________________
2
LAWS OF MANU.
I, 4.
4. He, whose power is measureless, being thus asked by the high-minded great sages, duly honoured them, and answered, 'Listen!'
5. This (universe) existed in the shape of Darkness, unperceived, destitute of distinctive marks, unattainable by reasoning, unknowable, wholly immersed, as were, in deep sleep.
(
contained in it' (Medh.), or the institutes' (Gov.). Akintya, 'unknowable,' i. e. 'the extent of which is unknowable' (Kull. and Râgh.), or 'unknowable on account of its depth' (Gov.), or 'the meaning of which cannot be known by reasoning' (Nâr.), or 'not perceptible by the senses' (Medh.), or difficult to understand' (Nand.). Aprameya, 'unfathomable,' i.e. not to be understood without the help of the Mîmâmsâ and other methods of reasoning' (Kull.), or 'unfathomable on account of its extent' (Gov., Nand.), or 'unfathomable on account of its extent, or not directly knowable but to be inferred as the foundation of the Smriti' (Medh.), or' difficult to understand' (Râgh.). Kull and Râgh. explain kâryatattvârtha by 'the purport, i.e. the rites, and the nature of the soul;' Medh., Gov., and Nand. by 'the true purport, i.e. the rites.' Nand. takes sarvasya, 'whole,' as depending on ordinance,' and in the sense of prescribed for all created beings.'
In the commentary on verse 11 Medh. gives still another explanation of this verse, according to which it has to be translated as follows: For thou, O Lord, alone knowest the nature and the object of the products employed in the creation of this universe, which is unthinkable on account of its greatness, and unknowable.' This version belongs to 'other' commentators, who explain Manu's whole account of the creation purely on Sâmkhya principles.
5. The account of the creation given in verses 5-13 bears, as Dr. Muir remarks (Sanskrit Texts, IV, p. 26), some resemblance to that contained in some passages of the Satapatha-brâhmana, especially XI, 1, 6, I seqq., and is probably founded on some Vedic work, 'with an intermixture of more modern doctrines.' In explanation of the wording of verse 5, Medh. and Kull. point to passages like Rv. X, 129, 3, and Taittirîya-brâhmana II, 8, 9, 4. Sâyana, too, quotes the verse in his commentary on the latter passage.
The commentators Medh. and Gov. explain the fact that Manu, being asked to expound the law, gives an account of the creation,
Digitized by
Google
