History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s18.46

v1.c6.s18.46

This question is an extremely intricate one. The late V. N. Mandlik (Intro. to the Vyavahāramayūkha XLVII) held that the Manusmṛti borrowed from the Mahābhārata. Bühler after an elaborate examination of the question (S B E vol 25, pp. LXXIV-XCVIII) came to the conclusion that it was indisputable that the 12th and 13th *parvans* of the Mahābhārata knew a Mānava dharmaśāstra which was closely connected with but not identical with the present Manusmṛti. Bühler expresses himself very cautiously and it seems to me that the great scholar was unduly prepossessed in favour of the Mahābhārata as against the Manusmṛti. Bühler somewhat contradicts himself when he says that the author of the epic only knew the dharmasūtras (S B E vol. 25, p. XCVIII). Hopkins (Great Epic of India p. 21-22) seems inclined to hold that the 13th book which alone, according to him, recognises the śāstra declared by Manu, knew the present Manusmṛti, though the earlier books cannot be held to have known a śāstra of Manu even when they employ such expressions as "Manu said." He thinks that there was a floating mass of verses containing philosophical and other lore attributed to the mythical Manu on which the earlier books of the Mahābhārata and the Manusmṛti both drew and that the matter that is common to both works was not borrowed from any systematic treatise. Bühler accepts this view with the slight modification that the floating mass of verses was not all attributed to Manu (S B E vol. 25 p. XC). Before giving my individual views on this vexed question as against the array of such eminent scholars as Bühler and Hopkins some facts must be clearly set forth. The Mahābhārata is nowhere mentioned by name in the Manusmṛti though the word "itihāsa" (in the plural) occurs in Manu (III. 232). The Manusmṛti mentions many historical and legendary personages, about most of whom the Mahābhārata contains similar stories. The following are the persons so mentioned in the Manusmṛti. Āṅgirasa (in II. 151-152, addressing his elders as 'putrakāḥ'), Agastya (V 22, in connection with sacrificing animals), Vena, Nahuṣa, Sudās Paijavana and Nimi (all in VII. 41, coming to grief through insolence), Pṛthu, Manu, Kubera and the son of Gādhi (VII. 42, benefiting by their good conduct), Vasiṣṭha (in VIII. 110, taking an oath before king Paijavana), Vatsa (in VIII. 116, undergoing fire ordeal), Akṣamā and Sāraṅgī (in IX. 23, though of low birth respectively were united to Vasiṣṭha and Mandapāla), Dakṣa (in IX. 128-129, gave his daughters to Dharma, Kaśyapa and Soma), Ajīgarta (in X, 105, who was ready to sacrifice his own son), Vāmadeva (in X, 106, desired dog's flesh to save his life), Bharadvāja (in X. 107. who accepted the gift of many cows), Viśvāmitra (in X. 108, who took from a cāṇḍāla's hand a dog's leg). Pṛthu is also mentioned (in IX. 44) as the husband of the earth and in IX. 314 Brāhmaṇas are credited with having made fire all-devourer, the ocean undrinkable and the waning (pthisical) moon to wax. Most of the names mentioned here go far back into Vedic antiquities.