NARADIYA DHARMASASTRA OR THE INSTITUTES OF NARADA

This rare and valuable work, like most of the Smritis or ancient codes of revealed law of the history is called by the namo of an ancient Rishi, and its authorship is expressly stated in the introduction, but it requires no proof that Narada, the divine sage a wellknown legendary personage and reputed author of some hymns of the Rigveda, cannot be its real author. Not even their work itself, or epitome, as the introduction defines it, supports this view; on the contrary, Narada is quoted as an old authority. exactly in the same way as the authoritative sayings of Manu are quoted in other places. The introduction, on the other hand, is clearly a later addition, and its secondary origin is even more apparent than is the case with the introductory chapters, or passages, prefixed to the Manu Yajnavalkya and Vishnu Smritis, as it is written in prose whereas the work itself consists of continuous Slokas. Who, then was the real author of the Institutes of Narada and to what period does this work belong? The former question can only be answered in a very general way; it may be taken for granted, that is to say, that the metrical version of this lawbook is the work of some learned Brahmin, who brought an old prose work on law, which may have borne the same title, into its present shape; but who that versifier wasand how far he altered his original, is not likely over to be discovered.