Translated by
Various Oriental Scholars
And Edited by
The Rt. Hon. F. Max Muller
American Edition
Vol
.„ 4- vol. 332
The
Sacred Laws of the Aryas
APASTAMBA, GAUTAMA, VASISH AND BAUDHAYANA
Translated by
Georg Buhler
PART I APASTAMBA AND GAUTAMA
Second Edition, Revised
PART II VASISHT^A AND BAUDHAYANA
New York
Cbrtetiau ^Literature Company
Library
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORM SANTA BARBARA
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION TO APASTAMBA . ... . ix
INTRODUCTION TO GAUTAMA . xlix
APASTAMBA'S APHORISMS ON THE SACRED LAW.
General Rules , . . . .... i
Initiation . . . . . . . . 2
Studentship . 7
A Student who has returned Home . . . .29
The Study of the Veda 32
A Student who has returned Home . . . .48
Saluting . . . 51
Purification . . . . •, . . 54
Eating, and Forbidden Food . . . . . -59
Lawful Livelihood . „ , • 71
Penance . -75
Rules for a Snataka 92
The Duties of a Householder . , . ., . 99
Inheritance . . . . . . . 130
Funeral Oblations -13?
The Four Orders . . . . , . . 153
The King . .',.-« ... . . 161
GAUTAMA'S INSTITUTES OF THE SACRED LAW.
Initiation . . . . . . . . . 175
Purification . . . . . . . . .179
Studentship .182
The Ascetic . ... . . . .192
The Hermit 195
The Householder 16
Vlll CONTENTS.
Transliteration of Oriental Alphabets adopted for the Trans- lations of the Sacred Books of the East . . . -
PACF.
Saluting ........ . 207
Times of Distress . . . . . . . .211
A King and Br&hmawa versed in the Vedas . . -214 The Duties of a Snatika . . . . . .218
Lawful Occupations and Livelihood . . . . .227
The Duties of a King 234
Civil and Criminal Law ... ... 238
Witnesses . . 246
Impurity ...... ... 249
Funeral Oblations . . 255
The Study of the Veda 259
Eating, and Forbidden Food . .... 265
Women 270
Penances . . 274
Inheritance . . . . . . . . . 302
APASTAMBA.
FOR all students of Sanskrit philology and Indian history Apastamba's aphorisms on the sacred law of the Aryan Hindus possess a special interest beyond that attaching to other works of the same class. Their discovery enabled Professor Max Muller, forty-seven years ago, to dispose finally of the Brahmanical legend according to which Hindu society was supposed to be governed by the codes of ancient sages, compiled for the express purpose of tying down each individual to his station, and of strictly regu- lating even the smallest acts of his daily life ]. It enabled
Max Miiller, History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 133 seq.
The following letter, addressed to the late W. H. Morley, and published by him in his Digest of Indian Cases, 1850, may be of interest as connected with the first discovery of the Apastamba-sutras : —
9, Park Place, Oxford, July 29, 1849.
MY DEAR MORLEY,— I have been looking again at the law literature, in order to write you a note on the sources of Manu. I have treated the subject fully io my introduction to the Veda, where I have given an outline of the dif- ferent periods of Vaidik literature, and analysed the peculiarities in the style and language of each class of Vaidik works. \\ hat I consider to be the sources of the Manava-dharma-jastra, the so-called Laws of Manu, are the Sutras. These are works which presuppose the development of the prose literature of the Biahmawas (like the Aitareya-brahmawa, Taittiriya-brahmawa, &c.) These Brahmawas, again, presuppose, not only the existence, but the collection and arrangement of the old hymns of the four Sawhitas. The Sutras are therefore later than both these classes of Vaidik works, but they must be considered as belonging to the Vaidik period of literature, not only on account of their intimate connection with Vaidik subjects, but also because they still exhibit the irregularities of the old Vaidik language. They form indeed the last branch of Vaidik literature ; and it will perhaps be possible to fix some of these works chronologically, as they are contemporary with the first spreading of Buddhism in India.
Again, in the whole of Vaidik literature there is no work written (like the Manava-dharma-jastra) in the regular epic Sloka, and the continuous employ- ment of this metre is a characteristic mark of post-Vaidik writings.
One of the principal classes of Sutras is known by the name of Kalpa-s&tras,
A PASTA MB A.
hini not only to arrive at this negative result, but also to substitute a sounder theory the truth of which subsequent investigations have further confirmed, and to show that the sacred law of the Hindus has its source in the teaching of the Vedic schools, and that the so-called revealed law codes are, in most cases, but improved metrical editions of older
or rules of ceremonies. These are avowedly composed by human authors, while, according to Indian orthodox theology, both the hymns and Brahma«as nre to be considered as revelation. The Sutras generally bear the name of their authors, like the Sutras of Ai'valayana, Katyayana, &c., or the name of the family to which the Sfttras belonged. The great number of these writings is to be accounted for by the fact that there was not one body of Kalpa-sulras bind- ing on all Brahmanic families, but that different old families had each their own Kalpa-sutras. These works are still very frequent in our libraries, yet there is no doubt that many of them have been lost. Sutras are quoted which do not exist in Europe, and the loss of some is acknowledged by the Brahmans them- selves. There are, however, lists of the old Brahmanic families which were in possession of their own redaction of Vaidik hymns (Sawhitas), of Brahrnawas, and of Sutras. Some of these families followed the Rig-veda, some the Ya^ur- veda, the Sama-veda, and Atharva-veda ; and thus the whole Vaidik literature becomes divided into four great classes of Brahmawas and Sutras, belonging to one or the other of the four principal Vedas.
Now one of the families following the Ya^ur-veda was that of the Manavas (cf. A"ara«avyuha). There can be no doubt that that family, too, had its own Sutras. Quotations from Manava-sutras are to be met with in commentaries on other Sutras ; and I have found, not long ago. a MS. which contains the text of the Minava-jrauta-sutras, though in a very fragmentary state. But these Sutras, the .Srauta-stitras, treat only of a certain branch of ceremonies connected with the great sacrifices. Complete SQtra works are divided into three parts : i . the fiist (.Srauta), treating on the great sacrifices ; 2. the second (Gn'hya), treating on the Sa/wskaras, or the purificatory sacraments ; 3. the third (Samaya/fcarika or Dharma-su'tras), treating on temporal duties, customs, and punishments. The last two classes of Sutras seem to be lost in the Manava-sutra. This loss is, however, not so great with regard to tracing the sources of the MSnava-dharma- fastra, because whenever we have an opportunity of comparing Sutras belonging to different families, but following the same Veda, and treating on the same subjects, the differences appear to be very slight, and only refer to less important niceties of the ceremonial. In the absence, therefore, of the Manava-samayaH- rika-s'ltras, I have taken another collection of Sutras, equally belonging to the Ya^ur-Tcda, the Sfltras of Apastamba. In his family we have not only a Brahmawa, but also Apastamba .Srauta. G/-»hya, and SamaySMrika-sutras. Now it is, of course, the third class of SQtras, on temporal duties, which are most likely to contain the sources of the later metrical Codes of Law, written in the classical i'loka. On a comparison of different subjects, such as the duties of a Brahma/frarin, a Gr /hast ha, laws of inheritance, duties of a king, forbidden fruit, &c., I find that the Sutras contain generally almost the same words which have been brought into verse by the compiler of the Manava-
Introduction. Xi
prose works which latter, in the first instance, were destined to be committed to memory by the young Aryan students, and to teach them their duties. This circumstance, as well as the fact that Apastamba's work is free from any suspicion of having been tampered with by sectarians or modern editors, and that its intimate connection with the manuals teaching the performance of the great and small sacrifices, the 5rauta and Grrliya-sutras, which are attributed to the same author, is perfectly clear and indisputable, entitle it, in spite of its comparatively late origin, to the first place in a collection of Dharma-sutras.
The Apastambfya Dharma-sutra forms part of an enor- mous Kalpa-sutra or body of aphorisms, which digests the teaching of the Veda and of the ancient Rishis regarding the performance of sacrifices and the duties of twice-born men, Brahma//as, Kshatriyas, and Vakyas, and which, being chiefly based on the second of the four Vedas, the Ya^ur- veda in the Taittiriya recension, is primarily intended for the benefit of the Aclhvaryu priests in whose families the study of the Ya^ur-veda is hereditary. •
The entire Kalpa-sutra of Apastamba is divided into
dharma-.iastra. I consider, therefore, the Sfltras as the principal source of the metrical Smr/tis, such as the Manava-dharma-jastra, yaf/Javalkya-dharma- /astra, &c.. though there are also many other verses in these works which may be traced to different sources. They are paraphrases of verses of the Sa/whitas, or of passages of the Brahmawas, often retaining the same old words and archaic constructions which were in the original. This is indeed acknowledged by the author of the Manava dharma-.ra'stra, when he says (B. II, v. 6), 'The roots of the Law are the whole Veda (Sa;nhitas and BrShmatfas), the customs and traditions of those who knew the Veda (as laid down in the Sutras), the conduct of good men, and one's own satisfaction.' The Manava-dharma- jastra may thus be considered as the last redaction of the laws of the Manavas. Quite different is the question as to the old Manu from whom the family probably derived its origin, and who is said to have been the author of some very characteristic hymns in the Rig-veda-sawhita. He certainly cannot be considered as the author of a Manava-dharma-fastra, nor is there even any reason to suppose the author of this work to have had the same name. It is evident that the author of the metrical Code of Laws speaks of the old Manu as of a person different from himself, when he says (B. X, v. 63), ' Not to kill, not to lie, not to steal, to keep the body clean, and to restrain the senses, this was the short law which Manu proclaimed amongst the four castes.' — Yours truly, M. M.
xii APASTAMBA.
The position of the Dharma-sutra in the middle of the collection at once raises the presumption that it originally formed an integral portion of the body of Sutras and that it is not a later addition. Had it been added later, it would either stand at the end of the thirty Prajnas or altogether outside the collection, as is the case with some other treatises attributed to Apastamba 6. The Hindus are, no doubt, unscrupulous in adding to the works of famous teachers. But such additions, if of considerable extent, are usually not embodied in the works themselves which they are intended to supplement. They are mostly given
1 Burnell, Indian Antiquary, I, 5 seq.
a The ^Trauta-sfitra, Pr. 1-XV, has been edited by Professor R. Garbe in the Bibliotheca Indica, and the remainder is in the press.
3 See Professor Max Muller's Translation in S. B. E., vol. xxx.
4 The Grzhya-sutra has been edited by Dr. Winternitz, Vienna, 1887. * On the ^ulva-sfitras see G. Thibaut in ' the Pandit,' 1875, P- 29a-
1 Burnell, loc. cit.
INTRODUCTION. Xlll
as jeshas or paruish/as, tacked on at the end, and generally marked as such in the MSS.
