35 The Parāśara Smṛti

[[P459]] This work has been published several times, but the [[edi. tion|edition]] of Jīvananda (part II. pp. 1-52) and that in the Bombay Sanskrit Series with the voluminous gloss of the great Mādhava are the best known. In the following pages [[Jika nanda’s|Jīvananda’s]] edition has been used.

The smṛti of Parāśara must have been an ancient one as Yāj. (I. 4) mentions him among the ancient writers on [[dha wim|dharma]].

[[P460]] But it is doubtful whether we possess the ancient smṛti of Parāśara. The extant smṛti is probably a recast of it as it mentions Yāj. in the first chap. (p. 2). The Garuḍapurāṇa in chap. 107 gives a summary (in 39 verses) of the Parāśara-smṛti. In doing so it takes parts of the latter and pieces them together. For example, verses 2-4 in the Garuḍapurāṇa (chap. 107) are ‘śrutiḥ smṛtiḥ sadācāro yaḥ kaścid vedakartṛkaḥ । vedāḥ smṛtāḥ brahmaṇādyau dharmā Manvādibhiḥ sadā ॥ dānam kaliyuge dharmaḥ kartāram ca kalau tyajet । pāpakṛtyam tu tatraiva śāpam phalati varsataḥ ॥ ācārāt prāpnuyāt sarvam ṣaṭ karmāṇi dine dine । sandhyā snānam japo homo devātithyādipūjanam ॥’ These are taken verbatim or with slight changes from the Parāśara-smṛti; compare: ‘na kaścid vedakartā ca vedasmartā caturmukhaḥ । śrutiḥ smṛtiḥ sadācārā nirṇetavyāśca sarvadā । tathaiva dharmam smarati Manuḥ kalpāntarāntare । tapaḥ param… dānamekam kalau yuge ।… tyajet-deśam kṛtayuge… kartāram ca kalau yuge ।… kṛte tu tatkṣaṇāt śāpaḥ… kalau saṁvatsareṇa tu ॥ chap. I. verses 20, 21-23, 25, 27 and vide 39 for verse 4 of the Garuḍa-purāṇa. This [[eastablishes|establishes]] that the Garuḍapurāṇa regarded the Parāśara-smṛti authoritative and ancient. There is another problem to be considered. Kauṭilya mentions six times the views of Parāśara or the Pārāśaras on various aspects of politics and state administration.

The Arthaśāstra mentions the views of the Pārāśaras (School following Parāśara’s views) in I. 8. 7, I. 15. 23, I. 17. 9, II. 7. 12, VIII. 1. 24, VIII. 3. 30 (of Prof. Kangle’s edition). Therefore, it appears that there was a work of Pārāśara on politics, in which it is possible that vyavahāra also was dealt with.

The extant Parāśarasmṛti is divided into twelve chapters and contains according to the last verse but only 592 verses. It deals only with ācāra and prāyaścitta. Mādhava introduced his disquisition on [[vyuvahūrı|vyavahāra]], which forms about a fourth of his extensive gloss, in an indirect way by regarding vyavahāra as a part of the duties of Kṣatriyas on which the Parāśarasmṛti has something to say.¹

[[P461]] The name Parāśara is an ancient one. In Ṛg. VII. 18. 21 Parāśara is mentioned as a grandson of Vasiṣṭha ‘Pra ye gṛhadamamadus-tvāyā Parāśaraḥ-Satayātuḥ-Vasiṣṭhaḥ.’ The plural ‘ye’ in the verse requires that ‘Satayātuḥ’ is an individual’s designation (literally meaning either one who possessed hundred magic tricks or one against whom one hundred magic tricks were practised). In the Tai. Āraṇyaka (I. 1. 3. 37) we have a Vyāsa Pārāśarya. In the Vaṁśa that occurs in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka II. 6. 2 and IV. 6. 3 we have a Pārāśarya. The Nirukta gives an etymology of Pārāśara.² Pāṇini attributes a bhikṣusūtra to Pārāśarya.³ In the Śāntiparva (Chapters 290-298) there is a lengthy dialogue between Parāśara and king Janaka.

The introductory verses of the smṛti say that sages went to Vyāsa and requested him to instruct them in the dharmas and conduct beneficial to mankind in the Kali age and that the great Vyāsa took them to his father Parāśara, son of Śakti, in the Badarikāśrama, who then propounded the dharmas of the four varṇas. The first chapter recites the smṛtis then known (19 in all) and lays down that in the four ages of Kṛta, Tretā, Dvāpara, and Kali, the dharmas proclaimed by Manu, Gautama, Śaṅkha-Likhita and Parāśara were respectively to be the guiding ones. The following are briefly the contents of the Parāśarasmṛti:

I. Introductory verses; Pārāśara imparts to the sages knowledge of dharma; the dharmas of the four yugas; differentiation of the four yugas from various points of view; six daily duties, viz. sandhyā, bath, japa, homa, Vedic study, worship of gods, Vaiśvadeva and honouring guests, eulogy of honouring guests, the proper means of livelihood for Kṣatriya, Vaiśya and Śūdra; II. duties of householder; agriculture; the five unconscious acts of injury to animal life; III. purification from impurity due to birth and death; IV. concerning suicide; punishment for wife deserting her husband though poor, foolish or diseased; definition and rules about Kuṇḍa, Golaka, Parivitti, and Parivitta; remarriage of women; rewards for chaste widows; V. expiation for minor things ([[suoti|such]] as dog-bite); about a Brāhmaṇa who has consecrated [[fiber|fire]]

[[P462]] dying on a journey or committing suicide; VI. Expiation for killing various beasts and birds, for killing Śūdras, artisans, women, Vaiśyas, Kṣatriyas, sinful Brāhmaṇas; eulogy of Brāhmaṇas; VII. purifications of various articles (such as vessels of wood, metal &c); about a woman in her menses; VIII. Expiations for killing cows and oxen unwittingly in various ways; approaching a pariṣad for expiation, constitution of a pariṣad; praise of learned brāhmaṇas; IX. proper thickness of sticks for beating cows and bulls; expiations for using thicker sticks and injuries to them; X. other expiations such as cāndrāyaṇa for intercourse with women with whom intercourse is forbidden; the expiation called Sāntapana; XI. expiation for partaking food from Cāṇḍālas &c.; rules as to whose food may be taken and whose not; purification of wells &c. when animals fall in them; XII. bath prescribed after evil dreams, vomitting, shaving &c.; expiations for drinking wine and nasty things through ignorance; five kinds of bath; when bath at night allowed; what things should always be kept in the house or seen; definition of the unit of ground called [[yocurma|gocarma]]; expiations for the deadly sins of brahmahatyā, drinking liquor, theft of gold &c.

Parāśara contains several peculiar views. He speaks of only four sons (aurasa, kṣetraja, datta and kṛtrima) though he does not expressly negative a larger number (chap. 4 p. 14). He eulogises the practice of Satī (last two verses of chap. 4). The well-known verse of Nārada (Strīpuṁsa-yoga 97) “naṣṭe mṛte &c.” is read at the end as “patir-anyo na vidyate” (p. 15). There are a few verses in the Indravajrā metre (e.g. on pp. 11-12 and 36). The Parāśarasmṛti quotes the views of several writers on dharma. Manu is frequently cited in the words “Manur-abravīd.” In the 7th chapter alone those words occur four times.⁴ None of them corresponds exactly with any verse of the Manusmṛti. Yet Manu V. 133 may be compared with the first two. Besides these, in the 9th chapter Manu’s view is quoted that on killing an animal the guilty party should restore a similar one to the owner

[[P463]] or its price.⁵ In the 10th he says that according to Manu uncooked food, milk or oil brought from a śūdra’s house and used in cooking in a Brāhmaṇa’s house could be eaten by a Brāhmaṇa. This is similar to Manu IV. 223.⁶ In the 12th chapter Parāśara cites the view of Manu that a Brāhmaṇa fed on food (cooked) from śūdras would become a vulture for twelve births, a pig for ten and a dog for seven. There is nothing corresponding to this in Manu. In the 9th chap. Manu is spoken of as one who knows all śāstras.⁷ The first verse of the 6th chapter says that Manu deals at length with expiation for killing animals.⁸ This is probably a reference to Manu XI. 131-141. Numerous verses in the Parāśara-smṛti are word for word the same as those of the Manusmṛti. For example, Manu I. 85-86 occur in the first chapter of Parāśara, Manu V. 160 (about a widow remaining chaste) occurs with slight variations in the 4th; Manu XII. 114-115 (about pariṣad) occur in the 8th chap. (p. 29); Manu XI. 212 (about the definition of Sāntapana) is the same as Parāśara (10th chap. p. 40). Several verses are common to Baudhāyana and Parāśara, e.g. Baud. Dh. S. I. 1, 8, 11, 14 occur in the eighth chapter of Parāśara (pp. 29, 30). The verse “na nārikelair na ca śāṇabālair” occurring in Parāśara (9th chap. p. 35) is quoted as Vasiṣṭha’s by Haradatta on Gautama (22. 18). Parāśara is mentioned by name several times (chap. III. 2, p. 8, chap. VI. 1. p. 18 and p. 23, chap. VII. 1. p. 24, chap. X. 12. p. 38). Uśanas is cited on p. 49 (chap. 12), Prajāpati (in IV. 3. p. 13), Śaṅkha (chap. 4 p. 15). Veda, Vedāṅgas, dharmaśāstras and smṛtis are spoken of on p. 23 (6th chap.). In the 11th chap. Parāśara refers to several Vedic mantras, [[inost|most]] of which occur in the Ṛgveda, but two of them, “tejosi śukram” and “devasya tvā” are not found in the Ṛgveda, but in the Vāj. S. (22. 1 and 1. 24 respectively). Parāśara

[[P464]] appears to have been a practical man. He exhorts his readers to save their bodies first in invasions, journeys, diseases, calamities and then care for dharma. He recommends the non-observance of rules of purity in times of difficulty and adherence to the strict rules of dharma when one is at ease.⁹

The Mit., Aparārka, Smṛticandrikā, Hemādri and other later works quote Parāśara very frequently. Most of these are found in the extant Parāśarasmṛti. For example, vide pp. 1169, 1177, 1180, 1191 &c. of Aparārka, all of which are traced in Parāśara pp. 42, 43, 42 and 16 respectively. [[Viéva rūpa|Viśvarūpa]] quotes Parāśara several times and these quotations can be verified; e.g. on Yāj. III. 16 the verse “anātham” ascribed to Parāśara is found in Parāśara chap. III p. 10; on Yāj. III. 257 ten verses are cited by Viśvarūpa from Parāśara which occur in Parāśara with considerable variations (chap. VII. pp. 20-21); on Yāj. III. 262 the verse “gavām bandhana” is cited from Parāśara, which is the first verse of the 8th chapter. Therefore, it is quite clear that in the first half of the 9th century the Parāśarasmṛti that we have now was considered to be authoritative and the work of an ancient sage. It seems to have known a work of Manu, as seen above. Therefore, it must be assigned to some period between the first and the 5th century of the christian era. In the same direction points the fact that the Garuḍapurāṇa (chap. 107) seems to have known the introductory verses of Parāśara and as shown above (p. 191) combines passages of Parāśara in a summary of its teachings.¹⁰ The [[Vibnu-dharmottara|Viṣṇu-dharmottara]] which is frequently quoted by Aparārka and other later works cites verses that are borrowed from Parāśara. For example, chap. 75. 1 of the former is the same as a verse of Parāśara.¹¹

[[P465]] Viśvarūpa frequently quotes Parāśara e.g. on Yāj. II. 6 he quotes two verses of Parāśara by name that are Parāśara III. 45 and 47; on Yāj. III. 30 he cites verses of Parāśara viz. III. 5 (ekāhāt &c.), III. 6 (nāmadhāraka°), III. 8 (Ubhayatra &c.), III. 26 (Samparkeṣu &c.), on Yāj. III. 250 (Patatyardham &c. Parāśara X. p. 40). Medhātithi on Manu V. 89 states that in the case of those who perform after-death religious rites for those who commit suicide Parāśara prescribes Taptakṛcchra penance. The Mitākṣarā quotes about twenty-five verses on Yāj. III from Parāśara e.g. on Yāj. III. 250, 41, on Yāj. III. 261 and 6½ verses, on Yāj. III. 263-64. Aparārka also quotes a few verses on ācāra (about 9) and about 90 on Yāj. III. Aparārka on Yāj. III. 318 quotes a verse from Parāśara about the number of morsels to be eaten on ekabhakta and other observances and immediately afterwards quotes a verse of Vṛddha-Parāśara which differs from Parāśara. The Smṛti-candrikā (on āhnika pp. 94-95) quotes two verses from Vṛddhaparāśara.

It is to be noted that Aparārka (p. 1061 on Yāj. III. 250) quotes three verses from the Bhaviṣyatpurāṇa which mention that a brāhmaṇa who kills another brāhmaṇa (not learned in the Veda) may perform the penance declared by Parāśara and cites ten verses from Parāśara-smṛti of which most are found in the printed Parāśara XII (Jīvananda pp. 50-51) though not all.

There is an extensive work called Bṛhat-Parāśara-saṁhitā (published by Jīvananda, part II. pp. 53-309). It is divided into 12 chapters and the last verse says that it contains 3300 verses and that Suvrata proclaimed the śāstra imparted by Parāśara. The introductory verses contain the same story as that in the Parāśara-smṛti and many of the verses in the first chapter of the two works (such as those about the 19 writers on dharma &c.) are almost the same in both. The total of verses in the printed work comes to about 3000 and not 3300. It appears that the work is a recast of the Parāśarasmṛti made by Suvrata. The subjects of the twelve chapters are:— 1. Introductory, the proper sphere of Āryas; summary of contents; II. Disquisition on the 6 daily karmans, sandhyā, bath, japa, worship of gods, Vaiśvadeva in honouring guests; Gāyatrī; the dharmas of the Varṇas; duties and manners of a householder; agriculture, honour [[toe COWB|to cows]]; IV. forms of marriage; duties of wives; Jātakarma and

[[P466]] other rites; gifts; proper persons to receive gifts; V. concerning śrāddhas; VI. impurity on birth and death; prāyaścittas for various acts; VII. cāndrāyaṇa and other penances; VIII. gifts; IX. rites for propitiating Gaṇeśa and the planets, Rudra &c; X. Rājadharma; dharmas of forest hermit and yati; XI. the different varieties of Brahmacārin, householder, forest hermit and yati; XII. prāṇāyāma and other aṅgas of yoga.

This Bṛhat-Parāśara contains a considerable number of verses mostly in the Indravajrā metre and a few in the Vasantatilakā (e.g. p. 134).

The Bṛhat-Parāśara appears to be a late work. It is a recast of the Parāśara-smṛti. It contains the Vināyakaśānti as elaborated by Yājñavalkya, since it speaks of only one Vināyaka (9th chap. p. 247) and not of four as in M. Gṛ. S. On p. 249 it quotes Yāj. I. 285 (about the names of Vināyaka) with the readings found in the Mit. It speaks of the rāśis (p. 244). It is not quoted by Viśvarūpa, the Mit. or Aparārka. It is mentioned in Bhaṭṭoji’s comment on the Caturviṁśatimata (p. 138) and by Nandapaṇḍita in the Dattakamīmāṁsā, which quotes a verse (Bṛhat-Parāśara p. 153).¹²

A Vṛddha-Parāśara is quoted by Aparārka (on Yāj. III. 318) immediately after Parāśara and as holding a different view.¹³ Mādhava also quotes a Vṛddha-Parāśara (Parāśara Mādhavīya vol. I, part I, p. 230). This seems to be a different work from the Parāśara-smṛti and the Bṛhat-Parāśara. Hemādri (Caturvarga vol. III, part 2, p. 48) and Bhaṭṭoji in his gloss on Caturviṁśatimata (p. 138) quote a Jyotiḥ-Parāśara.

The Smṛti-candrikā quotes a few verses from a work called Jyotiḥ-Parāśara in Śrāddhakāṇḍa.