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LAWS OF MANU.
a longer story contained in such a work? It is probably on account of this legend that 'Manu, the offspring of the Sun,' receives in the Mahabharata? the epithet Sraddhadeva, which may be rendered either the deity of the Sraddha,'or, perhaps better, 'he whose deity is the Sraddha, i. e. the Sraddha-worshipper. Closely connected with Manu's position as inventor of sacrifices is the ancient myth, mentioned above, which makes him the father of Idà; and from the same idea spring probably the legends regarding his bull, whose voice destroyed the demons, and regarding the sacrifice of his wife, Manaviy.
That Manu was credited with the revelation of Mantras has been stated above in the remarks on the passages from the three redactions of the Yagur-veda and of the Tandya-brâhmana. The older works, however, nowhere attribute to him entire hymns, but mostly small numbers of verses only. The same is the case in the Index of the Rishis of the White Yagur-veda, while the Sarvanukramani of the Rig-veda ascribes five entire Saktas, VIII, 27-31, to Manu Vaivasvata, as well as a few verses to Manu Apsava and to Manu Samvarana. An interesting passage in the beginning of the last section of the Khåndogyopanishad 6 informs us that that work was revealed by Brahmå (Hiranyagarbha) to Pragapati (Kasyapa), by Pragapati to Manu, and by Manu to mankind. This legend proves that the ancient Vedic schools believed Manu to have taught more than a few verses and hymns. It also helps us to understand better the phrase of the four Vedic books quoted, 'All
1 If Professor Max Müller, India, What can it teach us? pp. 234-235 and 365, thinks that Åpastamba's passage betrays a consciousness of the later origin of the Sraddha rites, I am unable to follow him. It seems to me more probable that it is only intended to explain the holiness and efficacy of the funeral sacrifices, and why they secure heaven for the worshipper and the worshipped ancestor. In the Brahmanas similar introductions, in which the Devas play the part of Manu, are prefixed to the descriptions of most sacrifices. As the Sraddhas specially concem men, the father of mankind is very appropriately represented as their inventor.
Mah. XII, 171, 29. * Sacred Books of the East, vol. xii, pp. 29-30; see also the passages and essays quoted there in note 1.
See p. xvi. Sacred Books of the East, vol. I, p. 144
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