Zend Avesta Part 03

SR No.: 007673
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: L H Mills
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1887
Total Pages: 2618
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 49 MB

Page 1196

THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
the (limited duration and) capacity of human life, reduced it to eight thousand (slokas), and delivered this (abridgment) to Sumati, the son of Bhrigu.
4. Sumati, the son of Bhrigu, after having learnt (this book) from him and considered what human capacity had been brought down to through the (successive) lessening of life (in the four ages of the world), reduced it to four thousand (slokas).
5. It is this (abridgment) which Manes and mortals read, whilst the gods, Gandharvas, and other (exalted beings) read in extenso the (original) code, consisting of one hundred thousand (slokas). There the first sloka runs as follows: 'This universe was wrapped up in darkness, and nothing could be discerned. Then the holy, self-existent Spirit issued forth with his four faces.'
6. After this exordium, chapter follows chapter
present version of the Code of Manu; see Manu I, 35, 59, 60. The fact of his being mentioned here as the father of Sumati, the compiler of the final recension of the Code of Manu, renders it probable that this work may have closely resembled the now extant Code of Manu. However, the latter work has not more than 2684 slokas, instead of the 4000 attributed to the version of Sumati.
4. As for the successive lessening of life, and general deterioration of the world, in the four ages, Kriia, Treta, Dvâpara, and Kali, see Manu I, 81-86.
5. A. observes expressly that the term 'there' refers to the original Code in 100,000 slokas. The sloka here quoted is nearly identical with Manu I, 5 a, 6 a.
6. The Matrikâ or Introduction' (compare divyamâtrika, a general introduction to the law regarding ordeals,' in the Mitakshara, p. 139) which is here attributed to Narada, appears to have formed part of the abridgment in 12,000 slokas, which was originally composed by him. It was composed in the Satra style, i.e. it was made up of aphorisms. The slokas are frequently designed as Sätras by the commentators of law-books. Supposing this work to have consisted of twelve chapters, like the present Code
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