वाचस्पतिमिश्रकृत व्यवहारचिन्तामणिः- Vyavaharacintamani of Vacaspati Misra: A Medieval Text on Judicial Procedure

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About the Book Vacaspati Misra, who lived sometime in the middle of the 15th century, under the patronage of local kings at Mithila, the present day Darbhanga of Bihar, was a trained logician but prolifically authored ritual and judicial codes. The Vyavaharachintamani along with the Vivadachintamani is a record of the judicial procedure prevailing in medieval Mithila. Although written during the peak of feudalism the Vyavaharachintamani manifests the judicial structures of Vacaspati day that had been particularly crucial in creating a base for the present day Hindu Law. The present book, the exact translation has a detailed Prelude and Introduction detailing the evolution of jurisprudence from the earliest times to Vacaspati Misra.

About the Author Kurra Jithendra Babu is an advocate by profession. He studied law at the Marathwada University in Aurangabad. A scholar in Sanskrit and Telugu, he extensively toured the country and contributed original work in subjects as varied as epigraphy, fortifications, grammar, dance and prosody. He has just finished work on a four-volume history of the peasant movement of Telangana from the early 1930's to 1948. This is his fifth book. He also translated few works from Sanskrit in to English and Telugu. A native of Munagala in the Nalagonda District, he lives and works in Hyderabad.

Introduction The word "Dharma' is a complicated term that had been used to define any systemized learning. The word is clearly derived from the root Dhr or to uphold, to support or to nourish. Its evolution as conscientious realm through which truth was to be sought became, much later, a contested horizon, with as many meanings to it as its interpretations. The context of Dharma was based, rather strangely, on the gender tense in which the word was to be used. The earliest references are clearly masculine as can be exemplified from this stanza in the Rig Veda, also the earliest known mention of the term.

Except this in all other cases the word is either obviously in the neuter or presents a form that may either be masculine or neuter. In most cases the meaning of Dharma is religious ordinances or rites as in the Rig Veda (1.22, 18, V.26.6, viii.43.24, ix.64.1). At any rate, the gender of the word also denotes its social stand and therefore its importance during each stage of its evolution. Early Vedic society from textual sources appears to be a male dominated society in which Dharma assumes the masculine form, which was to establish, control and enforce the essence of shared experience as envisaged in the later Brahmanas. In other variations Dharma becomes neutral to functions such as the examination of the physical phenomena. By the Brahmana period when the Samhitas were codified and structured for ritual interpretation, the meaning of Dharma essentially encompasses the Masculine element. Whether such a context had any historical sequence or not is another matter. But soon after the period of the Brahmanas, succeeded by the Aryankas and the Upanishads, Dharma is increasingly mentioned in the neuter. The advent of speculation on the origin of matter, unknown in earlier times, gave way to such a view. Recent studies have proved successfully that the Aryankas and the principle Upanishads were all drawn from an intellectual stream known in non-Vedic testimonies as the Sramana or Sramanic tradition.

**Contents and Sample Pages**