstance leads to the inference that it has suffered even more curtailment at the hands of successive revisers of the original text than the Code of the Manavas. Like that Code, it seems to have been preceded by a Vriddha and a Vṛihad Yajnavalkya. The whole work, as we now possess it, is written in the ordinary Śloka metre. The first Book, consisting of 376 couplets, is chiefly on social and caste deities (ācāra); the second, consisting of 307 verses (which have been transferred almost word for word to the Agni Purāṇa), is mainly on administrative judicature and civil and criminal law (vyavahāra); the third, consisting of 335 verses, is principally on devotion, purification, expiation, penance (prāyaś-ćitta), &c. The Mitāksharā commentary follows the same arrangement, and is divided also into three parts. As to the date of Yajnavalkya's Law-book, it has been conjecturally placed in the middle of the first century of our era. The period of its first compilation cannot, of course, be fixed with certainty, but internal evidence clearly indicates that the present redaction is much more recent than that of Manu's Law-book. The following points have been noted by me: 1 The edition I have used is the excellent one of Stenzler. I have consulted his preface and translation, and the translation of part of the Code made by Dr. Röer and W. A. Montriou, to which there is an instructive introduction. 1. Although Yajnavalkya's Code must have represented the customs and practices prevalent in a district (Mithila) situated in a different and more easterly part of India, yet nearly every precept in the first book, and a great many in the second and third, have their parallels in similar precepts occurring throughout the Code of the Manavas. 2. Although generally founded on Manu, it represents a later stage of Hindu development. Its arrangement is much more systematic. It presents fewer repetitions and inconsistencies, and less confusion of religion, morality, and philosophy, with civil and criminal law. 3. In Book I. 3 the sources of law are expanded beyond those stated by Manu; although afterwards in I. 7 Manu's fourfold Dharma-mūlam (see p. 216) is adopted, thus: 'The Vedas, with the Puranas, the Nyaya, the Mimansa, the codes of law (dharma-sastra), and the (six) Vedāngas are the fourteen repositories (sthānāni) of the sciences (vidyānām) and of law (dharmasya, I. 3). 'The Veda (śruti), traditional law (smriti), the practices of good men (sad-ācāra), and one's own inclination, are called the root of law' (I. 7). 4. Those of its precepts which introduce new matter evince a more advanced Brahmanism and a stricter caste-organization; thus, for example, it is directed in I. 57 that a Brahman must not have a Sūdrā as a fourth wife, but only wives of the three higher classes, whereas in Manu (see p. 250) such a wife is permitted1. 5. In I. 271, 272, there is an allusion to the shaven heads (munda) and yellow garments (kashāya-vāsas) of the Buddhists, which marks a period subsequent to the establishment and previous to the expulsion of Buddhism. It must be admitted, however, that there is no mention of the Buddhists by name. 6. In II. 185 the king is recommended to found and endow monasteries and to place in them Brāhmans learned in the Vedas. 7. In II. 241 mention is made of Nāṇaka, coined money,' both true and counterfeit (akuṭa and kūṭaka), whereas, although Manu speaks of weights of gold and silver, such as Suvarnas, Palas, Nishkas, Dharanas, and Purāņas (VIII. 135–137), it is very doubtful whether any stamped coin was current in his day. 8. Written accusations and defences (lekhya) are required to be made (II. 6, 7), and written documents (likhitam) are allowed as evidence (II. 22); and in I. 318 grants of land and copper-plates, properly sealed, are mentioned. 9. The worship of Ganesa, as the remover of obstacles, is expressly 1 Later Codes limit Brahmans to wives of their own classes only. alluded to in I. 270, and Graha-yajna or offerings to the planets' are directed to be made in I. 294. 10. In III. 110 the author of the Code (Yajnavalkya) speaks of an Aranyaka or Upanishad (of the White Yajur-veda), which he had himself received from the Sun, and of a Yoga-sastra, Yoga system of philosophy,' which he had himself delivered (to Patanjali 1). 6 Some of these points seem decisive as to the lapse of a considerable period between Manu and Yajnavalkya, and lead us to agree with those who hesitate to refer the latter Code, in its present form, to an earlier epoch than the first century of our era2. On the other hand, some of the facts stated incline us to attribute a greater antiquity to portions of the work than that usually assigned to it. I proceed to give specimens of the three divisions of Yajnavalkya's Code. I. The following are from the first Book on Ātāra or social customs and immemorial practices.' Attention should be directed to the parallels in Manu at the end of several of the translated passages. The mention of four Vedas and the efficacy attributed to their repetition is noticeable: Brāhmans, Kshatriyas, and Vaisyas are called twice-born (dvi-jāḥ), since they are born once from their mothers and a second time through the binding on of the girdle (Maunji-bandhanāt, I. 39. Cf. Manu II. 169, and see p. 247). The Veda is more efficacious in effecting the final salvation of the twice-born (dvijātīnām niḥśreyasa-karaḥ paraḥ) than sacrifices, than penances, and even than good works (I. 40. Cf. Manu II. 166). 1 See p. 102 of this volume. Patanjali, who flourished, according to Lassen, about 200 B.C., is not, however, mentioned in the text. 2 Some of Yajnavalkya's verses are found in the Panća-tantra, the date of the oldest portions of which is usually referred to the fifth century of our era. In almost all Sanskrit works the introduction of apposite verses from older sources, for the illustration of the original text, is common. |