Page:The English Works of Raja Rammohun Roy Vol 2.djvu/259

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over ancestral property.
247

nundun, the author of the Smriti-tutwu, and the greatest authority of Hindoo Law in the province of Bengal.” “The Daya-tutwu, or so much of the Smriti-tutwa as relates to inharitance, is the undoubted composition of Rughoonundun; and in deference to the greatness of the author’s name, and the estimation in which his works are held among the learned Hindoos of Bengal, has been throughout diligently consulted and carefully compared with Jeemootvahun’s treatise, on which it is almost exclusively founded.” (p. vii.) “Now Rughoonundun’s date is ascertained at about three hundred years from this time,” &c. (p. xii.) Mr. Colebrooke thus introduces Shree Krishun Turkalunkar: “The commentary of Shree Krishnu Turkalunkar on the Dayubhagu of Jeemootvahun, has been chiefly and preferably used. This is the most celebrated of the glosses on the text. Its authority has been long gaining ground in the schools of law throughout Bengal; and it has almost banished from them the other expositions of the Dayubhagu; being ranked in general estimation, next to the treatises of Jeemootvahun and of Rughoonundun.” (p. vi.) “The commentary of Muheshwur is posterior to those of Chooramuni and Uchyoot, both of which are cited in it; and is probably anterior to Shree Krishnu’s, or at least nearly of the same date.” (p. vii.) In the note at foot he observes, “Great-grandsons of both these writers were living in 1806.” Hence it may be inferred, that Shree Krishnu Turkalunkar lived above a century from this time. Mr. Colebrooke takes brief notice of Jugunnath Turkupunchanun, saying, “A very ample compilation on this subject is included in the Digest of Hindoo Law, prepared by Jugunnath, under directions of Sir William Jones, &c.” (p. ii.) The last mentioned,