________________
APRIL, 1875.)
ANCIENT INDIA ACCORDING TO MANU.
123
And accordingly a very short abstract of naturalment to it, and then enunciates in great detail history follows.
the whole body of the divine law, directory It is worthy of remark that the ten lords, even of personal acts and conduct for everyday whom Monu here says he produced as the life. origin of the human race, are to this day re- The Hindu philosophers of Mant's time evicognized as Hinda law-writers of authority; dently felt the difficulty of passing froin the and maxims attributed to six or eight of them abstract or spiritual God, which alone satisfied are constantly quoted and relied upon in our the intellect, to the personal agent, and ruler, law-courts. Most of them too, if not all, are who was apparently needed for the creation and even mentioned in the Vedas ! The compiler of the sustaining of the material universe. The the Dharma Sastra, or at any rate the author of first part of the exigency was satisfied by the this passage, thus writing in the name of Manu, temporary manifestation of Brahma, and the furnishes strong evidence of his work being second by the creation of subordinate deities (or published at a time posterior to the age of these as we might term them archangels) to watch sages, --in.leed so long posterior that he could uver and have charge of the several departventure to speak of them as the first created of ments (so to speak) of the world. These are human beings. Also the creation, which Manu (p. 135, 96; p. 159, 4; p. 200, 86) spoken of here asserts he effected, seems inconsistent with as eight in number, the goardian deities of the the prior creation effected by Brahma-though world, or chief guardian deities, and so on. I believe that there are pandits learned enough And indirectly their several functions are to find an explanation--and is especially irre- described in Manu's ninth book (p. 284). Beconcileable with the apparently previous pro- sides these, there were inferior (p. 60, 72; p. 62, duction by Brahma of the Brâhman, the Ksha- 84, &c.; p. 73, 164; p. 62, 81; p. 77, 198) triya, the Vaibya, and the Sadra. It seems deities and spirits; and the quasi-deified great certain that there is more than one interpola- progenitors of mankind. tion at this part of the introductory chapter; The sole object of worship, however, was the and it is not quite easy to determine which is one God revealed in the Vedas; all others were the earlier doctrine in the conflict. Considera- but created beings. The Dharma Sastra is tions, however, which may hereafter be referred careful to leave no room for doubt on this to, lead to the conclusion that the caste creation point (p. 356, 85). “Of all daties the princiis of the later date.
pal is to acquira from the Upanishads a true After the dissertation upon the animals comes knowledge of one Supreme God : that is the this passage (verse 51), apparently in immediate most exalted of all sciences, because it ensures relation with the 33rd verse, which produced immortality. In this life, indeed, as well as the Manu:-"He whose powers are incomprehen. next, the study of the Veda to acquire a knowsible, having thus created both me and this ledge of God is held the most efficacious of universe, was again absorbed in the Supreme duties in proctring felicity to man; for in the Spirit, changing the time of energy for the time knowledge and adoration of ons God, which of repose."
the Veda teaches, all the rules of good conduct Six verses devoted to an almost unintelligible are comprised." discussion of the effect of Brahma's repose seem The Veda was declared to be the direct (p. 18, also to be by a different hand, and finally Manu 11, and p. 357, 94) revelation of God (Srati), says :-"He (Brahma), having enacted this code which could not have been reached by mere of laws himself, taught it fully to me in the human faculties, and of supreme authority. It beginning; afterwards I taught to Marichi was to be viewed as the (p. 358, 97) sole source and the other holy sages." This "Bhrigu" of all knowledge, secular as well as divine, con(one of the ten sages) “will repeat the divine taining everything necessary or possible for code to you without intermission; for that sage man to know. All outside it, or not derived learned from me to recite the whole of it." from it in the Dharma Sastra by the perfect
At this point the cosmogony of the Institutes wisdom of Mana, was human, vain, and false, ought naturally to terminate; but Bhrigu, tak- and would soon perish (p. 357, 96, and p. ing up the narrative from Manu, gives a supple- 358). Belief and knowledge of the Veda would
