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ascertain in the course of a few months the exact extent of the authority of the Mitâxarâ as a treatise on law and otherwise amongst the Brahmans of the Madras Province. And I should be indeed glad to learn that Burnell had begun to investigate the matter. Certainly, it is anything but creditable to Madras jurisprudence that whilst the Madras High Court, following Colebrooke, invariably acts on the assumption that the Mitâxarâ is the 'paramount authority,' Goldstücker1 should say that this work has been superseded, and Burnell2 should declare it to be a purely speculative treatise, not a practical code, and another writer should irreverently publish his belief that the people of South India care no more for the Mitâxarâ than they do for the Psalms of David. And so long as it remains doubtful whether Vijñânesvara's commentary is, or is not, a real authority obligatory on the Hindûs of this province, students of Hindû law will be perplexed and embarrassed, not knowing in what direction to push their inquiries. If we could only get this most important question set at rest by a competent investigator, real progress would at once become possible; and doubtless many persons, who hesitate now to enter upon a field of study that promises little but doubt and vexation, might be tempted to begin making some researches for themselves upon an assured basis. If it were definitively settled that the

1 See his Paper on the Hindoo Law, of 1871, p. 3.

2 Introduction to Madhaviya, xiii. Note to Dayadaçaçloki, 4.

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Mitâxarâ is not an authority for South India, as a law-book, for any purpose or in any degree, curiosity would be aroused as to whether the Smritichandrikâ or any of the allied treatises is such an authority, or whether indeed any such authority exists or ever has existed, and, if not, as to where we should look for the principles of Hindû law. If, on the other hand, it turned out that Colebrooke was right after all in his rash guess, and that the Mitâxarâ in truth and in fact is the 'paramount authority' for Madras, intending students of Hindû law would at once attack the commentary with the full assurance that if they could only master its subject matter they might soon become experts in the sole remaining important part of Hindû law. Again, it might be discovered that a majority or minority of our Brahmans professed, and the rest repudiated, the doctrines contained in this celebrated work; and in that case, one by no means improbable, the fact would at once be perceived that different laws must be administered to different clans or fellowships of Brahmans, and that many a claim must be variously decided according as it is put forward by an Âyyar or an Âyyangâr, by an Ápastamba or a Sâma-Vedî.

As will have been gathered from what has been written above, I adhere to my belief that it is right to deny for the present all authority to the Mitâxarâ and kindred works, and to explode the notion of the existence of a Madras School of Hindû law; and in the event of it turning out, as I hope and expect, that there is no such thing as an authority upon matters of inheritance and succession for the Madras Province,

FUTURE OF INQUIRY.

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the future study of Hindû law will be immensely facilitated for South India. Instead of troubling himself with the pedantic disquisitions of the commentators, and their futile attempts to reconcile what is hopelessly irreconcilable, the cautious inquirer will turn the modern treatises to their legitimate use, that of illustrating the terse and ambiguous texts of the Dharma-Sûtras and Sastras. Having mastered the principles of the original (or rather I should say of the earliest extant) works, he will go on to distinguish between the principal Sâkhâs, and to connect the Sûtras and Śâstras with Sâkhâs and Charanas. And lastly he will ascertain how far the Brahmans of the present generation govern themselves by the rules formerly followed by their several clans or fellowships; how far they have adopted, or unconsciously established for themselves, customs that are not sanctioned by, or even are inconsistent with, what is written.1 The task may at the first blush seem to be very tedious and formidable. But if principles alone are looked for, and details put aside as useless, the business of reconstructing Hindû law on a sound basis will not, I am persuaded, be one of surpassing difficulty or of excessive labour.

1 In his letter of June 8, 1812, given at II. Strange, 162, Ellis declared the truth to be that 'the law of the Smritis, unless under various modifications, has never been the law of the Tamil and cognate nations.' Similarly P. Samy Iyer, in his introduction to True Hindû Law, repudiates altogether the authority of the Mitáxará, Dattakamímámsá, &c., and insists upon the validity of usage alone. He observes: 'No idea is yet duly formed of what Hindû law in theory is, since the decay of the Brahmanical government, and, à fortiori, since the new era, although usage has left no room to feel the want.'

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CHAPTER V.

Law or usage part of religion— Visas—Vrátyas—Possible origin of Buddhism Jains heretic Buddhists-Jains and Brahmans driven into South India-Saivites and Vaishnavites-Other sects—South India Mlechcha -Its religious progress—The 'Right' and 'Left Hands'—Antiquity of their antagonism-Origin of the divisions-Are the Panchala Hindû? -Their polyandry, religion-The meaning of Dráviḍa-Origin of the Drávidas-The Tamils-The Andhras-Their civilisation not Brahmanic-Work for the ethnologist-Ignorance about the Indians-Strata of population-Peculiar customs of the Western Coast-Marumakkatayam-Polyandry in South India-Succession in the female lineIllata Menarikam― Customs to be investigated.

OUR next question is: (6) To what extent have Brahmanism, Buddhism, and Jainism, respectively, acted and reacted upon the religious beliefs and practices of the population of South India? What should be understood at the present time by the term Hindû? Are the Vaishnava, Saiva, and other principal sects to be regarded as 'Hindû'? What is the true history of the feud between the 'Right Hand' and the Left Hand'? How far does the antagonism between these two great divisions of society extend-for example, does it preclude the members of one division from accepting and respecting religious, legal, and other works that are accepted by members of the other?

In India, as Roer has justly observed,1 Law is entirely subservient to the mysterious despotism of 1 Introduction, Yájñavalkya, vii,

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caste, a religious rather than a political ordinance.' Probably we may go even farther than this and say, with a considerable amount of confidence, that in India, until the British took charge of the country, the only law known was the custom (Áchâra) of each caste, which custom was part and parcel of the religion (or superstition) of the particular caste, and was in no degree affected by changes in the political administration of any part of the country.' It is obvious, therefore, that in endeavouring to trace and investigate the sources of the Sanskrit Law, it will be absolutely necessary to pay special attention to modifications of it that may have been brought about by the development of successive religious systems, as the Bauddha, Jaina, Saiva, Vaishnava, and others.

6

According to Weber, when the Aryans were living on the banks of the Indus, they were called Visas or settlers simply, and the different families did not break up into classes of priests, warriors, and traders. It was not until after a further great migration had taken place eastward, that the four classes' somehow formed themselves. Part only of the population on the banks of the Indus left its ancient home, and part remained where it was, to keep up the old traditions and usages. Those who went seem to have hated those who staid, and the latter came to be known and derided as the Vrâtinas or Vrâtyas,2

1 See as to this, Maine's Early Hist. Institns., 13th Lecture. 2 According to Manu (x. 23), ' Vrátya' meant properly 'excluded from the gayatri.' In early times the term meant a non-Brahmanic Âryan. And provision was made for the admission of such a one into the pale by the sacrifice called Vrátya-stoma. In later times degraded

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