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Rules and Regulations of Brahmanical Asceticism: Yatidharmasamuccaya of Yadava Prakasa (Suny Series in Religion)

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Dr. Olivelle's edition of the Yatadharmasamucchaya is a significant contribution to the studies of the historical development of ascetic traditions in Hinduism. There are numerous medeival manuals on the Hindu institution of monasticism, but the text of Yadavaprakasa surpasses them by virtue of its comprehensiveness, and historical information contained therein. The works of Yadvaprakasa (11th cent. CE) show his acute insight on the historical development of the tradition whose text he is commenting upon, whether it is Sanskrit prosody, or Sanskrit lexicography, or monasticism. Extant ragments of his lost works also betray the same features. Dr. Olivelle has prepared the first critical edition or the text with great labour, and the translation presented by him is very clean, organized and lucid. The introduction to the book explores the connections between the life of Sri Yadavaprakasa and the contents of the text in an enlightening manner. The critical apparatus given is very useful, and the citations in the text have been traced to the original sources very accurately. However, there is one area where the book falters: the translation of Vrddha Manu is not 'Manu the Elder' as written by Dr. Olivelle. Rather, Vrddha Manu represents a confalted text of Manusmriti, which existed once but is lost now. Secondly, in my opinion, Yadavaprakasa omits the rules of monasticism given in the Puranas not because he did not attach much validiy to them, but probably because he wanted to narrow the scope of his work for convenience and for brevity. Otherwise, the Puranas are quoted with approval even by Mandana Misra, whose philosophy Yadavaprakasa is often said to subscribe to. In totality however, the book by Dr. Olivelle, who is an acknowledged authority on the Hindu institution of Asrama, is a must read.