Jīmutavāhana

By Swami Harshananda

Sometimes transliterated as: Jimutavahana, JImutavAhana, Jimutavaahana

Jīmutavāhana’ literally means ‘one whose vehicle is the clouds’. This word is also an epithet of god Indra. Jīmutavāhana is one of the three most important writers of the dharmaśāstras in Bengal. The other two are Śulapāṇi and Raghunandana. He was a scion of the Pāribhadrīya brāhmaṇa family and the chief judge in the kingdom of Viṣvaksena of Bengal. He was titled as the ‘Mahāmahopādhyāya’.

Jīmutavāhana's Literary Works

Three works of Jīmuutavāhana are famous. They are:

1. Vyavahāramātrkā
2. Kālaviveka
3. Dāyabhāga

Vyavahāramātrkā

This deals with judicial procedures like:

• Titles of law
• Fitness needed for appointing a person as a judge
• Different grades of courts
• Four stages of vyavahāra
• Divine and human proofs

Kālaviveka

The Kālaviveka discusses about the following:

• Appropriate seasons and months for the performance of religious rites and duties
• Other allied subjects

Dāyabhāga

The Dāyabhāga is the most famous of his works. The subjects discussed in the details include:

• Inheritance matters
• Partition
• Strīdhana, a woman’s share and property
• Reunion and other related subjects

References

• The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

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