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The Manusmṛti (or "Laws of Manu", Sanskrit Manusmṛti मनुस्मृति; also known as Mānava-Dharmaśāstra मानवधर्मशास्त्र) is the most important and earliest metrical work of the many Dharmaśāstras of Hinduism. It was one of the first Sanskrit texts translated in 1794 by Sir William Jones, during the British rule of India, and used to formulate the Hindu law by the colonial government.
Over fifty manuscripts of Manusmriti are known, but the presumed original and most translated version since the 18th-century has been the "Calcutta manuscript with Kulluka Bhatta commentary". Modern scholarship states this presumed authenticity is far from truth, and the various manuscripts of Manusmriti discovered in India are inconsistent with each other, and within themselves, raising concerns of its authenticity, insertions and interpolations made into the text in later times.
The text is in Sanskrit, and it presents itself as a discourse given by Manu on dharma topics such as duties, rights, laws, conduct, virtues and others. The text's fame spread outside India, long before the colonial era. The medieval era Buddhistic law of Myanmar and Thailand are also ascribed to Manu.
Nomenclature
Manusmriti is a late innovation and a relatively modern term, probably coined because the text is in a verse form. The over fifty manuscripts discovered of the text, never use this title, but state the title as Manava Dharmasastra in their colophons at the end of each chapter. In modern scholarship, these two titles refer to the same text.
Chronology
Eighteenth century philologists Sir William Jones and Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel assigned Manusmriti to the period of around 1250 BCE and 1000 BCE respectively. Later scholarship, shifted the chronology of the text to between 200 BCE and 200 CE. Olivelle adds that numismatics evidence, and the mention of gold coins as a fine, suggest that text may date to 2nd or 3rd-century CE.
Most scholars consider the text a composite produced by many authors put together over a long period of time. Olivelle states that the various ancient and medieval Indian texts claim revisions and editions were derived from the original text with 100,000 verses and 1,080 chapters. However, the text version in modern use, according to Olivelle, is likely the work of a single author or a chairman with research assistants.
The text shows the obvious influence of previous Dharmasutras and Arthashastras. In particular, the Manusmriti was the first to adopt the term vyavaharapadas. These eighteen "Titles of Law" or "Grounds for Litigation" make up more than one fifth of the work and deal primarily with matters of the king, state, and judicial procedure.
Structure
The modern version of the text is subdivided into twelve Adhyayas (chapters), but the original text had no such division. The text covers different topics, and is unique among ancient Indian texts in using “transitional verses” to mark the end of one subject and the start of the next. The text can be broadly divided into four, each of different length. and each further divided into subsections:
- Creation of the world
- Source of dharma
- The dharma of the four social classes
- Law of karma, rebirth and final liberation
Olivelle lists the subsections as follows:
Creation of the world
The Sarvasya Sambhavah (Origin, creation of the World) section has one hundred nineteen verses.
Sources of the law
The Dharmasya Yonih (Sources of the Law) has twenty four verses, and one transition verse. These verses state what the text considers as the proper and just sources of law:
वेदोऽखिलो धर्ममूलं स्मृतिशीले च तद्विदाम् । आचारश्चैव साधूनामात्मनस्तुष्टिरेव च ॥
Translation 1: The whole Veda is the (first) source of the sacred law, next the tradition and the virtuous conduct of those who know the (Veda further), also the customs of holy men, and (finally) self-satisfaction (Atmana santushti).
— Manusmriti 2.6
Translation 2: The root of the religion is the entire Veda, and (then) the tradition and customs of those who know (the Veda), and the conduct of virtuous people, and what is satisfactory to oneself.
वेदः स्मृतिः सदाचारः स्वस्य च प्रियमात्मनः । एतच्चतुर्विधं प्राहुः साक्षाद् धर्मस्य लक्षणम् ॥
Translation 1: The Veda, the sacred tradition, the customs of virtuous men, and one's own pleasure, they declare to be the fourfold means of defining the sacred law.
— Manusmriti 2.12
Translation 2: The Veda, tradition, the conduct of good people, and what is pleasing to oneself – they say that is four fold mark of religion.
This section of Manusmriti, like other Hindu law texts, includes fourfold sources of Dharma, states Levinson, which include Atmana santushti (satisfaction of one's conscience), Sadachara (local norms of virtuous individuals), Smriti and Sruti.
Dharma of the four Varnas
Further information: Varna (Hinduism) | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. |
- 3.1 Rules Relating to Law (2.25 – 10.131)
- 3.1.1 Rules of Action in Normal Times (2.26 – 9.336)
- 3.1.2 Rules of Action in Times of Adversity (10.1 – 11.129)
- 3.2 Rules Relating to Penance (11.1 – 11.265)
The verses 6.97, 9.325, 9.336 and 10.131 are transitional verses.
Determination of Karmayoga
| This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. |
The verses 12.1 and 12.2 are transitional verses.
- 4.1 Fruits of Action (12.3-81)
- 4.2 Rules of Action for Supreme Good (12.83-115)
Nature and purpose
Further information: Dharma and DharmashastraThe Manusmriti is compiled with a focus on the "shoulds" of dharma rather than on the actuality of everyday practice in India after the decline and collapse of the Maurya Empire. Still, its practical application should not be underestimated. Through intermediate forces such as the instruction of scholars, the teachings did indeed have indirect effect on major segments of the Indian population. It is also an invaluable point of common reference in scholarly debates.
It seems likely that the book was written in a manner which was very mindful to the dangers facing the Brahmin community during a time of much change and social upheaval. A renewed alliance between the Brahmin and Kṣatra communities is clearly a goal reflected in the introduction of the vyavahārapadas. The emphasis which this topic receives can be seen as an offering of solidarity from the religious community to the ruling class.
Commentaries
There are numerous classical commentaries on the Manusmṛti written in the medieval period.
Bhāruci
Bhāruci is the oldest known commentator on the Manu Smṛti. Kane places him in the late 10th or early 11th century, Olivelle places him in the 8th century, and Derrett places him between 600-650 CE. From these three opinions we can place Bhāruci anywhere from the early 7th century CE to the early 11th century CE. The surviving portion of Bhāruci's commentary that we have today deals mostly with the duties of the king and whether or not the king can be a source of dharma.
Medhātithi
Medhātithi is one of the most famous commentators on the Manu Smṛti, and there is some debate regarding the location in which he was writing, but scholars such as Buhler, Kane, and Lingat tend to believe he was from Kashmir or the area around Kashmir. The exact date that Medhātithi was writing is also unclear, and he has been placed anywhere between about 820 and 1050.
Authenticity and inconsistencies in various manuscripts
Patrick Olivelle, credited with a 2004 translation of Manusmriti published by the Oxford University Press, states the concerns in postmodern scholarship about the presumed authenticity and reliability of Manusmriti manuscripts. He writes (abridged),
The MDh was the first Indian legal text introduced to the western world through the translation of Sir William Jones in 1794. (...) All the editions of the MDh, except for Jolly's, reproduce the text as found in the manuscript containing the commentary of Kulluka. I have called this as the "vulgate version". It was Kulluka's version that has been translated repeatedly: Jones (1794), Burnell (1884), Buhler (1886) and Doniger (1991). (...)
The belief in the authenticity of Kulluka's text was openly articulated by Burnell (1884, xxix): "There is then no doubt that the textus receptus, viz., that of Kulluka Bhatta, as adopted in India and by European scholars, is very near on the whole to the original text." This is far from the truth. Indeed, one of the great surprises of my editorial work has been to discover how few of the over fifty manuscripts that I collated actually follow the vulgate in key readings.
— Patrick Olivelle, Manu's Code of Law (2004)
Other scholars point to the inconsistencies and have questioned the authenticity of verses, and the extent to which verses were changed, inserted or interpolated into the original, at a later date. Sinha, for example, states that less than half, or only 1,214 of the 2,685 verses in Manusmriti, may be authentic. Further, the verses are internally inconsistent. Verses such as III.55-62 of Manusmriti, for example, glorify the position of women, while verse such as IX.3 and IX.17 do the opposite.
Nelson in 1887, in a legal brief before the Madras High Court of British India, had stated, "there are various contradictions and inconsistencies in the Manu Smriti itself, and that these contradictions would lead one to conclude that such a commentary did not lay down legal principles to be followed but were merely recommendatory in nature." Mahatma Gandhi commented as followed in the observed inconsistencies within Manusmriti,
I hold Manusmriti as part of Shastras. But that does not mean that I swear by every verse that is printed in the book described as Manusmriti. There are so many contradictions in the printed volume that, if you accept one part, you are bound to reject those parts that are wholly inconsistent with it. (...) Nobody is in possession of the original text.
— Mahatma Gandhi, An Adi-Dravida's Difficulties
Modern reception and Criticism
The Manusmrti is considered an important source for the sociological history of ancient and medieval India. Since it forms the basis of the varnas, economics, etc. it has been subject to appraisal and criticism. In 1927, B. R. Ambedkar had burned a copy of Manusmrti.
The Manu Smriti was one of the first Sanskrit texts studied by the European philologists. It was first translated into English by Sir William Jones. His version was published in 1794. He considered Manu's laws to be older than the laws of Solon as well as the Lycurgus. He also mentions that the latter had been adopted from Manu. William Jones writes:-
The laws of Manu very probably were considerably older than those of Solon or even of Lycurgus, although the promulgation of them, before they were reduced to writing, might have been covered with the first monarchies established in Egypt and India.
British administrative requirements encouraged their interest in the Dharmashastras, which they believed to be legal codes. In fact, these were not codes of law but norms related to social obligations and ritual requirements.
In his book Bible in India, Louis Jacolliot writes that:-
Manu Smriti was the foundation upon which the Egyptian, the Persian, the Grecian and the Roman codes of law were built and that the influence of Manu is still felt in Europe.
The "Law of Manu" was cited favorably by Friedrich Nietzsche. He:
- deemed it "an incomparably spiritual and superior work" to the Christian Bible.
- observed that "the sun shines on the whole book" and attributed its ethical perspective to "the noble classes, the philosophers and warriors, stand above the mass."
- endorsed the political exclusion that Manu's system was considered to bring.
- considered the caste system to be a good idea, and stated that "caste-order, order of rank is just a formula for the supreme law of life itself", a "natural order, lawfulness par excellence".
- wrote that 'To prepare a book of law in the style of Manu means to give a people the right to become master one day, to become perfect, - to aspire to the highest art of life.'
The Law of Manu was also cited unfavorably by Nietzsche. He:
- 'denounce the way Manu dealt with the outcastes, saying that "perhaps there is nothing that outrages our feelings more" ... .'
- wrote: 'Toward a critique of the Manu Law Book The whole book is founded on the holy lie. ... We find a species of man, the priestly, which ... believes in its own superiority ... . ... Power through the lie ... . Fanatics do not invent such carefully thought-out systems of oppression—The most cold-blooded reflection was at work here ... .'
In his book Revolution and Counter-Revolution in India, Dalit leader B. R. Ambedkar asserted that Manu Smriti was written by a sage named Brigu during the times of Pushyamitra of Sangha in connection with social pressures caused by the rise of Buddhism. However, historian Romila Thapar considers these claims to be exaggerations. Thapar writes that archaeological evidence casts doubt on the claims of Buddhist persecution by Pushyamitra. Support of the Buddhist faith by the Shungas at some point is suggested by an epigraph on the gateway of Bharhut, which mentions its erection "during the supremacy of the Shungas" Hinduism does not evangelize.
A prominent Hindu revivalist and reformist Swami Dayananda Saraswati held the text to be authentic and authoritative. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami,. The founder of the modern day Hare Krishna Movement in the west has said "...Even up to today, those who are Hindu follow the Manu-samhita." Other admirers of the text have included Annie Besant, P.D. Ouspensky, Pandurang Shastri Athavale, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan among others.
Friedrich Nietzsche is noted to have said "Close the Bible and open the Manu Smriti. It has an affirmation of life, a triumphing agreeable sensation in life and that to draw up a lawbook such as Manu means to permit oneself to get the upper hand, to become perfection, to be ambitious of the highest art of living." Contra Nietzsche, W.A. Borody has coined the phrase "sublimation-transmogrification logic" to describe the underlying 'state of mind' lying behind the ethical teaching of the Manu Smṛti—a 'state of mind' that would have found Nietzsche's concept of the Dionysian Übermensch abhorrent, and a 'state of mind' or 'voice' that has always been radically contested within India's various philosophical and religious traditions.
Editions and translations
- The Institutes of Hindu Law: Or, The Ordinances of Manu, Calcutta: Sewell & Debrett, 1796.
- Translation by G. Bühler (1886). Sacred Books of the East: The Laws of Manus (Vol. XXV). Oxford. Available online as The Laws of Manu
- Olivelle, Patrick (2004). The Law Code of Manu. New York: OUP. ISBN 0192802712.
- Olivelle, Patrick (2005). Manu's Code of Law: A Critical Edition and Translation of the Mānava-Dharmaśāstra. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-195-17146-2.
- Pranjivan Harihar Pandya (ed.), Manusmriti; With a commentary called Manvarth Muktavali by Kullooka Bhatt, Bombay, 1913.
- J.I. Shastri (ed.), Manusmriti with Kullukabhatta Commentary (1972-1974), reprinted by Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 9788120807662.
- Ramacandra Varma Shastri, Manusmr̥ti: Bhāratīya ācāra-saṃhitā kā viśvakośa, Śāśvata Sāhitya Prakāśana, 1997.
See also
Notes
- Flood (1996), page 56
- Flood (1996), page 56
- P Bilimoria (2011), The Idea of Hindu Law, Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia, Volume 43, pages 103-130
- Donald Davis (2010), The Spirit of Hindu Law, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521877046, page 13-16, 166-179
- ^ Patrick Olivelle (2004), Manu's Code of Law, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195171464, pages 353-354, 356-382
- ^ G Srikantan (2014), Entanglements in Legal History (Editor: Thomas Duve), Max Planck Institute: Germany, ISBN 978-3944773001, page 123
- Steven Collins (1993), The discourse of what is primary, Journal of Indian philosophy, Volume 21, pages 301-393
- Patrick Olivelle (2005), Manu's Code of Law, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195171464, pages 3-4
- ^ Patrick Olivelle (2005), Manu's Code of Law, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195171464, pages 18-19, 41
- William Wilson Hunter. The Indian Empire: Its People, History and Products. Routledge. p. 114.
- For composition between 200 BCE and 200 CE see: Avari, p. 142. For dating of composition "between the second century BCE and third century CE" see: Flood (1996), p. 56. For dating of Manu Smriti in "final form" to the 2nd century CE, see: Keay, p. 103. For dating as completed some time between 200 BCE and 100 CE see: Hopkins, p. 74. For probable origination during the 2nd or 3rd centuries AD, see: Kulke and Rothermund, p. 85. For the text as preserved dated to around the 1st century BCE. see: Encyclopedia Britannica, retrieved 2013-10-08
- Glimpses of Indian Culture, Dinkar Joshi, p.51 ISBN 9788176501903
- Patrick Olivelle (2005), Manu's Code of Law, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195171464, pages 24-25
- Patrick Olivelle (2005). Manu's Code of Law. Oxford University Press. p. 19. ISBN 0195171462.
- ^ Patrick Olivelle (2005), Manu's Code of Law, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195171464, pages 7-8
- ^ Patrick Olivelle (2005), Manu's Code of Law, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195171464, pages 9-10
- ^ The Laws of Manu 2.6 with footnotes George Bühler (Translator), The Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 25, Oxford University Press
- ^ Brian Smith and Wendy Doniger (1992), The Laws of Manu, Penguin, ISBN 978-0140445404, pages 17-18
- David Levinson (2002), Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment, Volume 1, SAGE Publications, ISBN 978-0761922582, page 829
- Donald R. Davis, Jr., "On Ātmastuṣṭi as a Source of Dharma," Journal of the American Oriental Society 127:3 (2007), pages 279–96
- Werner Menski, Hindu Law: Beyond Tradition and Modernity (Delhi: Oxford UP, 2003), p.126 and Domenico Francavilla, The Roots of Hindu Jurisprudence: Sources of Dharma and Interpretation in Mīmāṃsā and Dharmaśāstra. Corpus Iuris Sanscriticum. Vol. 7 (Torino: CESMEO, 2006), pp.165–76.
- Olivelle(2004), p. xxli.
- Olivelle, Literary History, p. 19.
- Kane, P. V., History of Dharmaśāstra, (Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 1975), Volume I, Part I, 566.
- ^ Olivelle, Patrick, "Dharmaśāstra: A Literary History", 29.
- Kane, P. V., History of Dharmaśāstra, (Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 1975), Volume I, Part II, 583.
- ^ J Sinha (2014), Psycho-Social Analysis of the Indian Mindset, Springer Academic, ISBN 978-8132218036, page 5
- Arun Kumbhare (2009), Women of India: Their Status Since the Vedic Times, ISBN 978-1440156007, page 56
- Mahatma Gandhi, Hinduism According to Gandhi, Orient Paperbacks (2013 Reprint Edition), ISBN 978-8122205589, page 129
- For objections to the work by feminists, see: Avari, pp. 142-143.
- The lies of Manu
- Annihilating caste
- For Manu Smriti as one of the first Sanskrit texts noted by the British and translation by Sir William Jones in 1794, see: Flood (1996), p. 56.
- ^ V. Krishna Rao. Expansion of Cultural Imperalism Through Globalisation. Manak Publications. p. 82.
- For British interest in Dharmashastras due to administrative needs, and their misinterpretation of them as legal codes rather than as social and ritual texts, see: Thapar (2002), pp. 2-3.
- Friedrich Nietzsche, The Antichrist (1888), 56-57.
- Routledge, Daniel Conway, "Nietzsche and the Political", p.36, quote = "The essential characteristic of a good and healthy aristocracy, however is that ... accepts with a good conscience the sacrifice of untold human beings who, for its sake, must be reduced and lowered to incomplete human beings, to slaves, to instruments."
- "Friedrich Nietzsche: A Philosophical Biography", p. 515, Julian Young, Cambridge University Press
- ^ Nietzsche: The Anti-Christ, Ecce Homo, Twilight of the Idols: And Other Writings, Aaron Ridley, Cambridge University Press, P.58
- Walter Kaufmann, Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist (Princeton University Press 1974), Fourth Edition, at p.225, citing Nietzsche, The Twilight of the Idols (1889) at s. 3
- Walter Kaufmann, Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist (Princeton University Press 1974), Fourth Edition, at p.302, citing The Will To Power (1901, 1910, 1911) at s.142
- Revolution and Counter-Revolution in India
- Romila Thapar, Aśoka and the Decline of the Mauryas, Oxford University Press (1960) p. 200.
- John Marshall, "An Historical and Artistic Description of Sanchi", from A Guide to Sanchi, citing p. 11. Calcutta: Superintendent, Government Printing (1918). Pp. 7-29 on line, Project South Asia.
- K. V. Rao, Socialism, Secularism, and Democracy in India, pp. 28-30. Nagendra K. Singh, Enforcement of Human Rights in Peace and War and the Future of Humanity, p. 35. Martinus Nijhoff (1986) ISBN 9024733022
- The Light of Truth, Chapter 4
- Bhagavad Gita As It Is, Chapter 16 Text 7 - "...Even up to today, those who are Hindu follow the Manu-samhita..."
- The Pedigree of Man: Four Lectures Delivered at the Twenty-eighth Anniversary Meetings of the Theosophical Society, at Adyar, December, 1903. Theosophical Publishing Society. 1904.
- Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Power, vol. 1.
- W. A. Borody, "The Manu Smṛti and Neo-Secularism," International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, Vol I, No. 9 (Special Issue, July, 2011)
References
- Flood, Gavin (1996). An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-43878-0.
- Hopkins, Thomas J. (1971). The Hindu Religious Tradition. Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
- Keay, John (2000). India: A History. New York: Grove Press. ISBN 0-8021-3797-0.
- Kulke, Hermann; Rothermund, Dietmar (1986). A History of India. New York: Barnes & Noble. ISBN 0-88029-577-5.
- Thapar, Romila (2002). Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-24225-4.
- Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "The Laws of Manu" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- Olivelle, Patrick (2010). "Dharmasastra: A Literary History". In Lubin, Timothy; Krishnan, Jayanth; and Davis, Jr., Donald R. (ed.). Law and Hinduism: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521716260.
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