History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s18.44

v1.c6.s18.44

Turning now to the internal evidence, the extant Manusmṛti seems to be much older than Yājñavalkya, since the rules of judicial procedure are incomplete and awkward in Manu as compared with Yāj., since there is no reference to documents as evidence in Manu, as ordeals are not treated of in Manu, as legal definitions are almost absent in Manu, while frequent in Yāj. and as Manu is silent about the widow's rights, while Yāj. gives her the first place among the heirs of a sonless man. So the Manusmṛti will have to be placed some centuries earlier than the third century A. D., the latest date to which the Yājñavalkya smṛti can be assigned with any show of reason. In X. 44 Manu mentions the Yavanas, Kāmbojas, Śakas, Pahlavas and Cīnas²⁹² and in X. 48 Medas and Āndhras. This shows that the extant Manusmṛti could not be much earlier than the 3rd century B. C. The Yona, Kāmboja and Gāndhāra people are mentioned in the 5th rock edict of Aśoka. Manu forbids Brāhmaṇas to dwell in the kingdom of a Śūdra (IV. 61) and condemns the appointment of a śūdra as a judge (VIII. 20-21). The former is possibly a reference to the Mauryas, though one cannot be certain of it. Mr. Jayasval (Calcutta Weekly Notes, vol. 15, p. CCC) goes too far in supposing that in the word 'senāpatya' occurring in Manu (XII. 100) there is a reference to Senāpati Puṣyamitra. The extant Manusmṛti in its arrangement and doctrines is much in advance of the ancient dharmasūtras, such as those of Gautama, Baudhāyana and Āpastamba. Taking all these things into consideration Bühler (S B E vol. 25 p. CXVII) was certainly right in saying that the extant Manusmṛti was composed between the second century B. C and 2nd century A. D. But the question of the date when the original Manusmṛti to which additions were made between the 2nd century B. C. and 2nd century A. D. was composed presents very great difficulties. That question is largely bound up with the relation of the Mahābhārata to the Manusmṛti.