48. Prajāpati

Volume I: Part I pp. 520–521

Prajāpati cited as authority by Baudhayana Dh. S. (II. 4. 15) and Vasistha (III. 47 &c.) – they mean probably Manu – a com- pilation in 198 verses ascribed to Prajāpati – Mit. and Aparārka and others quote Prajāpati on aśauca, prāyaścitta, śrāddha, ordeals and vyavahāra.

— Synopsis by P.V. Kane, from History of Dharmaśāstra

48. Prajāpati

Prajāpati is cited as an authority by the Baudhāyana-dharmasūtra (II. 4, 15 and II. 10. 71). Vasiṣṭha several times quotes Prajāpatya ślokas (viz. III. 47, XIV. 16–19, 24–27, 30–32). It has been shown above that most of these verses are found in the Manusmṛti or have close correspondence with verses of Manu. So it is not unlikely that both the writers of dharmasūtras mean Manu by Prajāpati.

In the Ānandāśrama collection (p. 90–98) there is a smṛti of Prajāpati in 198 verses on the various details of śrāddha, such as the time, place, the persons authorised to perform, proper food, Brāhmaṇas to be invited etc. The pre-vailing metre is Anuṣṭubh, but there are nine verses in the Indravajrā, Upajāti, Vasantatilakā (verse 137 ) and Sragdharā (verse 96 ). It speaks of Kalpaśāstra, smṛtis, dharmaśāstra, purāṇaṣ It contains a verse referring to the Kanyā and Vṛścika (scorpion) signs of the Zodiac, which is almost the same as a verse of Kārṣṇājini. 48. Prajāpati The Mit. ( on Yāj. III. 25 and 260 ) quotes verses of Prajāpati on āśauca and prāyaścitta. Aparārka cites verses of Prajāpati on purification of various substances, on śrāddha, witnesses, ordeals and āśauca. None of these is traced to the printed text of Prajāpati. Aparārka ( p. 952 ) gives a long prose text of Prajāpati on the four orders of parivrajakas, viz. kuṭicaka, bahūdaka, hamsa, paramahamsa. Aparārka ( p. 542 ) cites a verse of Laugākṣi which refers to the view of Prajāpati that the son of a putrikā was to offer pindas to his mother by the gotra of his maternal grand-father.¹ Aparārka, Smṛticandrikā, Parāśara-Mādhaviya and other works quote several verses of Prajāpati on vyavahāra. Witnesses are of two kinds, kṛta and akṛta.² In this he seems to have followed Nārada (ṛṇādāna, verse 149 ). Prajāpati lays down the characteristics of valid reply ( uttara ) of the defendant and defines³ the four varieties of uttara. The Parāśara-Mādhaviya cites several verses of Prajāpati on ordealṣ Prajāpati recognised the right of the sonless widow to succeed to her husband's wealth⁴ and enjoined on her the duty of offering śrāddha every month and year to her husband's manes and to honour his relativeṣ⁵

मातामहस्य गोत्रेण मातुः पिण्डोदकक्रियाम्। कुर्वीत पुत्रिकापुत्र एवमाह प्रजापतिः ॥ अप०, ↩
the Smṛtimuktāphalam quotes a passage here, printed 611 → crediting लोकाक्षि
साक्षी द्विभेदो विज्ञेयः कृत एकोऽप्यकृतः । लेख्याख्यः कृतो ज्ञेयः मुक्तकोऽकृत उच्यते ॥ अप० p. 666, स्मृतिच० ( व्य. p. 80 reads उत्तरोऽकृत० ). ↩
स्मृतिच० ( व्य. p. 42-43 ), परा. मा. vol. III, p. 69-73. ↩
पूर्वे प्रमीतामिहोत्रे मृते भर्तरि तद्धनम् । लभेत् पतिव्रता नारी धर्म एष सनातनः ॥ ↩
जङ्गर्म स्थावरं हेम कुप्यं धान्यरसाम्बरम् । आदाय दापयेच्छ्राद्धं माससंवत्सरादिकम् ॥ पितृव्यगुरुदौहित्रान् भर्तृस्वस्त्रीयमातुलान् । पूजयेत्कव्यपूर्त्या च श्राद्धनाशिन्यी- स्सथा ॥ स्मृतिच० ( p. 291 ), परा. मा. vol. III, p. 536. H. D.—66 ↩

47. Pracetas 49. Marīci