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xii 1. Of the Text-books, varying in number, according to different authorities, from eighteen to thirty-six, and more, the little that is known, in point of history, will be found in the successive Prefaces, by Mr. Colebrooke, to his translations of the Digest, and two treatises on Inheritance; in the latter of which, in particular, their respective value is accurately weighed and ascertained. By Parasara, author of one of these books, (referring to the Hindu division; of the world into four ages,) are assigned, as appropriate to the Crita Yuga, or first age, the Institutes of Menu; to the Trita, or second, the ordinances oi Gautama; to the Dwapara, or third, Sancha and Lichita; and, to the Cali, or fourth, (the present sinful age, as it is deemed,) his (Parasara's) own ordinances. A text-book of authority, written for, and known to be applicable to the present age, could not but be of peculiar value ; but, it having been observed, that these text-books consist each of three distinct parts, it happens that, in Parasara's, the second, or Vyavahara Canda, (which must have comprised, his legal Institutes,) is entirely wanting : so that a professed commentary on this Smriti, that will be more particularly noticed, founds itself, in this respect, upon nothing belonging exclusively to Parasara^ beyond a verse extracted from the Achara^ or first Canda^ purporting merely, " that the