English
a work belonging to a Parishad, not every Pflrshada can be called a Pr&tififtkhya, but those only which contain the rules of pronunciation for a particular 6ftkh& or text of the Yedic hjrmns, studied and taught in certain Parishads.' Amara explains parishad by sabhft or goshthi, an assembly ; but the codes of law lay down more accurately the number, age, and qualifications of the Brahmans, necessary to form such an assembly as should be competent to give decisions on all points on which the people, or, if we may say so, the parishioners, might demand advice. That such Parishads or Brahmanic settlements existed in old times, we see in the BrihadlLranyaka^, where it is said that Svetaketu 1 PSrshada, instead of F&rishada. Cf. P&n. !▼. 3. 123. * I donbt the existence of a word like TTPQ^n^^rhf i which Dr. Both mentions (Zur Litteratnr, p. 16.). One may speak of WWmt mRbI^ or ^l^Plt ^Elft^ *c^ and Prtti64khya current in one of these Parishads may, perhaps, be called <t^Ml^<- ^ut 4<|H|f^^ is not the name of a Parishad, but of a l§akh&; and therefore the Commentary on Gobhila speaks of a ^l^(^^9(|lj)€|S||ptm^l ^ot could not well have spoken of a^^^mi|^€imfi^(i4siii Brih. Ar. vi. 2. ^d^Q^ ^ ^T^^: M^IWHI ^- t|<4qi*ll^ll fbAtisakhyAs. 129 went to the Parishad of the Panch&las, and many similar passages. The character of a Parishad is described in Manu's Code of Laws, xii. 110 — 113.,. and by Y&jnavalkya, i. 9., where we have the con- tracted form Parshad instead of Parishad. According to the ideas of these modern writers a Parishad ought to consist of twenty-one Brfthmans well versed in philosophy, theology, and law.^ This number, how- ever, can be reduced according to circumstances, as will be seen from passages of Pardibra's Dharma^tra. It must not be supposed that the rules laid down in these law-books have always been observed in the formation of a Parishad, particularly as regards the early times of India ; yet we may be able to form some conception of their original character, by seeing what has become of them in later times. PardAara says * : ** Four, or even three able men from amongst the Brfthmans in a village, (gr&mamadhye)' who know the Veda, and keep the sacrificial fire, form a Parishad. lo not keep *b^ sacrificial fire, five or i Btudied the Vedas and Ved&ngas, tw, may ^well form a Parishad. J who possess the highest knowledge of f who are t^rice-bom, perform sacri- purified themselves in the duties of ^•Iso, may be considered as a Parishad. tindsof Parishads have been described they all fail, three independent men rishad." his Commentary on Par&&ara, quotes re^ fromBrihaspati's Code : — " Where Qree Brahmans, -who knovB^ the customs ke VedAngas (or the Vedas and the ® Jaw, have settled, that assembly is The real difference, therefore, be- and a Parishad, seems to be that the an ideal succession of teachers and and teach a certain branch of the he latter means a settlement of imunity or college to which members . might belong. Thus members of rana might be fellows of different fellows of the same Parishad might : different Charanas.* l^niniB Com. i^ ^J^^,^ finiRn^ PftiTIsA^EYAS. 131 Now ad P&rshada may be used as the title of any work that belonged to a Parishad, or formed, so to say, the traditional library of the PSjishadyas, it is clear that this title could not be confined to the Pr&* ti6&khyas, though it would necessarily include them. If a follower of the 6&kala-charana was a fellow of the Yatsa-parishad, the j§d.ka]a-prd.ti6d,khya would neces- sarily be one of the P&rshada works of the Yatsas, and the Parisfaad of the Yatsas would through this fellow be connected with the Sftkala-charana. This is what Durga means when in the Commentary on the Nirukta^ he says ^Hhat those Pftrshadas only are called Pr&ti^&khyas which are adopted in a Parishad of one's own Charana for teaching certain grammatical Aoc^ trines connected with the reading of the Yeda ac cording to one or the other Sftkhft." The Prfttififtkhyas are in fact a subdivision of the Pftrshada boCks, and Sf^t^^nl The expression TW^ *' thus say some^" which occnis freqnenilj in the S&tras, is stated to refer to different ^akhfts, ^^<ifii|>B Com. ^n^^'^ ^mf%^ ^ny: i *lqn 1 ^UfJltS TnP^! I N&rayana's Commentary on Gobhilai MS. W. 72. page 23. b. Nir. i. 17- t* m^^rf^i ^npcwf^ %: Ti^nim ** Those P&rshada books by which in a Parishad (parish or college) of one's own Charana (sect), the peculiarities of accent, Sanhiti and Erama-reading, of Pragrihya-vowels and separation of words, are laid down as enjoined for and restricted to certain SakhSs (branches or recensions of the Yeda), are called Pr&* tiiakhyas." 132 pbAtibAkhtas. in this sense it might well be said that PrlltiMkhya is an adjective to PS^rshada.' After the true meaning of iSftkhft, Charana^ and Parishad, of Pr&ti^ftkhya and P&rshada, has thus been determined, we have still to inquire about those other works, which together with the Pr&ti6&khyas were mentioned as the peculiar property of the Charanas. I mean the Kula-dharmas, or law books. They of course could not be called Prd.ti6&khyas, but they might claim the title of Chllranas, (a name which has not been met with,) or Pd^rshadas. Now we saw before that Apastamba actually refers to the Parishads in his S&mayftch&rik&stltras (1. 11.), where, after having pointed out the days on which the Ve^ ought not to be repeated, he re- marks, that farther particulars on this point are to be found in the Parishads.^ What does this mean ?. All that Haradatta has to say in the commen- tary on this very passage, is that by Parishads must here be understood the M&nava, Y&sishtha, and other Dharma^tras.j' These DharmaMstras, however, as we now possess them, betray their comparatively modern origin by their form and metre, and occasionally by their matter also. As many of. them have been printed at Calcutta, it may be seen that the majority of these small l§loka works are utterly worthless. They were probably made up only 1 See Dr. Both, Zar litteratur, p. 58. * PBimiSHTAS.^ 133 in'ord^r to fill the gap which had been occasioned by the loss of ancient legal works. This loss was felt the more severely because the names of the old authors retained their celebrity, and were still quoted in common practice and courts of law. I have suc- ceeded, however, in recovering in manuscript large portions of the Eula-dharmas, which are written in Siitras, as might be expected in works contempo* raneous with the PrS,ti6£lkhyas. It has been thought that the sources of Manu and other Dharma^tras must be looked for in the Grihya-sAtras. This is not quite correct. The Grihya-siitras are concerned chiefly with the Sanskftras, or domestic sacraments, ox- tending from the birth to the marriage of a man, and in so far only as these sacraments form a portion of the subjects treated in the Dharma^lLstras, the Grihya- stitns might be considered as their ori^nal sources. But then the same might be said of the Srauta-siitras, because the solemn sacrifices prescribed by them are likewise alluded to in the Codes of Law. By far the greater portion, however, of these codes is taken up with Achftra, t. e. laws, manners, and customs. The dijQTerence between these observances and the ceremonies laid down in the other two branches of Siitras is this : the domestic sacraments (grihya), as well as the solemn sacrifices (4rauta), are administered by parents or priests for the good of their children .and pupils, while the AchS,ra comprises all the duties which are to be performed by an individual on his own behalf/ These duties refer to the different castes, ^ The threefold division of Dharma is pointed out bj the Prajo- garayajantt (MS. Bodl. W. 68, p. 16- a.) %: m^ t?nfV ^J^ftrflv; qR^ftfih: 118^11 si^^^^iP^m^iyi^ 4Vvt- K 3 134 Pfi^tlsAkHTAS. and to the respective occupations of each. The rules of discipline for the young student, the occupations of the married man, the law of inheritance, the duties of the king, the administration of the law, are accurately detailed in these SAtras. They are of great im- portance for forming a correct view of the old state of society in India, and the loss of the larger num- ber of them is greatly to be regretted. Their general title is S£lmaydx^hd.rika-siitras, or Dharmasiitras, and they form the third part to the iSrauta and Grihya- siitras.