History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.775.6

v6.c82.775.6

Daftari) think1090b that in ancient times there was an Indian institution of public functionaries called Manu and the Saptarṣis, whose function was to legislate and promulgate the Vedas. With great respect to the erudite scholar, I disagree with him. The extant Purāṇa passages are less than 2000 years old, while the present Vaivasvata Manvantara started several millions of years ago and even Kaliyuga in which we are deemed to live started in 3102 B C. Besides, there is a dissolution of the world at each day of Brahmā, if one is to rely on the Paurāṇik accounts. How could a tradition of the several Manus survive such pralaya? A rationalistic interpretation requires that all this that is stated in the Purāṇas is mere conjecture and imagination and that one cannot safely build theories about the governance of society in ancient times on the accounts contained in Purāṇas. The Manusmṛti (II. 19) appears to assign the function of the regulation of the conduct of all men in the world to the learned brāhmaṇas born in Brahmārṣideśa (i e. Kurukṣetra, the countries of Matsya, Pañcāla and Śūrasena or Mathurā) at least after his own code was promulgated