Great Indian Religion

Author(s): G T Bettany
Publisher: Ward Lock Bowden and Co

Page 66

54
THE BRAHMANISM OF THE CODES.
Manu, will be always virtuous in conduct, and will reach whatever condition he desires."
It must be owned that the system thus developed in Efficacy of Manu does not fail for lack of penalties or of the code. precise directions. Its efficacy is to be sought in its gradual growth, its accordance with the ideas of creation, supreme power, and morality which had long been current, and its promulgation by those who had most intellectual power and most capability of swaying the conduct of men. Thus we may imagine the extraordinary influence which the sacred class of Brahmans attained in early Indian history, an influence which has been sufficient to perpetuate itself to our own times, which remains very great, and which more than two. thousand years ago was sufficient to produce by exaggeration and reaction the remarkable religion of Buddhism. But looking on it calmly, while admitting the loftiness of many of its precepts and imaginings, it cannot be said that its general moral elevation was great. The scheme was powerful enough to bind together society for centuries, but not powerful enough to diffuse itself widely among other races, or to become more than a Hindu religion.
There is one other code to which we must refer, besides that of Manu, namely the Darma Shastra of Yajnavalkya,
Code of possibly dating from the first century A.D. Yajnavalkya. It is still the chief authority in the school of Benares. It is much shorter than that of Manu, is more systematic, and represents a later stage of development. It adds to the sources of authority the Puranas and various traditional and scholastic authorities. To some extent caste is carried farther, and a Brahman is forbidden to have a Sudra as a fourth wife. We have reached a period when writing is in regular use, and written documents are appealed to as legal evidence; coined money is in use. It is evident that Buddhism has arisen, and that the shaven heads and yellow garments of its votaries are well known; the king is also recommended to found monasteries for Brahmans, an evident imitation of Buddhists.
Compare the following philosophy with that of Manu.