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GAUTAMA,
INSTITUTES OF THE SACRED LAW.
CHAPTER I.
I. THE Veda is the source of the sacred law, 2. And the tradition and practice of those who know the (Veda).
3. Transgression of the law and violence are observed (in the case) of (those) great (men); but both are without force (as precedents) on account of the weakness of the men of later ages.
4. If (authorities) of equal force are conflicting, (either may be followed at) pleasure.
5. The initiation of a Brahmana (shall ordinarily take place) in his eighth year;
I. 1-2. Âpastamba I, 1, 1, 1-2.
3. Apastamba II, 6, 13, 8-10. Instances of transgressions of the law are the adultery of Kataka and Bharadvâga, Vasishtha's marriage with the Kândâlî Akshamâlâ, Râma Gâmadagnya's murder of his mother. Haradatta explains the term 'avara,' translated by 'men of later ages,' to mean 'men like ourselves' (asmadâdi). In his comment on the parallel passage of Âpastamba he renders it by idânîntana, 'belonging to our times;' and in his notes on Âpastamba I, 2, 5, 4, he substitutes arvâkîna kaliyugavartin, 'men of modern times living in the Kaliyuga.' The last explanation seems to me the most accurate, if it is distinctly kept in mind that in the times of Gautama the Kaliyuga was not a definite period of calculated duration, but the Iron Age of sin as opposed to the happier times when justice still dwelt on earth.
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