Yajnavalkyasmriti - Softcover

Manmatha Nath Dutt

Softcover

ISBN 10: 8171102735 ISBN 13: 9788171102730

Publisher: Parimal Publications, 2005

Language: Sanskrit Text With Engilsh Translation
Pages: 286

Introduction
The Scriptural writings of the Hindus are divided, mainly, into two classes Sruti (or what is heard) and Smrti (or what is remembered). The earliest and the most sacred religious work of the Hindus, namely, the Veda, belongs to the former. In it the words of revelation are preserved in their original state. And all the laws, civil and religious; which govern and regulate the life and conduct of the Hindus pass under the sacred appellation of Sruti. According to the belief of the Hindus Smrti also is of divine origin; the difference between it and the Veda consists in the fact that in the. Hindu System of Law the sense is recorded either in the divine words or other equivalent expressions.
The history of the origin of Smrti attributes it to the Self-Sprung Brahma who communicated it to Manu, who again taught it to the ten patriarchal sages, viz., Marici, Atri, Angira, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Praceta, Vasistha, Bhrgu and Narada.
Smrti consists of three Kandas or sections, viz.,- (i) Acara or regulations relating to the performance of religious rites and ceremonies and the general duties of men; (ii) Vyavahara or civil laws relating to the protection of life and property with all their rules and practices; (iii) prayscitta or those relating to the atonement for various sins committed. But all these groups of laws, religious, civil and about atonement, pass by one comprehensive term which is popularly known as the Dharma-Sastra.
Of all the Smrtis, Manusmrti is regarded by the Hindus as next in sanctity to the Vedas. It is the oldest of all the laws and its authorship is attributed to Manu himself, the son of Brahma. He was the most ancient and greatest of all Lawgivers.
Subsequent writers, of Hindu Law Codes, considered Manu as the

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