15. Vaikhanasa-dharma-prasna

Volume I: Part I pp. 257–261

15. Vaikhanasa-dharma-prasna

15. Vaikhānasa-dharma-praśna

The work has been published in the Trivandrum Sanskrit Series by Pandit T. Ganapati Sastri (1913) and also edited by Dr. Caland in B. I. Series (1927) and translated into English (1929) with a learned Introductioṇ

Mahādeva in his commentary called Vaijayantī (Ānandā-śrama eḍ) on the Satyāsādha Śrautasūtra speaks of six Śrauta Sūtras of the Black Yajurveda viz. Baudhāyana, Bhāradvāja, Āpastamba, Hiraṇyakeśin, Vādhūla and Vaikhānasa, and frequently cites passages from the Vaikhānasa-śrautasūtra. In the Caraṇavyūha of Śaunaka, Vādhūla and Vaikhānasa are not mentioneḍ But that Vaikhānasa was a very ancient writer follows from the references contained in the ancient dharma workṣ In Gautama the word ‘Vaikhā-nasa’ occurs (Dh. S. III. 2) as the name for the order of forest hermits (Vānaprastha) and in another Sūtra (III. 26) he lays down that fire was to be consecrated according to the Śrāmaṇaka,²²⁷ which latter is explained by Haradatta as Vaikhānasa Śāstra. Baudhāyana (Dh. S. II. 6. 17) has the same Sūtra²²⁸ and defines a Vaikhānasa as one who follows the rules of conduct laid down in Vaikhānasa śāstra (Dh. S. II. 6. 16). The Vasiṣṭha Dh. S. (9. 10) also has the same sūtra as Gautama (Dh. S. III. 26). The Manusmṛti (VI. 21) speaks of the Vānaprastha as one who abides by the views of Vaikhānasa (Vaikhānasaāmate sthitah). Gau. III. 25–34 and Vaṣ IX. 1–11 deal with Vaikhānasa. Printed Gaut. III. 26 reads ‘śravaṇakenaāgnimādhāya’ while Vaṣ IX. 10 has ‘śrā-maṇakenāgnimādhāyahitāgniḥ syāt’.

Kalpataru (Mokṣakāṇḍa) p. 20 reads as ‘śravaṇakena’, quotes Bhatriyajña as ‘Vaikhānasaṁ śāstraṁ śrāvaṇakam’, on p. 22 quotes a very long prose passage from Hārita beginning with ‘Tretam Śrāvaṇakam vāgnimādhāya’. The Manu- smṛti ( VI. 1-32 ) deals at length with the stage of Vānaprastha or Vaikhānasa. From Manu VI. 21 it follows that a śāstra called Vaikhānasa was known to the Manusmṛti. Kalpataru ( Brahmacāri° p. 268 ) quotes a long passage from Hārita Dharmaśāstra, which says that four āśramas are a ladder by which gods and the pitṛs reached immortality ( saiśrāmaṇiremir-yayā devāḥ svapitarāścāmṛtatvam agacchan )¹. Maskaribhāṣya on Gaut. Dh. S. ( III. 2 ) explains ‘Vikhānasā proktam śāstram Vaikhānasaṁ tadvidhinā vartata iti Vaikhānasaḥ’ and quotes an interesting prose passage from Uśanas ‘Dvau brahmačāriņā upakurvāņo naiṣṭhikāś-ca dvau Vaikhānasaū sapatniko vipatnikāśceti, bahudhā gṛhasthāḥ śālīna-yāyāvarīhbedena’. Śrāmaṇaka is probably derived from the word ‘Śramaṇa’ that is found in Br. Up. IV. 3. 22, which describes the state of a person who has realized the Highest Self. He is the above and beyond all the ordinary relations of life, such as, if he was a śramaņa before, he becomes āśramaņa or if he was a tāpasa he becomes devoid of that state &c. Vide Tai. Ār. II. 7. 1 and ‘Kumārah śramaṇādibhiḥ’ Pāṇini II. 1. 70. Vaikhānasa is formed from the word Vikhanaś.

The *Vaikhānasa*dharma*praśna* is divided into three praśnas, each praśna being subdivided into khaṇḍas. There are in all 41 khaṇḍas. The work is a small one. The contents of the work are :—

I. The four varṇas and their privileges, and the four āśramas; duties of brahmacārin; four kinds of gṛhastha, vārtāvṛtti ( subsisting by agriculture ), śālīna, yāyāvara and ghorācārika; forest anchorites; vānaprasthas are either sapatnikā ( accompanied by their wives ) or apatnikā ( not so accompanied ) ; Sapatnika are of four sorts, Audumbara, Vairīṇca, Vālakhilya and Phenapa ; apatnikā Vānaprasthas ; four kinds of bhikṣus, viz. kuṭīcaka, bahūdaka, haṁsa and paramahaṁsa ; sakāma ( performed with desire of wordly gain ) and niṣkāma ( not so performed ) karma ; pravṛtti and nivṛtti ; three kinds of Yogins and their sub-divisions ;

II. The details of the śrāmaṇaka rites of the vānaprastha ( khaṇḍas 1-4 ) ; duties of the forest hermit ; details of joining the order of samnyāsins ( khaṇḍas 6-8 ) ; age for samnyāsa ( above seventy or when childless or widower ) ; every day duties and obser-vances of samnyāsins ; about ācamana and sandhyā ; salut- ing (abhivādana) of all relatives, male and female; holidays from study (anadhyāya); bath and Brahmayajña; rules about forbidden and permitted food; III. rules of con- duct for gṛhastha (khaṇḍas 1–3); rules of the road; purifica- tion of golden and other metallic things; purificaṭion of other things; about vānaprastha; bhikṣu; burial of a sannyāsin; Nārāyaṇabali on the death of a sannyāsin, tarpaṇa in the case of sannyāsins with twelve names of Viṣṇu, Keśava &c. and with water; anuloma and pratiloma; the intermediate castes; Vratyas, their origin; name, and means of subsistence (khaṇḍas 11–15).

The Vaikhānasa dharmapraśna appears by its style and its contents to be a work of comparatively later date than the dharmasūtras of Gautama and Baudhāyana. It is probably a recast of older materialṣ It contains the names of more mixed castes than the dharmasūtras and than even some of the later smṛtis The present work seems to have been either written or retouched by a devotee of Viṣṇu. Faith in and devotion to Viṣṇu or Nārāyaṇa looms very large here (I. 5. 5 nārāyaṇa- parayaṇāḥ, I. 7. 6 and 9; II. 4–5 bhaktyā Viṣṇum dhyāyan, III. 7. 3; Nārāyaṇaparam brāhmeti śrutāḥ, (III. 9. 3 Viṣṇo- rālayapārśve). It speaks of the eight aṅgas of Yoga (I. 10. 9), of the Ayurveda with its eight aṅgas and of some treatise on evil spirits (bhūtatantra III. 12. 7). It refers to the views of some in the word 'eke' (I. 7. 4. and II. 9. 10). It speaks of the śrāmaṇaka fire (in I. 6. 2 and I. 7. 3–4). It does not allow sannyāsa to Kṣatriyas (I. 1. 11). Vikhanaș is cited as an authority (II. 5 9 and III. 15. 14).

Bühler found a ms of the Vaikhānasa-sūtra consisting of a gṛhya in seven praśnas, three praśnas of dharma (the same as described above) and a fourth on pravāraṣ In the gṛhya a reference to Budhavāra occurṣ “It is worthy of notice that the Vaikhānasa-gṛhya (II. 12. 1–2, Caland's eḍ p. 30) men- tions Budhavāra in 'Athāṣaḍhopakarma kuryāt tāpūryamāṇa- pakṣe riktā-parvaṇi varjayitvā Budhavāre tithi gṛhṇāti ', and that fifty āhutis are offered to Agni, the Earth, the four Vedas &c. and among others to Sāvitrī, Prajāpati, Uśanas, Cyavana, Bṛhaspati, Aṅgiras, Śaṅkha, Likhita.

Besides, the Vaik. Gr. in IV. 10. 1. and 3 provides that after the daily homa in fire Viṣṇu should be worshipped, that such worship becomes the worship of all gods and that an image of Viṣṇu should be established in the house and wor- ship should be offered to it in the morning and evening every day after homa. Further, the Gṛhya in IV. 13 provides for grahaśānti, since the proper functioning of the world depends on grahaṣ They are mentioned in the same order as in Yāj. I. 295 and the procedure, though similar to that in Yāj. I. 295-308, is more elaborate on some pointṣ For example, it refers (IV. 14) to the classification of nakṣatras into janma, karma, sāṁghāṭika, sāmudāyika and vaināśika, which is not found in Yāj. but occurs in Yogayātrā of Varāha- mihira. Vide H. of Dh. Vol. V. part 1 p. 529, notes 762–63.

Dr. Caland in his paper on Vaikhānasa-sūtra holds that the Manusmṛti borrows from Vaikhānasa-gṛhya and that the author of the latter was saturated with the idiom of Drāvi- ḍian languages (vide Prof. Keith's review in Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, 1927, p. 623). Dr. Caland's view about Manu is entirely wrong as will appear from the section on Manu. Vide Th. Bloch in ‘ über das Gṛhya-und Dharma- sūtra der Vaikhānasa ’ (Leipzig, 1896 ).

Dr. Caland (Intro. pp. XVI-XIX ) put forward certain parallelisms between the Manusmṛti and the Vaikhānasa- smārta-sūtra. They are so flimsy that no serious notice need be taken of them and no acceptable conclusions can be based on theṃ Dr. Eggers published in 1929 ( at Göttingen ) his work ‘Das Dharmasūtra des Vaikhānasa’, which was reviewed in J. R. A. S. for 1929 pp. 916–918. Looking to all that has been stated above the extant Vaik. Gṛhya-sūtra and Dharma-sūtra are later than Yāj. and may be assigned to about 300 to 400 A. D. Vide Dr. Caland's Intro. to the translation of the Smārtasūtra pp. XV ff.

Other Sūtra Works on Dharma It will be proper to say a few words about some other sūtra works on dharma that are only available in msṣ or are to be reconstructed from quotations in the digestṣ It is by no means to be supposed that these works that will be spoken of here were composed as early as those of Gautama, Āpasta- mba and others or were composed before the extant Manu and Yājñavalkya. But as the chronology of all ancient works on dharma is somewhat in a nebulous state, it is best to treat here of all works written in the sūtra style, even though in individual cases they may really belong to a later age than the works composed entirely in verse. They will be taken up in alphabetical order ( Sanskrit ).