History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s13.2

v1.c6.s13.2

Some western scholars, particularly Max Müller and Weber, started the ingenious theory that the extant Manusmṛti was a recast or remodelling of an ancient Mānavadharmasūtra. Max Müller went so far as to enunciate the bold generalisation "There can be no doubt, however, that all the genuine dharma-śāstras which we possess now, are *without any exception* nothing but more modern texts of earlier sūtra works on *kuladharmas* belonging originally to certain Vedic caraṇas" (H. A. S. L. pp. 134-135). For this sweeping generalisation there were very few data when it was made, as is admitted by Bühler. This theory of Max Müller was as hasty, as unfounded and as uncritical as several other theories of his such as that about the renaissance of Sanskrit Literature in the early centuries of the Christian era, about the absence of the art of writing in India before Pāṇini and about the uniform employment of the śloka for literary purposes in his so-called sūtra period and earlier. Western Scholars had to give up such theories before the stern logic of facts, but they have tenaciously clung to the theory about the Manusmṛti being a recast of the Mānavadharmasūtra. One of the main planks of Max Müller's edifice was the now exploded theory about the non-employment of the *anuṣṭubh* during the sūtra period (which he tentatively placed between 600 B. C.–200 B. C.) for continuous composition. In spite of the fact that one of the main planks has totally collapsed Bühler makes strenuous efforts to rehabilitate Max Müller's theory by additional *a priori* arguments (S. B. E. vol. 25, pp. XVIII–XXIII and XXXI–XXXIX). The main points brought forward by Bühler are:—(I) The Vasiṣṭha Dh. S. (IV. 5-8) contains four sūtras, the first of which is 'The Mānava says that one may kill an animal only in honouring the Manes, gods and guests.' There follow two verses and a passage in prose with *iti* at the end. Bühler argues that all the four sūtras are quotations and as the extant Manusmṛti is in verse, they must be regarded as taken from the Mānavadharmasūtra. (II) There are other quotations in Vasiṣṭha attributed to Manu which either contradict the present Manusmṛti or have no counterpart in the latter. Bühler draws special attention to the fact that Vasiṣṭha (19. 37) quotes a Mānava śloka which is not in the anuṣṭubh metre and which has nothing corresponding to it in the extant Manusmṛti.