Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c7.155

c7.155

Bhrgu’s name like that of Manu is mythical, who according to M. 1,60,119; 5, 1-4, 122, etc. is the proclaimer of this work which was revealed to him by his father M. and who is therefore frequently represented as discoursing when passing into a new section, although he is not often mentioned by name. It is, however, doubtful whether it will be right to completely differentiate this Bhrgu, after whom our work is called the Mānavadharmaśāstra in the recension of Bhrgu (bhrguprokta, bhrguproktā samhitā), from our M.,² particularly because already in Nār. and in the Skandapurāṇa (§ 7) a combination of the names of these two authors is found. However, in the quotations, in the oldest of them, our work is expressly ascribed to M. and Bhrgu appears as the author of a separate Smṛti.