Talk:Dharmasāstra:Vaidyanātha-dīkṣitīyam

By Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swami

Vaidyanātha Dīkṣita’s own name for his work is Smṛti-muktāphala-nibandhana-grantha. We know very little about the author of this extremely useful book. Dīkṣita must have lived some two hundred years ago; he belonged to Kaṇḍirāmaṇikkam, near Nācciyārkoil (in Tañjāvūr district). It must be noted that he himself practised the dharmas he had dealt with in his nibandhana and he is also believed to have performed big sacrifices.

Vaidyanātha-dīkṣitīyam is considered superior to similar works by Medhātithi, Vijñeśvara, Hemādri and so on. Exhaustive in nature, it deals with the duties and rites pertaining to the different castes and āśramas (the four stages of life), ritual purity, śrāddha, prāyaścitta, strīdharma, dayābhāga, dravyāśuddhi. It even gives directions about the division of paternal property. When the Hindu Code Bill was introduced in free India, some put forward the view that the division of property must be based on the śāstras. Such division is called dayābhāga. The division of property in Kerala, in the uncle–nephew line, is called marumakkatāyam. The word dayādi is derived from dayā.

Dīkṣitīyam is the last among the nibandhanas. In the preparation of this work, Vaidyanātha Dīkṣita had the advantage of making a comparative study of all the previous works on Dharmasāstra. Before it, the authority followed to some extent in the South was the nibandhana of Tozhappar. Vaiṣṇavas and Smārtas alike today accept the Dīkṣitīyam as an authority.

The nibandhanas are not like the Vedas (Śruti), the Kalpa-sūtras and the Smṛtis. Since they came later, it is not easy to make them acceptable to all. Dīkṣita, it must be noted, does not show the least trace of bias in his work and has followed the Mīmāṁsā in determining the meaning of Vedic texts. He has brought together previous śāstras and arrived at conclusions only after resolving the contradictions in them. This is the reason why his work is considered an authority in the South. When the Smṛtis differ in some matters, he takes a broad view and suggests: "Let each individual follow the practices of his region and the tradition of his forefathers."