History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s18.2

v1.c6.s18.2

In the Ṛgveda Manu is spoken of as the father of mankind (Ṛg. I. 80. 16, I. 114. 2, II. 33. 13) and a Vedic poet prays that he may not be led away from the ancestral path of Manu.²⁶⁴ Another Vedic bard says that Manu was the first to offer sacrifice (Ṛg. X. 63. 7). In the Taittirīya Saṁhitā and the Tāṇḍya-mahā-brāhmaṇa it is said 'whatever Manu said is medicine.'²⁶⁵ Taittirīya-Saṁhitā (II. 1. 5. 6) also says that mankind is Manu's (Mānavyo hi prajāḥ). In the Taittirīya Saṁhitā (III. 1. 9. 4-5) and the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa (V. 14) we have the story of Manu dividing his wealth among his sons and of the exclusion of his son Nābhānediṣṭha. The Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa (S. B. E. vol. 12 p. 216) gives us the story of Manu and the deluge. In the Nirukta (chap. III) there is a discussion about the rights of sons and daughters. One of the views there propounded is that children of both sexes take their father's wealth and a ṛk and śloka are cited in support of that position.²⁶⁶ The śloka refers to the opinion of Manu Svāyambhuva. It is noteworthy that that śloka is opposed to a ṛik, which means that the śloka is not Śruti but is Smṛti. So before Yāska wrote there were smṛti texts in verse in which Manu was spoken of as a lawgiver. We have seen how Gautama and Vasiṣṭha quote the views of Manu and how Āpastamba connects Manu with the promulgation of śrāddhas (II. 7. 16. 1). The Mahābhārata in numerous places speaks of Manu, sometimes as Manu simply, sometimes as Svāyambhuva Manu (Śānti 21. 12) and also as Prācetasa Manu (Śānti 57. 43). In the Mahābhārata (Śānti. chap. 336. 38-46) we are told how the supreme being composed a hundred thousand ślokas on *dharma*, how Manu Svāyambhuva promulgated those *dharmas* and how Uśanas and Bṛhaspati composed *śāstras* based on the work of Manu Svāyambhuva.²⁶⁷ In another place the account is slightly different and Manu does not figure therein. Śānti-parva (chap. 59. 80-85) describes how the original work of Brahmā on the three, *Dharma*, *Artha*, and *Kāma*, in 100000 chapters was successively reduced to 10000, 5000, 3000 and 1000 chap. respectively by Viśālākṣa, Indra, Bāhudantaka, Bṛhaspati and Kāvya (Uśanas). The prose introduction to the Nārada-smṛti says that Manu composed in 100000 ślokas, 1080 chap. and 24 *prakaraṇas* a Dharmaśāstra and imparted it to Nārada, who abridged it into 12000 verses and taught it to Mārkaṇḍeya, who in his turn compressed it into 8000 ślokas and passed it on to Sumati Bhārgava, who again reduced it to 4000 ślokas. The Nārada-smṛti then gives the first verse²⁶⁸ of that work which is a combination of the extant Manu I. 5-6 and says that vyavahāra was the 9th prakaraṇa out of 24 in the original work of Manu. It will be noticed how this version differs from that of the Mahābhārata wherein Nārada is altogether ignored. The extant Manusmṛti (I. 32-33) narrates how from Brahmā sprang Virāj, who produced Manu, from whom were born the sages including Bhṛgu and Nārada, how Brahmā taught the śāstra to Manu, who in his turn imparted it to the ten sages (I. 58), how some great sages approached Manu and sought instruction in the *dharmas* of the *varṇas* and the intermediate castes and how Manu told them that his pupil Bhṛgu would impart to them the śāstra (I. 59-60). This appearance is kept up throughout the work. The sages interrupt Bhṛgu's discourse in several places (as in V. 1-2 and XII. 1-2). Manu is said to be omniscient (II. 7) and Manu is mentioned by name dozens of times in the work with the words "Manurāha" (IX. 158, X. 78 etc), or "Manur-abravīd" or "Manor-anuśāsanam".