व्यवहारमयूख (नीलकण्ठ भट्ट - पश्चिमी भारत की हिन्दू न्याय-संहिता एवं व्यवहार कोष)

8 VYAVAHARAMAYUKHA
ancient works and sages. In the present translation quotations in verse have
been clearly indicated by the method of beginning them in a separate line and
by lessening the size of the lines of the translation of verses by a few letter spaces
as compared with the rest of the work. Another feature of this translation
is that exhaustive citations of decided cases have been made wherein the
Mayūkha has either been quoted, explained, criticised, referred to or which
have an important bearing on the law as laid down in the Vyavahāramayūkha.
The decisions of courts have in a few places been also criticized. It has
however to be borne in mind that this work does not profess to be a treatise
on Hindu Law and that therefore no one should expect that all possible
cases on Hindu Law would be found digested herein.
As judges and the legal profession have been accustomed for decades
to use the translations by Borradaile and Mandlik and as decided cases cite
quotations from and give references to these translations, in the corner of each
page of this translation corresponding portions of Borradaile's translation con-
tained in Stokes' collection of Hindu Law books and Mandlik's translation have
been indicated with the letters S and M respectively.
The Introduction to the edition of the text of the Vyavahāramayūkha
deals exhaustively with the family and personal history of Nīlakaṇṭha, the
works of Nīlakaṇṭha, the period of his literary activity, the contents of his
twelve Mayūkhas which together constitute his digest called Bhagavanta-
bhāskara, his position in Dharmaśāstra literature and the position of the
Vyavahāramayūkha in modern Hindu Law. Those who want to make a
detailed study of these matters must refer to that Introduction. But for the
benefit of those who do not know Sanskrit a brief treatment of the matters
detailed above is given here.
An exhaustive synopsis of contents, an index of cases and Law Reports
and a general index which also contains in italics important Sanskrit words
will, it is hoped, add to the usefulness of this edition of the translation of
the Vyavahāramayūkha.
P. V. Kane
S. G. Patwardhan