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1xx
LAWS OF MANU.
him the systematic arrangement of the legal rules, which is not found in any of the ancient Dharma-sûtras, and is even neglected in the Vishnu-smriti. He is most probably also responsible for more than one-half of the verses of these chapters. In the eighth Adhyaya only three-sevenths of the rules of our Manu can be traced in the Dharma-sûtras or in the Vishnu-smriti, which latter, as far as these topics are concerned, may be considered a faithful representative of the Kathaka Dharma-sûtra 1. Two of Manu's titles, concerns among partners and the resumption of gifts, are not mentioned in the older works; and the rules under a third, rescission of purchase and sale, have no resemblance to those of Vishnu. In the ninth chapter the chief topics, treated under the head, duties of husband and wife, are discussed or at least touched on in the Sûtras. But the latter place them differently, and give them much more concisely. The notes to the translation show that only one-fourth of Manu's verses corresponds to utterances of the ancient teachers. The section on inheritance has probably suffered much less, since upwards of eighty verses out of one hundred and seventeen agree with the teaching of the Sûtras, and since among those, the contents of which are not represented in the older works, only eleven, vv. 108-110, 128-129, 133, 138, 147, 184, 215, and 217, are really suspicious or clearly interpolated. Most of these latter contain clumsy repetitions of matters discussed in other places, and v. 217 gives a supplementary rule which but ill agrees with the spirit pervading the remainder of the section. Some of the other, apparently unsuspicious, verses may, of course, possibly be interpolations. But their contents are in harmony with the spirit of the Dharma-sûtras, and with the eliminations, proposed above, Manu's theory of inheritance and partition is selfconsistent. The views, expressed under the eighteenth title, on gambling and betting, agree with those of Gautama and Baudhayana, who both strongly disapprove of these prac
To this conclusion points the absence of systematic arrangement in Vishnu III-V.
Manu's rules on this subject have probably been borrowed from a Srautasutra, where the distribution of the sacrificial fees is usually explained.
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