68. Bālaka

Volume I: Part II pp. 595–596

Mentioned by Jīmūtavāhana, Śūlapāṇi, Raghunandana – several views of Bālaka set out – flourished before 1100 A. D. ... pp.

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

68. Bālaka

68. Bālaka Bālaka like Jitendriya is no more than a name to uṣ Jīmūtavāhana's works make frequent reference to hiṃ He held the view that the daughter's son, not being expressly mentioned as an heir by Yaj., came in after those expressly mentioned from the widow to the brother.¹ The Dāyabhāga notices that Bālaka read a text of Āpastamba in a wrong way.² Bālaka said that the words of Śankha 'svaryātasya aputrasya bhrātrgāmi dravyaṃ..jyeṣṭhā vā patnī' apply either to a widow belonging to a caste other than her husband's or to a very young widow or in case her husband was undivided or re-uniteḍ³ Bālaka says that when some property is acquired by one brother by means of learning, other brothers are not entitled to that wealth.⁴ The Dāya- bhāga refers to a passage from Bālaka in which the latter re- lies on the Pūrvamīmāmsā example of mudga and māsa.⁵ In the Vyavahāramātṛkā of Jīmūtavāhana ( p. 346 ) it is stated that Bāla held the same views as those of Śrīkara-miśra on a certain point. In the Prāyaścitta-nirūpaṇa of Bhavadeva a writer named Vāloka is mentioned ( vide JASB 1912 at p. 336 ). This seems to be a Bengali scribe’s way of pronounc- ing the name Bālaka. Bālaka is mentioned in Raghunanda- na's Vyavahāratattva p. 47 also as holding the view with Śrīkara and others that adverse possession for twenty years conferred ownership in the case of immovable property. Śūlapāṇi in his Durgotsavaviveka twice quotes the views of Bālaka and once refutes the latter.⁶ Hence it appears that Bālaka was an eastern or Bengal writer, composed a work on several branches of dharmaśāstra ( such as vyavahāra and prāyaścitta ) and flourished before 1100 A. D.

यत्तु बालकवचनं पत्नी दुहितरश्चैव पितरौ भ्रातरस्तथा इत्यादि नियतक्रमा- दधस्तन एव दौहित्रस्याधिकार इति तद् बृहस्पतिविरोधाद् बालवचनमेव । दाय- भाग p. 282. ↩
इदं बालकेनाकुलकुलं पठितं यस्तु धर्मेण द्रव्याणि प्रतिपादयति ज्येष्ठस्तं पितुस- भागं कुर्वोतति तदनाकरम् । दायभाग p. 100 of Jivananda's editioṇ The sūtra is Āp. Dh. S. II. 6. 14. 15 ‘ यस्तुधर्मेण द्रव्याणि प्रतिपादयति ज्येष्ठोपि तमभागं कुर्वोत '. ↩
यच्च बालकेनोक्तं- असवर्णाविषयं वा युवक्यभिप्रायं वा अविभक्तसंस्पष्टविषयं वा शुद्धस्त्रियचन इति तेनाप्यव्यवस्थितशास्त्रार्थकेन तन्नात्मनो बालरूपमेव प्रकटीकृतं सन्देहदिकृतरागत्वान्ननुपपत्तेः । दायभाग p. 262 (p. 169 of Jivananda's edition ). Here there is a play on the word बालक. ↩
बालकेनाप्युक्तं न हैकेन भ्रात्रा विद्यादिना लब्धेऽपरेशामधिकारसंभवः प्रमाण- भावादित्यन्तेन । दायभाग p. 190 ( p. 120 of Jīvananda ). ↩
अतो यद्बालकवचनं यथा मुद्रापचारे मापप्रतिनिधौ मुद्रनां माषाणां च यज्ञसम्बन्धे—अजश्रिया वै माषा—इति माषा निविद्वाः, तथात्मीयानात्मीयहरणेऽपि अनात्मीयाहारो निविद्वाः, तद्बालकवचनमेव पूर्वव्याहृतस्य सेयपदार्थस्यैवाभावात् । दायभाग p. 356 and pp. 227-228 of Jīvananda. ↩
इति आक्षिवाधिकारविषयशोधरम्वचनमादर्शना बालकेनात्र विषये पूर्वदिने नवमीकृत्वं युगमादिति यदुक्तं 'भगवत्याः प्रवेशादिसर्गान्तश्च याः क्रियाः' इत्यादिवचनेन विरोधादेयम् । दुर्गाोत्सवविवेक p. 16 ( Sanskrit Sahitya- parişad eḍ ). Vide p. 9 also for reference to बालक's view on देवीपूजा. ↩

67. Jitendriya 69. Bālarūpa