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lxxviii
of a Mânava Dharmasastra which closely resembled, but was not quite identical with, the existing text. Verse 869* agrees literally with Manu III, 21; and vv. 11-13 come close to Manu III, 25-26. But vv. 9-11, though they have a certain affinity to Manu III, 23-24, show, nevertheless, a considerable difference in doctrine. For Manu declares (v. 23) the first six rites to be lawful for a Brâhmana, the four following ones for a Kshatriya, and the same four, with the exception of the Râkshasa rite, for Sûdras and Vaisyas, while v. 24 says that the first four rites are recommended, and that the Rakshasa rite alone is permissible to Kshatriyas, and the Âsura to the two lowest classes. According to the Mahâbhârata, on the other hand, Manu approved of the first four rites in the case of Brâhmanas, and of the first six in case of Kshatriyas. To the latter he allowed also the seventh, the Rakshasa rite, and confined Vaisyas and Sûdras to the purchase of their brides, the Âsura rite. The most probable explanation of this contradiction seems to me the assumption that the text of Manu, known to the author of the Upâkhyâna, slightly differed from that which we find at present.
LAWS OF MANU.
Another passage is more doubtful. Mah. XIII, 61, 34-35, various opinions are enumerated with respect to the question how large a share of the guilt incurred by illprotected and ill-governed subjects falls on the king'. The decision is that, according to the teaching of Manu, the negligent ruler is loaded with a fourth share. This doctrine, which is found also in other passages of the Mahâbhârata, contradicts that taught in our Manu-smriti as well as in the older Dharma-sûtras, where a sixth part of the sins committed by subjects is said to fall on their lord. The circumstance that several opinions are contrasted may be used as an argument for the opinion that here, too, an individual law-book of Manu's is referred to. If that were so, the passage would reveal another remarkable discrepancy between the older and the present texts. But to my mind
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चतुर्थे तस्य पापस्य राजा विन्दति भारत ॥ ३४ ॥ जयाहुः सर्वमेवैति भूयोर्धमिति निश्चयः । चतुर्थे मतमस्माकं मनोः श्रुत्वानुशासनम् ॥ ३५ ॥
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