A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, so far as it illustrates the Primitive Religion of the Brahmans c6.197

c6.197

The Code of Manu is almost the only work in Sanskrit literature which, as yet, has not been assailed by those who doubt the antiquity of everything Indian. No historian has disputed its claim to that early date which had, from the first, been assigned to it by Sir William Jones. It must be confessed, however, that Sir William Jones’s proofs of the antiquity of this code cannot be considered as conclusive, and no sufficient arguments have been brought forward to substantiate any of the different dates ascribed to Manu, as the author of our Law-book, which vary, according to different writers, from 880 to 1280 B.C.