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Jxvi
context.
revision. To a certain extent we may also avail ourselves of the Vishnu-smriti for the same purpose. But a greater degree of caution will be necessary, as this work, though in the main a representative of the Kathaka Dharma-sûtra, contains also an admixture of modern elements. On the other hand, those rules and discussions which cannot be traced in one of the old Sûtras, are at least suspicious, and require careful consideration. The ultimate decision, if such passages have indeed to be considered as additions, must depend on various collateral circumstances. The safest criterion will always be the character of the ideas which they express. If these are entirely foreign to the Sutras or to Vedic literature, they may be confidently rejected as interpolations. A good deal depends also on their position and on the manner in which they fit into the Numerous cases will, however, remain doubtful. If we examine Manu's text according to these principles, the more important results will be as follows:-The whole first chapter must be considered as a later addition. No Dharma-sûtra begins with a description of its own origin, much less with an account of the creation. The former, which would be absurd in a Dharma-sûtra, has been added in order to give authority to a remodelled version. The latter has been dragged in, because the myths connected with Manu presented a good opportunity 'to show the greatness of the scope of the work,' as Medhâtithi says. The table of contents, given at the end of chapter I, was, of course, also foreign to the original Sutra. Chapters II-VI, on the other hand, seem to represent with tolerable faithfulness the contents of the corresponding sections of the Manava Dharma-sutra. Nearly all the rules are found in the other Dharma-sûtras and in the Vishnu-smriti, and more than three-fourths of the verses find counterparts in the aphorisms and verses of the older law-books. Nevertheless, the hand of the remodeller is not rarely visible. There are, besides the verses which announce the transition from one subject to the other1, a considerable number of smaller and some
LAWS OF MANU.
These verses probably mark the subdivisions of the Adhyâyas, the Kandikâs or Khandas of the ancient Sutra.
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