The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c23.4

v1.c23.4

By far the most important of these is the law-book of Manu or the Mānava Dharma Çāstra, a work closely connected with the law-book of Vishṇu, which has no less than 160 verses of Manu, and with the didactic chapters of the epic, which contain numerous verses found in the code. Moreover, the epic recognises Manu as a law-giver and refers to the Dharma Çāstra of Manu. The relationship between the two works is made doubtful for the reason that we do not know when the later parts of the epic embodying these allusions may have been composed. An analysis of all the passages in the epic referring to Manu shows that the law-book was probably unknown to the early epic but that it was not unknown to the later epic. This indicates at least that the fabulous age ascribed to the law-book by the Hindus and by early European scholars may be disregarded in favour of a much later date. On the other hand, the present tendency is to exaggerate the lateness of the law-book and bring it down even to the third or fourth century A.D. Professor Jolly thinks that the code and the epic belong to about the same time, not later than the second or third century¹. The code in any case may not have been identical with the work known to-day as Manu's law-book, for all these metrical works have suffered, as has the epic, from unnumbered additions.