Chapter 1.2d - The Yājñavalkyasmṛti and its relation with other Ancient Literature

The Yājñavalkyasmṛti mentions the names of some ancient Indian literature, the study of which was prevalent in the society. The Purāṇas, the Nyāya, the Mīmāṃsā, the Dharmaśāstra, the Vedāṅga, the Vedas are stated as fourteen roots of knowledge and religion.^[1] It names earlier twenty expounders on dharma.^[2] Citation is also found, with regard to the Āraṇyaka and the Yogaśāstra, composed by Yājñavalkya.^[3] Some other branches of learning of ancient India, the Vākovākya, the Nārāśaṃsī-gāthās, the Ānvīkṣkī, the Daṇḍanīti, the Arthaśāstra, the Smṛtis in general, Ślokas, Sūtras, Bhāṣyas, etc., are referred to in various verses of the Yājñavalkyasmṛti.^[4]

Relation with the Śuklayajurveda:

The Yājñavalkyasmṛti bears close affinity to the Śuklayajurveda and its literature. It is already discussed in detail, that the name Yājñavalkya stands in a very intimate relation with the Śuklayajurvedasaṃhitā, the Śatapathabrāhmaṇa and the Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad. The Yājñavalkyasmṛti has taken the mantras recited in the śrāddha mostly from the Vājasaneyisaṃhitā. ^[5] Most of the mantras cited by Yājñavalkya are also present in the Ṛgveda and the Śuklayajurveda, while some mantras occur only in the later.^[6] Moreover, various verses of the Yājñavalkyasmṛti (3.191-197) seem to be a rearticulation of certain passages of the Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad. ^[7]

The Yājñavalkyasmṛti shows great connection with the Pāraskaragṛhyasūtra. Verses 1.142-143 of the Yājñavalkyasmṛti relates to Pāraskaragṛhyasūtra. ^[8] Numbers of verses in the Yājñavalkyasmṛti have verbal similarity with the Pāraskaragṛhyasūtra, such as Yājñavalkyasmṛti 3.1-2 and P.Gṛ.S. 3. 10.1, 5, 8-9, 12; Yājñavalkyasmṛti 3.3 and P.Gṛ.S. 3.10.16, 19-20, etc. The portion of vināyakaśānti of the Yājñavalkyasmṛti resembles to Mānavagṛhyasūtra of Kṛṣṇayajurveda.^[9]

Julius Jolly assumes that the Smṛti of Yājñavalkya was based on a Sūtra work of the Śuklayajurveda but at the same time other Sūtra works and the Manusmṛti were utilized by the author.^[10] There seems to be no reason for holding that Yājñavalkya had any particular Dharmasūtra as its basis.^[11] The best probable conclusion may be derived that the author of the Smṛti could well have belonged to or associated with the school of white Yajurveda, and therefore, he might have been more acquainted with mantras, rituals, manuals relating to it than the other Vedas and the Sūtras.^[12]

Relation with the Viṣṇudharmasūtra:

There is a remarkable analogy between the Yājñavalkyasmṛti and the Viṣṇudharmasūtra. Several verses of the Yājñavalkyasmṛti are found identical with those of the Viṣṇudharmasūtra and its prose Sūtras.^[13] Correlation between two works can be noticed mainly regarding copperplate grants, deeds of debt, all documents in general, five chief divine judgments, inheritance, funeral ceremonies, composition of human body and yoga, etc. ^[14] The work Viṣṇudharmasūtra is marked with three stages of development. The first represents the frame work of a Dharmasūtras, the subjectmatter of which may be older than the Mānusmṛti. The second stage is identified by the grabing of the function of uttering secular laws, and the third stage shows sectarian Vaishṇava clothing with the inclusion of non-Dhramaśāstra matters.

This leads Jayaswal to conclude thus,–

“Viṣṇu follows Manu, and Yājñavalkya seems to be conscious of Viṣṇu laws, though in places there are clear cases of borrowing by Viṣṇu from Yājñavalkya.”^[15]

Julius Jolly thinks that the Viṣṇudharmasūtra has retained the older version, and Yājñavalkya has drawn upon Viṣṇu, or rather upon the Sūtra work lying at the root of this work. ^[16] However, there are several matters in the Viṣṇudharmasūtra, which are wanting in the Yājñavalkyasmṛti. This may suggest a later date of the Sūtra than the Yājñavalkyasmṛti. Therefore, Kane concedes that the extant Viṣṇudharmasūtra borrows from the Manusmṛti and the Yājñavalkyasmṛti.^[17]

Relation with the Arthaśāstra of Kauṭilya:

The vyavahāra section of the Yājñavalkyasmṛti shows the greatest association with the Arthaśāstra of Kauṭilya. The connection between the Arthaśāstra and the Yājñavalkyasmṛti in wordings is very close, which appears to be a case of borrowing.^[18] Yājñavalkya has included many of the offences referred to in the kaṇṭakaśodhana, Book 4 of the Arthaśāstra, in one or in more than one of his titles of law inappropriately, such as 2. 238, 240, 250, 251, 252, 277, 279, 280 of the Yājñavalkyasmṛti.^[19] Moreover, Yājñavalkya seems to have reproduced the words of the Arthaśāstra with modifications, for instance tryaṅga in Yājñavalkyasmṛti refers to vāmahasta dvipāda of the Arthaśāstra.^[20] The close comparison between two works may show that the Yājñavalkyasmṛti is indebted to the Arthaśāstra.^[21] This view can also be strengthened by the date assigned to the Arthaśāstra. Kane agrees with its traditional date of 300 B.C. and finds nothing to compel to assign it a date later than the above by six centuries.^[22]

The Arthaśāstra does not contain distinct directions upon the four stages of lawsuit, threefold aspects of proof, widow or mother as heir to a sonless man, which Yājñavalkya has done in his work. Moreover, unlike Arthaśāstra, Yājñavalkyasmṛti prefers daughters to sons in the division of strīdhana of a woman dying during her husband’s lifetime. Thus, on numerous points of law, Yājñavalkya represents an advanced stage than the Arthaśāstra. These may indicate the posteriority of the former, and that the Yājñavalkyasmṛti might have borrowed from the Arthaśāstra.

Relation with the Manusmṛti:

The close relation between the Yājñavalkyasmṛti and the Manusmṛti is evident. A close comparison between the two works reveals that there are numerous passages having agreement not only in meaning but also in words.^[23] There are cases, where Yājñavalkya compresses two or more verses of Manu into one, e.g. Manusmṛti, 2. 243, 247, 248 are equal to Yājñavalkyasmṛti, 1.49, Manusmṛti, 4.7-8 and Yājñavalkyasmṛti, 1.128, etc. In various cases, the Yājñavalkyasmṛti has clarified the sense of the Manusmṛti.^[24] Yājñavalkya has dealt with most of the subjects found in the Manusmṛti, but in a little more than a thousand verses in contrast with the bulk of about 2700 verses of Manu.^[25]

The Yājñavalkyasmṛti compared to the Manusmṛti is more systematic, brief, scientific, and practical. Yājñavalkya divides the work assigning all topics to their proper positions. He especially deals with law in the second chapter more completely and in detail, whereas Manu has dealt with the law in his eighth and ninth chapters, and rules are many times scattered in the whole text. Moreover, Yājñavalkya has not devoted a major part of his work to ācāra, as in the Manusmṛti. The Yājñavalkyasmṛti does not contain any discussion on cosmogony, which occupies practically the whole of the first chapter of the Manusmṛti. On the other hand, the Yājñavalkyasmṛti contains some subjects, which are not found in the Manusmṛti. These subjects include vināyakaśānti, grahaśānti, description of life of the embryo and of the human body, etc.^[26]

Though, for the material substance, the Yājñavalkyasmṛti notably agrees with the Manusmṛti, yet it differs from the Manusmṛti on some matters. Several matters, e.g. ordeals, means of proof in courts, rules of procedures in courts, the doctrine of possession and prescription, the penances, etc., have received more systematic and elaborate treatment in the Yājñavalkyasmṛti than the Manusmṛti.^[27] From the relation of the two codes, it may be drawn that the extant the Yājñavalkyasmṛti represents a later date than that of the Manusmṛti. Yājñavalkya seems to be familiar to the Manusmṛti, and have utilised it while composing his work.

Relation with the Agnipurāṇa and the Garuḍapurāṇa:

It is important to state here the relation of the Agnipurāṇa and the Garuḍapurāṇa with the text of Yājñavalkyasmṛti. The vyavahāra portion of Agnipurāṇa resembles with the Vyavahārādhyāya of the Yājñavalkyasmṛti. The Agnipurāṇa contains 315 numbers of verses on vyavahāra.^[28] Among these verses, approximately 280 verses occur in the text of the Yājñavalkyasmṛti commented upon by Viśvarūpa and Vijñāneśvara. A few verses are found in the Agnipurāṇa and in the text of Viśvarūpa, but not in the Mitākṣarā, vice versa, a few verses are present in the Agnipurāṇa and the Mitākṣarā but absent in the text of Viśvarūpa. Going through the internal evidences, Kane is of the opinion that Agnipurāṇa is intermediate between the text of Viśvarūpa and the Mitākṣarā and both represents the text of the Yājñavalkyasmṛti about 900 A.D.^[29]

The correspondence between the Yājñavalkyasmṛti and the Garuḍapurāṇa is manifest as the later has expressed its indebtedness towards the former.^[30] Except the topics on rājadharma and vyavahāra, which two sections are not found in the Garuḍapurāṇa, several topics of the first kāṇḍa of the Yājñavalkyasmṛti are dealt with in the same order in chapter 93-102 of the Garuḍapurāṇa. The duties of different castes described in the Garuḍapurāṇa (93-106) are found similar to the description given in the Yājñavalkyasmṛti. Topics of the third kāṇḍa of the Yājñavalkyasmṛti are treated in one hundred and twenty-one verses of the chapter 102-106 of the Garuḍapurāṇa, without maintaining the sequence of the Yājñavalkyasmṛti. It is derived from the study of these verses of the Garuḍapurāṇa with reference to the texts of Viśvarūpa and the Mitākṣarā that it represents a stage of the Yājñavalkyasmṛti, between Viśvarūpa and the Mitākṣarā.^[31]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Yājñavalkyasmṛti, 1.3

[2]:

Ibid., 1.4-5

[3]:

Ibid., 3.110

[4]:

cf., Ibid., 3.189, 1.45, 1.101, 1.311, 2.5,21, 1.154

[5]:

Jolly, J., Op.cit., page43

[6]:

cf., Yājñavalkyasmṛti 1.230 and Śuklayajurveda,5.26; Yājñavalkyasmṛti 1.254 and Śuklayajurveda,19.45; Yājñavalkyasmṛti 1.300 and Śuklayajurveda9.40; Yājñavalkyasmṛti, 1.301 and Śuklayajurveda19.75,etc.

[7]:

cf., Yājñavalkyasmṛti, 3.191 and Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad, 2.4.5, 4.5.6; Yājñavalkyasmṛti, 3.192-194 and Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad, 6.2.15; etc.

[8]:

Viśvarūpa on Yājñavalkyasmṛti, 1.142-143.

[9]:

Vide, Kane, P.V., Op.cit., Volume1,Part 1, pages 439, 441,

[10]:

Jolly, J., Op.cit., page42

[11]:

Lingat, R., Op.cit., page 98

[12]:

Kane, P.V., Op.cit., Volume1, Part 1, page441

[13]:

cf., Yājñavalkyasmṛti2. 53 and Viṣṇudharmasūtra, 6.41; Yājñavalkyasmṛti, 2.79 and Viṣṇudharmasūtra, 8.38; Yājñavalkyasmṛti, 1.21 Viṣṇudharmasūtra, 62.9; Yājñavalkyasmṛti 2.1-4 and Viṣṇudharmasūtra, 3.72-74 etc.

[14]:

Jolly, J., Op.cit. pages 41-42

[15]:

Jayaswal, K.P., Op.cit., page63

[16]:

Jolly, J., Op.cit., page42

[17]:

Vide, Kane,P.V., Op.cit., Volume1, Part 1, page118

[18]:

cf., Yājñavalkyasmṛti, 2.147 and AS.,3.2.16; Yājñavalkyasmṛti2.120 and AS.3.5.14 etc.

[19]:

cf., Kangle, R.P., The Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra, part 3, pages78, 79

[20]:

cf., Yājñavalkyasmṛti, 2.297 and Arthaśāstra, 4.10.14

[21]:

Kangle, R.P., Op.cit., part 3, page80

[22]:

Vide, Kane, P.V., Op.cit., Vol 1. Part 1, page247

[23]:

cf., Manusmṛti, 2.12 & Yājñavalkyasmṛti, 1.7; Manusmṛti, 2.16 and Yājñavalkyasmṛti, 1.10; Manusmṛti, 2.36 and Yājñavalkyasmṛti, 1.14; Manusmṛti, 2.38-39 and Yājñavalkyasmṛti, 1.37-38 etc.

[24]:

cf., Manusmṛti, 8.77 and Yājñavalkyasmṛti, 2.72; Manusmṛti, 11.58 and Yājñavalkyasmṛti, 3.231-233; Manusmṛti, 11.46 and Yājñavalkyasmṛti, 3.226 etc.

[25]:

Chatterji, S.K.et al (Edited), Op.cit., Volume 5, page83

[26]:

Yājñavalkyasmṛti, 1.271-308; 3.69-109

[27]:

Jolly, J., Op.cit., pages40-41

[28]:

Agnipurāṇa, 253-258

[29]:

Vide, Kane, P.V., Op.cit., Volume1, Part 1, pages426, 427

[30]:

yājñavalkyena yat purvaṃ dharmaṃ proktaṃ kathaṃ hare/ tan me kathaya keśighna yathā tattvena mādhava// Garuḍapurāṇa, 93.1

[31]:

Vide, Kane, P.V., Op.cit., Volume1, Part 1, pages 427-429