A History of Sanskrit Literature c12.40

c12.40

Some Dharma Sūtras are known from quotations only, the oldest being those mentioned in other Dharma Sūtras. Particular interest attaches to one of these, the Sūtra of Manu, or the Mānavas, because of its relationship to the famous *Mānava dharma-çāstra*. Of the numerous quotations from it in Vasishṭha, six are found unaltered or but slightly modified in our text of Manu. One passage cited in Vasishṭha is composed partly in prose and partly in verse, the latter portion recurring in Manu. The metrical quotations show a mixture of *trishṭubh* and *çloka* verses, like other Dharma Sūtras. These quoted fragments probably represent a *Mānava dharma-sūtra* which supplied the basis of our *Mānava dharma-çāstra* or *Code of Manu*.