V 111 of the institutes of Parāsara, is in fact an czcellent digest and is of great authority in the southern part of India”. There is a general and concise commentary and abridgment of the Smritis, which is entitled the Chaturvingshati smriti vyákhyá. The doctrines of the legislators do not agree in all respects; nay, on certain points they differ evem from thoso of Ά/anw himself; but it is not optional with us to reject any of them, for Manu enjoins: “when there are two sacred texts apparently inconsistent, both are held to be law ; for both are pronounced by the wise to be valie and reconcilable.” Under such circumstances a reconciliation of ஃ.ே and discrepancies was the only remedy left: hence arose the necessity of a complete digest, which, after harmonis ing the conflicting authorities, might lay down the rules to be followed in practice. Several digests have for that purpose been composed by lawyers of different parts of India. And since the use of digests, the institutes of the sages are not regarded as themselves of final authority, which is to be sought in the conclusions and decisions of the authors of the several digests and the commentaries partłking of the nature of digests, with reference, however, to the schools to which they respectively belongs, (and which will be presently moticed.) Even the institutes of Manu; the foundntion of . the body of Hindu law, are in Inodern times looked upon as a work to be respected rather than to be implicitly followed. The digests in general contain texts taken from the sanhitás, with occasionally comments thereupon and passages reconciling their apparent contradictions in fulfilment of the precept of the great lawgiver, Manu. They, moreover, contain frequent citations from other digests, for the Purpose of correcting or confuting their decisions or corroborating their own. Occasionally texts of the Sruti or Vedas and Purānas are quoted as authority. The Sruti is respected as the highest authority, and the Purúnas as next to the Smriti, which itself is next to the Sruti. In forming their opinions and giving decisions the authors of the digests often have had recourse to the following general maxims and texts: “A principle of law established in one instance should be extended to other cases also, provided there be no inpediment.” “Between rules general and special, the special is to prevail.” “If there be a contradiction between a Sruti and a Smriti, the former is to be followed in preference to the latter; but if there be no such contradiction, the Smriti should be acted upon by the virtuous just as the Pedas” (Jobsili.) “Should there be a contradiction between a Sruti and Smriti, the former must be followed without consideration of any matter” (Bhabishya Purāna.) “Wherever contradic
- This work was composed by Vidyāranyaswami, the eminently learned minister of the founder of Vidyānagara, who, living in the fourteenth century, may be considered to have been, as it were, the lawgiver of the last Hindu dynasty. Of the first and third kändas of this celebrated work, to which the author gave the name of his brother Miłkaváchárjya, the basis is the text of Parásara ; but, as has been already oxplained, having, for the second, nothing of that Smriti to proceed-upon, it became in fact though not un name * general digest of all the legal authorities prevalent at the time in the southern part of India. However this may detract in some degree from its value as being founded in truth upon no particular text, the general fame of the author is so great, resting as it does, not upon this werk alone, but upon others also, particularis OLI his commentary upon the Pedas, that, among liis more ardent admirers, he is held to have been an incarnation
of Siva. Str. H. L. Torc. pp. xv, xvi. - - f And opinions on points of law as current in a particular school are givSP, by the raudits Ol" ev yers either in the language of the author of a local digest, (if suited for the purpose,) or ո their own, which barmonises the expositions of one of the local digests implicitly followed as authority, and, in either case, texts of sages, if there be any, corroborative of those opinions and expositions.
