Chapter I. The Topics of Dharmashastra

Volume II: Part I pp. 1–18

Chapter I. The Topics of Dharmashastra

# CHAPTER I

THE TOPICS OF DHARMAŚĀSTRA

Manifold are the topics that have been included under dharmaśāstra from very ancient timeṣ The Dharma-sūtras of Gautama, Baudhāyana, Āpastamba and Vasiṣṭha deal in greater or less detail principally with the following subjects: the several varņas (classes), āśramas (stages of life), their privileges, obligations and responsibilities; the saṁskāras performed on an individual (from garbhādhāna to antyeşţi); the duties of the brahmacārin (the first āśrama); anadhyāyas (holidays on which Vedic study was stopped); the duties of a snātaka (one who has finished the first stage of life); vivāha (marriage) and all matters connected therewith; the duties of the gṛhastha (house-holder's stage); śauca (daily purification of body); the five daily yajñas; dāna (gifts); bhakṣyābhakṣya (what food should one partake of and what not); śuddhi (purification of persons, vessels, clothes &c.); āśauca (impurity on birth and death); antyeşţi (rites on death); śrāddha (rites performed for the deceased ancestors and relatives); strīdharma (special duties of women) and stripuṁdharma (duties of husband and wife); dharmas of kṣatriyas and of kings; vyavahāra (judicial procedure, and the sphere of substantive law such as crimes and punishments, contracts, partition and inheritance, adoption, gambling &c.); the four principal classes, mixed castes and their proper avocations; āpaddharma (actions and avocations permitted to the several castes in extreme difficulties); prāyaścitta (sins and how to expiate them); karmavipāka (results of evil deeds done in past lives); śānti (rites on the happening of portents or for propitiating the planets &c.); duties of vānaprastha (forest hermit) and saṁnyāsin (ascetic). All these subjects are not treated in any fixed or settled order in the sūtra workṣ To take only one example, the subject of partition and inheritance occurs at the end of the dharmasūtra of Gautama, while Vasiṣṭha places the same subject in the middle of his work ( 17th chapter) and Āpastamba deals with those topics after finishing three-fourths of his work (in II. 6.14). Further, some works on dharmaśāstra give very elaborate treatment of certain topics of which only faint traces are found in the ancient dharmasūtras and metrical smṛtis Such topics are vratas (which may be looked upon as extensions of the subject of gifts), utsarga and pratiṣṭhā (dedication of works of public utility and of temples and shrines), tīrtha (sacred places and pilgrimages to them), kāla (auspicious times, festivals &c. ).

A glance at the above list will convince anyone how the conception of dharma was a far-reaching one, how it embraced the whole life of maṇ The writers on dharmaśāstra meant by dharma not a creed or religion but a mode of life or a code of conduct, which regulated a man's work and activities as a member of society and as an individual and was intended to bring about the gradual development of a man and to enable him to reach what was deemed to be the goal of human existence.

From this standpoint various divisions of dharma were suggesteḍ Dharma was divided into śrauta and smārta. The first comprised those rites and ceremonies with which the Vedic Saṁhitās and Brāhmaṇas were chiefly concerned, such as con- secration of the three sacred fires, the Full moon and New moon sacrifices, the solemn soma rites &c. The smārta comprised those topics that were specially dealt with by the smṛtis and that concerned the various classes and stages of life.¹ The present work will concern itself principally with smārta dharma and śrauta dharma will be dealt with concisely in an appendix. Some works divide dharma into śrauta (Vedic), smārta (based upon smṛtis) and śiṣṭācāra (the actions of the respected in society )². This classification is based on the three sources of dharma viz., śruti, smṛti and śiṣṭācāra, as observed by Baudhāyana.³ Another and more comprehensive classification says that dharma is sixfold, viz. dharma of varṇas (injunctions based on varṇa alone such as 'a brāhmaṇa should never drink wine' or 'a brāhmaṇa should not be killed'), āśramadharma (such rules as 'begging' and 'carrying a staff' enjoined on a brahmacārī), varṇāśrama-dharma (rules of conduct enjoined on a man because he belongs to a particular class and is in a particular stage of life, such as 'a brāhmaṇa brahmacārī should carry a staff of palāśa tree), guṇadharma (such as protection of subjects in the case of a crowned king), naimittika dharma (such as expiation on doing what is forbidden), sādhāraṇa dharma (what is common to all humanity viz., ahiṁsā and other virtues). This classification appears to have been an ancient one. Medhātithi on Manu II. 25 speaks of fivefold dharma (only omitting sādhāraṇa dharma from the abovementioned six) and quotes the explanations of them from the expounders of smṛtis Hemādri (vrata-khaṇḍa p. 5) quotes 16 verses from the Bhaviṣyapurāṇa on the six-fold dharma.⁵ It will be noticed from the above that all matters (except sādhāraṇa or sāmānya dharma) have varṇa and āśrama as the pivots round which the whole of dharmaśāstra revolveṣ It is therefore that in ancient smṛtis like those of Manu (I. 2 and 107) and Yājñavalkya (I. 1) the sages are represented as asking the great expounders of those codes to impart to them instruction in the dharmas of varṇas and āśramaṣ

Before embarking upon any treatment of varṇas it would not be out of place to say a few words about dharmas common to all humanity. Our dharmaśāstra works do not enter into any subtle or detailed examination of the principles of ethics or of the moral standard, nor are the concepts of duty, happiness or perfection subjected to any searching analysiṣ⁶ But this does not at all mean that the principles of ethics were passed over by dharmaśāstra works or were not highly thought of by theṃ From very ancient times truth is exalted above everything else. Ṛgveda VII. 104. 12 says⁷ 'True speech and

( Continued from last page ) this hypothesis in well-known works on Ethicṣ To expose the fallacies in Principal McKenzie's work would require a volume. But a few words must be said here. What particular brand of active social service the learned author has in view is difficult to follow. I would like to make him a present of the following lines from the Encyclopædia Britannica on Social Service ‘The term social service is a comparatively new one in Great Britaiṇ If it had been used previous to the 20th century it would have meant philanthropy and charity in the ordinary sense’. If the learned author means that ancient India never insisted on universal philanthropy and charity, he has read the Indian Literature in vaiṇ Every house-holder was called upon by the Hindu Śāstras to offer food according to his ability to students, ascetics and to all beings including the untouchable caṇḍālas and even dogs and crowṣ Every brāhmaṇa who could teach had to do so without demanding any fee beforehanḍ Maths were established in all parts of India for expounding religious books, feeding students and the poor. There are annasātras even now where hundreds are fed every day. No necessity arose throughout the ages for a Poor Law in India with its attendant evils well portrayed in Dickens' famous master-piece ‘Oliver Twist’. The above were some of the different aspects of philanthropy and charity which are now dubbed social service. In the third century B. C. Aśoka had established hospitals not only for men but even for beasts and Yāj. 1.209 equates the free nursing of sick persons with gifts of cowṣ The learned Professor asks with an air of triumph and condemnation of all Indian morality (p. 251) ‘Is there anything comparable to the movement which St. Francis of Assisi initiated and led?’. The learned Professor has fallen into the frequent error of comparing a movement of the 13th century with Indian ideas over 2000 years olḍ Again I shall quote words from the Encyclopædia Britannica. ‘It would be an anachronism to think of Francis as a philanthropist or social worker or a revivalist preacher, though he fulfilled the functions of all these. Before every thing he was an ascetic and mystic’. The particular brands of Social Service that are now in vogue are mainly due to the ravages of Imperialism and extreme capitalistic tendencieṣ Besides he forgets that even the movement started by St. Francis had schisms and was guilty of all the moral evils that are associated with Western monastic institutionṣ Vide the recent and lucid book of Sir Sivaswamy Aiyer on ‘Evolution of Hindu moral ideals’ (1935, Calcutta University ). false speech run a race against each other. Soma protects out of the two what is true and what is very straight-forward and strikes down what is false'. The conception of ṛta in the Ṛgveda is a sublime one and is the germ of the later doctrine of the rule of dharma. The Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa (S. B. E. vol. 44 p.85) enjoins 'therefore let a man speak naught but truth'⁸. In the Taittiriyopaniṣad (I. II. 1), the teacher when taking leave of his pupil at the end of the latter's studenthood places truth in the forefront of his exhortation and dharma next.⁹ In the Chāndogya (III. 17) there is an allegory of a Soma sacrifice on life, where the dakṣiṇā (fee to be paid) is fivefold viz. the five virtues of tapas (asceticism), dāna (charity), ārjava (straightforwardness), ahiṁsā (non-injury to sentient beings), satyavacana (truthfulness). The Br. Up. remarks that truth and dharma are in practical life identical termṣ¹⁰ One of the noblest prayers in all literature occurs in the Br. Up. (I. 3.28) 'from falsehood lead me unto truth, from darkness lead me unto light, from death lead me unto immortality'. The Muṇḍakopaniṣad says 'only truth is victorious and not falsehood; the path of the gods is spread out by (the pursuit of) truth'. The Br. Up. inculcates on all the great need of three cardinal virtues, viz. self-restraint, dayā (compassion or love for all sentient life) and dāna (gifts or charity).¹¹ The Chāṇ Up. says that the world of Brahman is free from all evil and only those who have lived as chaste students can enter the world of brahma. The Chāṇ Up. V.10 sternly condemns five sins, viz. theft of gold, drinking spirits, murder of a brāhmaṇa, defiling of one's guru's bed and association with these, as the greatest sins and in V. 11. 5 Āśvapati exultantly declares that in his kingdom there were no grave sinnerṣ The Kathopaniṣad (I. 2.23) insists¹² upon cessation from evil conduct, peace of mind and concentration as essential for the seeker after the Self. The Udyogaparva 43.20ff. speaks of the twelve vratas (vows or rules of conduct) for brāhmaṇas and verses 22-25 describe at great length the characteristics of one who is dānta (self-controlled). Śānti 160 contains an eulogy of dama (self-control). Śānti 162.7 describes how satya has 13 aspects and verse 21 says that non-injury to all beings in thought, word and deed, good will and charity are the eternal dharma of the gooḍ¹³ The Gautama-dharmasūtra (VIII. 24-26) holds that dayā (compassion or love for all beings), kṣānti (forebearance), anasūyā (freedom from envy), śauca (purity of body, speech and thought), anāyāsa (absence of painful efforts or ambitions), maṅgala (doing what is commended), akārpanya (not demeaning oneself before others), aspṛhā (not hankering after sensual pleasures or the possessions of others)¹⁴ are the qualities of the soul and remarks that the person who has these eight qualities realizes non-difference from Brahma and reaches the world of Brahma, though he may not have all the other forty saṁskāras, while he who has all the forty saṁskāras but is not possessed of these eight qualities does not reach the world of Brahma.¹⁵ Vasiṣṭha (X. 30) says that avoiding backbiting, jealousy, pride, egoism, unbelief, crookedness, self-praise, abuse of others, deceit, covetousness, delusion, anger and envy is the dharma of all āśramas and further (XXX. 1) he delivers a fine exhortation 'practise dharma (righteousness) and not adharma; speak the truth and not untruth; look far ahead, not near; look at what is highest, not at what is not highest'. Āpastamba Dh. S. (I. 8. 23. 3–6) calls upon all āśramas to eradicate faults that tend to destruction and to cultivate the opposite virtues (and gives long lists of both). This shows that in the scale of values mere performance of sacrifices and purificatory and other religious ceremonies ranked according to Gautama and other writers very low and the highest value attached to the moral qualities of the soul. There is no elaborate discussion of the questions as to why a man should tell the truth or abstain from hiṁsā (injury to sentient beings) and cultivate other high moral qualitieṣ But it should not be supposed that no indications whatever are given of the reasons why this should be done. Two principles emerge if we closely examine the textṣ In the midst of countless rules of outward conduct there is always insistence on the necessity to satisfy the inner man (antara-puruṣa) or conscience. Manu IV. 161 says 'assiduously do that which will give satisfaction to the antarātman' (inner self); IV. 239 says 'No parents, nor wife nor sons will be a man's friends in the next world; but only righteousnesṣ' 'Gods and the inner man mark the sinful acts'. Vanaparva 207.54 and Manu VIII. 85, 91–92. Vide also Ādi- parva 74. 28-29, Manu VIII. 86, Anūśāsana 2. 73–74. The reason given for cultivating such virtues as dayā, ahiṁsā is based upon the philosophical doctrine of the one Self being immanent in every individual as said in the words 'tat tvam-asi'. This is the highest point reached in Indian metaphysics and combines morality and metaphysicṣ That doctrine requires us to regard the goodness or badness of one's actions from the standpoint of other individuals who will be affected by such actionṣ Dakṣa (III. 22) declares ¹⁶ 'one who desires happiness should look upon another just as he looks upon himself. Happi- ness and misery affect one's self and others in the same way'. Devala says that the quintessence of dharma is that one should not do to others what would be disliked by one's self.¹⁷ There- fore our texts lay down two seats of authority in morals viz., the revealed truth (śruti) that 'All this is brahma' and the inner light of conscience. Another reason for cultivating high moral qualities is found in the doctrine of the goals or ends of human existence (puruṣārtha). From very ancient times they are said to be four, dharma (right conduct), artha (economic interests), kāma (satisfaction of sexual, emotional and artistic life), mokṣa (liberation of the spirit). The last is said to be the supreme end and to be attained only by the few and the vast majority can only place it as an ideal to be attained in the most distant future. As regards the other three, there is a gradation of valueṣ Kāma is the lowest of all and only fools regard it as the only enḍ¹⁸ The Mahābhārata says: 'A wise man tries to secure all three, but if all three cannot be attained, he secures dharma and artha or only dharma if he has a choice of only one from among the three. A man of middling discipline prefers artha to the other two; dharma is the source of both artha and kāma.' The dharmaśāstra writers did not condemn kāma altogether, they recognise that kāma has a place as a motive urging men to be active but they assigned it a low place. They recognised that a man shares with lower beings the impulses and emotions of sex, but that the satisfaction of these impulses is of lower values than the moral and spiritual ends proper for a developed human personality and therefore insist that it should be subordinated to artha and dharma. Gautama (IX. 46-47) says 'one should not allow the morning, midday and evening to remain fruitless so far as dharma, artha and kāma are concerneḍ But among these three one should attach most importance to dharma.' Yāj. I. 115 says practically the same thing. Āp. Dh. S. (II. 8. 20. 22-23) declares that 'a man should enjoy all such pleasures as are not opposed to dharma. In this way one secures both worlds'.¹⁹ In the Bhagavadgītā (VII. 11) Kṛṣṇa identifies himself with kāma that is not opposed to dharma. Kauṭilya says²⁰ one may enjoy kāma provided there is no conflict with dharma and artha, one should not lead a life of no pleasures' and then true to his role of a writer on arthaśāstra, he proclaims his own opinion is that artha is the principal of the three, as dharma and kāma both spring from artha.' Manu (II. 224)²¹ after setting out several views about which of the three is principal states it as his own opinion that one should strive for all the three, but adds that if artha or kāma is in conflict with dharma one should give up artha or kāma as the case may be. Viṣṇu Dh. S. (71. 84) and Bhāgavata I. 2. 9 say the same. The Kāmasūtra²² of Vātsyāyana defines the three and says that out of dharma, artha and kāma each preceding one is superior to each following one and that to the king artha should be the highest goal. This teaching shows that there are proximate ends or motives and ultimate ends or motives, that the ultimate ends are really the most valuable and that the whole teaching of dharmaśāstra points to this that all higher life demands discipline both of body and mind and requires the subjection of lower aims to aims of higher value. Manu II. 4 ( like Aristotle in the first sentence of his Politics) says that the end of all activity is some presumed gooḍ Manu further says (V. 56) that the natural proclivity of all beings is to hanker after the satisfaction of the common and lower desires of hunger, thirst and sexual gratification and therefore no stress is to be placed on them but on the cessation or curbing of these. The Upaniṣads²³ recognise the distinction between what is beneficial ( hita ) and what is most beneficial ( hitatama ). Śāntiparva ( 288. 20 and 330. 13 ) declares that what conduces to the greatest good of beings is ' satya.'

The Mitākṣarā on Yāj. I. 1. remarks that ahiṃsā and other qualities are the dharmas common to all including even cāṇḍālas. The qualities are variously enumerated and emphasis is laid upon different lists in different workṣ Śaṅkhasmṛti ( I. 5 ) says that forbearance, truthfulness, self-restraint and purity are common to all varṇas. The Mahābhārata says that three are the best qualities among all beings viz., absence of enmity, truthfulness and freedom from anger²⁴ and in another place says that the best vrata ( vow ) for a man is threefold viz., he should feel no enmity ( to others ), should give and should speak the truth. Vasiṣṭha ( IV. 4 ) says²⁵ that truthfulness, freedom from anger, generosity, ahiṃsā ( non-injury ) and procreation of offspring are ( the common dharma ) of all ( varṇas ). Gautama ( X. 52 ) says that even the Śūdra has to submit himself to the dharma of truthfulness, freedom from anger and purity ( of body and mind ). Manu says that ahiṃsā, truthfulness, no wrongful taking of another's possessions, purity and restraint of senses are in brief the common dharmas of all varṇas.²⁶ Manu ( IV. 175 ) calls upon all to take delight in truth, in dharma, in conduct worthy of an ārya and in purity. In the 3rd century B. C. the remarkable emperor Aśoka inscribed on stone in all parts of his empire the following list of virtues: compassion, liberality, truth, purity gentleness, peace, joyousness, saintliness, self-control ; which bear a close resemblance to Gautama's list and even to a later list of St. Paul ( vide Pillar Edicts II and VII in E. I. vol. II p. 249 and p. 272 ). Yāj. ( I. 122 ) men- tions nine qualities as the means of securing dharma for all ( from the brāhmaṇa to the cāṇḍāla²⁷ ). The Mahābhārata says that freedom from anger, truthfulness, sharing one's wealth with others, forbearance, procreation (of children), from one's wife (alone), purity, absence of enmity, straight-forwardness, maintaining persons dependent on one-self—these nine are the duties of all varnaṣ²⁸ The Vāmanapurāņa says that tenfold dharma is common to all and names these ten as ahiṁsā, satya, asteya, dāna, forbearance, restraint, quiescence, not demeaning oneself, purity, tapaṣ²⁹ Hemādri ( vratakhaṇḍa pp. 7-8 ) quotes several passages from the Brahma, Brahmavaivarta and Viṣṇu-dharmottara for several sādhāraṇa dharmas (virtues common to all varņas and āśramas). The Viṣṇudharmasūtra enumerates fourteen qualities as sāmānya-dharma.³⁰

The foregoing discussion establishes that all dharmaśāstra writers attached the highest importance to moral qualities and enjoined them upon all with all the emphasis they could command; but as their main purpose was a practical one, viz., to guide people to right acts in everyday life, they dealt more elaborately with the acts, rites and ceremonies that each person had to do with reference to his station in society. They are therefore found principally concerning themselves with varṇa- śrama dharma and not with sādhāraṇa dharma (i. e. duties common to all alike).

Āryāvarta — One important question that is very much canvassed in works on dharmaśāstra is about the country or territory which should be called āryāvarta or which was a fit habitation for those who called themselves the followers of the Vedic religioṇ Therefore a few words on this subject would be quite relevant. The Ṛgveda shows that the centre of Aryan culture in the times of the Ṛgveda was the land of the seven rivers, viz. North-west India and Punjab. We find that the rivers from Kubhā (the Kabul river, in Rg. V. 53. 9; x. 76. 6), Krumu (the modern Kurram, Rg. V. 53. 9, X. 75. 6), Suvāstu (modern Swāt, in Rg. VIII. 19. 37), the seven Sindhus (Rg. II. 12. 12, IV. 28. 1, VIII. 24. 27, X. 43. 3) up to the Yamunā (Rg. V. 52. 17, X. 75. 5), the Ganges (Rg. VI. 45. 31, X. 75. 5) and Sarayu (probably in modern Oudh, in Rg. IV. 30. 18 and V. 53. 9) figure in the Ṛgveda. Among the rivers of the Punjab the following are individually mentioned:— Sindhu (Rg. II. 15. 6 'he made the Sindhu flow northwards', Rg. V. 53. 9, Rg. IV. 30. 12, Rg. VIII. 20. 25 where reference is made to the medicine in the Sindhu, in the Asiknī, in the seas and on mountains), Asiknī (Rg. VIII. 20. 25, X. 75. 5), Paruṣṇī (Rg. IV. 22. 2, V. 52. 9), Vipāś and Sutudrī (Rg. III. 33. 1 where their confluence is spoken of), Vipāś alone in Rg. IV. 30. 12, Sutudrī alone in Rg. X. 75. 5, Dṛṣadvatī, Āpāyā and Sarasvatī (as very holy in Rg. III. 23. 4), Sarasvatī alone (Rg. VII. 95, the whole hymn is addressed to it of which verse 2 says it springs from the mountains; Rg. VI. 61 is another hymn addressed to it, V. 30 of which says it has seven sisters), Gomati (Rg. VIII. 24. 30, X. 75. 6), Vitastā (Rg. X. 75. 5). Gradually the Āryans spread southwards and eastwardṣ The Kāṭhaka S. X. 6 speaks of Kuru-Pāñcālaṣ In the Brāhmaṇas the centre of Āryan activities and culture shifted to the countries of the Kurus and Pāñcālas and Kosala-Videhaṣ For example, the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa remarks that in the lands of Kurupāñcālas speech is at its best.³¹ In Sat. Br. XI. 4. 1. 1 Uddālaka Āruņi is called a Kuru-Pāñcāla brāhmaṇa and contrasted with brāhmaṇas of the north (S. B. E. vol. 44 p. 51). Similarly the Kauṣītaki-br. (VII. 6) remarks³² that those who want to learn (best) speech go northwards or wait upon him who comes from that directioṇ In the Śatapatha we have the story of Videgha Māthava who went beyond the country of Kosala-Videha, crossed the river Sadānīrā that came down from the Himālaya, and settled to the east of that river, where the country was a cultivated and civilized one in the times of that work, while in former ages it had been uncultivated (I. 4. 1. 4-17, S. B. E. vol. 12 pp. 105-106.). Even in the Buddhist Jātakas we see that being an 'udicoa brāhmaṇo' was a source of great pride (vide Fick's work p. 40). The Tai. Br. speaks of the vedi of the gods as being in Kuru-kṣetra.³³ Even in the Ṛgveda itself the country through' which the rivers Dṛṣadvatī, Apaya and Sarasvatī flowed is spoken of as the best spot (vide III. 23. 4). The Tai. Br. says that the Kurupañcālas go east in the winter and westwards in the last month of summer. In the times of the Upaniṣads also the Kurupañcāla country appears to have occupied a pre-eminent place. The Br. Up. (III. 1. 1.) says that when Janaka, king of Videha, performed a sacrifice the brāhmaṇas of Kurupañcāla flocked there in large numberṣ Vide also Br. Up. III. 9. 19. The Br. Up. VI. 2. 1 and Chāndogya V. 3. 1 say that Śvetaketu went to the assembly of the Pañcālaṣ Kauṣītaki Br. Up. (IV. 1.) names the countries of Uśīnara, Matsya, Kurupañcāla and Kāśīvideha as centres of intellectual activity and in II. 13 refers to two mountains one in the North and the other in the South (meaning probably Himavat and Vindhya). According to the Nirukta (II. 2), the country of Kamboja was outside the limits of the country of Āryas, though the language spoken there seems to have been the same. The Mahābhāṣya lends support to this and adds that Surāṣṭra was not an Ārya country (vol. 1, p. 9). In the times of the Dharmasūtras great divergence of opinion prevailed on the question of the location of Āryāvarta. The Vasiṣṭha-dharma³⁴-sūtra says; 'Āryāvarta is to the east of the disappearance (of Sarasvatī in the desert), to the west of Kālākavana, to the north of the mountains Pāriyātra and Vindhya and to the south of the Himālaya'. It then refers to two more views held by other authors viz., 'Āryāvarta is in the region between the Ganges and the Jumņa' and 'where the black antelope roams about there is spiritual pre-eminence'. The Bauḍ D. S. (I. 1.27) gives the same limits of Āryāvarta as Vasiṣṭha, substituting the word 'vināśana' for 'ādarsa'.³⁵ Patañjali in his Mahābhāṣya defines Āryāvarta several times in the same terms as Vasiṣṭha doeṣ³⁶ The Dharmasūtra of Śankha-Likhita gives somewhat similar limits by remarking 'spotless spiritual pre-eminence is to be found (in the country) to the east of the countries of Sindhu and Sauvīra, to the west of the city of Kāmpīli, to the south of Himālaya and to the north of Pāriyātra'.³⁷ The extant Manusmṛti (II. 22) makes Āryāvarta coterminous with the whole of India north of the Vindhya by saying that the territory between the Himālaya and the Vindhya and extending up to the eastern and western oceans is known by the wise as Āryāvarta. The second view (viz. Āryāvarta is the region between the Ganges and the Jumna) occurs in Bauḍ Dh. S. (I. 1.28). In the Tai. Ār. II.20 special honour is shown to those who dwell between the Gangā and the Yamunā. The third view (viz. Āryāvarta is the country where the black antelope foams about naturally) is the one given in most smṛtis Both Vasiṣṭha (I. 14-15) and Bauḍ Dh. S. (I. 1. 29-30) quote an ancient gāthā from the Nidāna work of the Bhāllavins³⁸ to the effect that wherever the black antelope roams about in the country lying between the Sindhu in the west and the rising mountain in the east, there is spiritual pre-eminence. So this view is a very ancient one and probably arose from some mythological account as is indicated by the commentary of Viśvarūpa on Yāj. I.2 which quotes a prose passage of the Śvetāśvataraś ‘Sacrifice became a black antelope and wandered over the earth; _dharma_ followed it in its wanderings’. This view of the limits of Āryāvarta is maintained by Śaṅkha (as quoted by Viśvarūpa on Yāj. I. 2), Viṣṇudharma-sūtra 84.4, Manu II. 23, Yāj. I. 2, Saṁvarta 4, Laghu-Hārīta (I. p. 178), Veda-Vyāsa (I. 3), Bṛhat-Parāśara (p. 56) and several other smṛtis The Manusmṛti (II. 17-24) defines Brahmāvarta as the country between the holy rivers Sarasvatī and Dṛṣad-vatī,³⁹ says that the traditional mode of conduct observed in that country is called _sadācāra_, that the countries of Kurukṣetra, Matsya, Pāñcāla and Śūrasena are styled Brahmarṣideśa and are slightly less (in holiness) than Brahmāvarta, that Madhyadeśa is between the Himālaya and the Vindhya and to the east of Vināśana and to the west of Prayāga, that Āryāvarta is the country between the Himālaya and Vindhya up to the eastern and western oceans, that that territory where the black antelope roams about naturally is the country fit for sacrifices and the countries beyond constitute _mlecchadeśa_, that men of the three higher _varṇas_ should endeavour to live in these countries (viz. Brahmāvarta, Brahmarṣideśa, Madhyadeśa, Āryāvarta &c.) while a śūdra, when distressed for his livelihood, may stay in any country whatever. The Viṣṇudharmasūtra (84. 4) says that the country where the system of the four _varṇas_ is not established is to be known as Mleccha country and Āryāvarta is beyond that. This is ex- plained by Aparārka (p. 5) as follows : one who desires to practise Vedic religion should live in one of the four countries viz. Brahmāvarta and others; if that is not possible, then in a country where there is establishment of the four _varṇas_ and the black antelope roams about naturally; if both these cannot be had, then one should dwell in a country where at least one of the two (_cāturvarṇya_ and black antelope) is founḍ The above discussion shows that in very ancient times the country south of the Vindhya was looked upon as beyond the pale of Aryan culture. Baudh. Dh. S. (I. 1. 31) says that the countries of Avanti, Aṅga, Magadha, Surāṣṭra, Dakṣiṇāpatha, Upāvṛt, Sindhu and Sauvira are of mixed origin (i. e. not of pure Aryan ancestry), that a person who goes to Arāṭṭaka, Kārasakara, Puṇḍra, Sauvīra, Aṅga, Vaṅga, Kaliṅga and Praṇūna (?) has to offer a solemn sacrifice like the Sarvapṛṣṭha and that for going to Kaliṅga the prāyaścitta is an offering to Vaiśvānara Agni. The Mit. on Yaj. III. 292 quotes a verse of Devala to the effect that if a man goes to Sindhu, Sauvīra, Saurāṣṭra, the border lands (or Mleccha countries), Aṅga, Vaṅga, Kaliṅga and Andhra he has to perform the Upanayana saṁskāra over agaiṇ⁴⁰ The Mit. adds a remark that this is so only if the man goes to these countries for some purpose other than pilgrimage. Gradually however as Āryan culture spread over the whole of what is now called India the view of the sages about the countries pre-eminently Āryan had to be given up. Medhātithi on Manu II. 22 explains that Āryāvarta is so called ‘because Āryas again and again spring up there and because the Mlecchas even if they overrun it from time to time do not abide there for long’ and then makes the following very sensible observation (on II. 23) ‘if a kṣatriya king of excellent conduct were to conquer the Mlecchas, establish the system of four varṇas (in the Mleccha country) and assign to Mlecchas a position similar to that of cāṇḍālas in Āryāvarta, even that (Mleccha) country would be fit for the performance of sacri- fices, since the earth is not by itself impure, but becomes impure through contact (of impure persons or things).’⁴¹ As a result of the spread of Āryan culture eastwards and southwards and the frequent invasions of non-Āryan tribes on the north- west, the countries on the rivers of the Punjab came to be looked upon in the whirligig of time as unworthy of the Āryas to live iṇ Karṇaparva 43. 5-8 abuses those who live on the Sindhu and the five rivers of the Punjab as impure and dharmabāhya.⁴³ Another word which is very often used, particularly in the Purāṇas, to denote the territory where the ancient Vedic religion prevails is Bharatavarṣa or Bhāratavarṣa. It occurs in the Hathigumpha Inscription of Khāravela (2nd century B. C.) as Bharadhavasa.⁴³ The Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa says that Bharatavarṣa has the ocean on the east, south and west and the Himālaya on the north.⁴⁴ The Viṣṇupurāṇa (II. 3.1) says the same and Matsya (114.10) and Vāyu define Bharatavarṣa as stretching from Cape Comorin to the source of the Gangeṣ⁴⁵ Śabara (not later than 5th century A. D.) in his bhāṣya on Jaimini (X. 1.35 and 42) shows that to him there was unity of language and culture from the Himālaya to Cape Comoriṇ⁴⁶ Paithinasi as quoted in the Paribhāṣā-prakāśa (p. 58) says that dharma is fully developed (lit. four-legged) in the country from the Himālaya to Cape Comoriṇ⁴⁷ According to Mārkaṇḍeya (53-41), Vāyu (vol. I chap. 33-52) and other Purāṇas Bharatavarṣa is so called after Bharata, son of Ṛṣabha, descendant of Svāyambhuva Manu; while Vāyu (vol. II. chap. 37.130) appears to strike a different note by saying that Bharatavarṣa is so called after Bharata, the son of Duṣyanta and Śakuntalā. The Viṣṇupurāṇa says that after thousands of births a person secures life as a human being in Bharatavarṣa and this land is called Karmabhūmi (the land of religious actions) for those who want to secure heaven and find final liberatioṇ⁴⁸ The Vāyupurāṇa says almost the same and adds that in no land other than Bharatavarṣa is karma prescribed for mortalṣ It is somewhat amusing to find that many of the countries of India that in modern times pride them-selves on being most orthodox are declared by the Ādityapurāṇa (as quoted in the Smṛticandrikā) to be countries unfit for habitation and to be such that a stay in them except for pilgrim-age entailed loss of caste and prāyaścittaṣ⁴⁹ The Ādipurāṇa (Ādityapurāṇa?) as quoted in the Paribhāṣāprakāśa (p. 59) says 'no one, whether a dvija or not, born in Āryāvarta should cross the three rivers, Sindhu, Karamadā (i. e. Karmanāśā) or Karatoyā except on a pilgrimage' and that if he does so, he should perform the penance of cāndrāyaṇa.

All smṛti writers and commentators generally restrict themselves to the duties of varṇas and āśramas as practised in Āryāvarta or Bharatavarṣa, though in very rare cases (as in Yaj. II. 192) they provide for the observance of the usages of even hereticṣ