MANU. – Demigod and progenitor of the human race, who appears for the first time in the Rgueda (v. VEDISMO) under the name of “father M.” (I, 80, 16; 114, 2; II, 33, 13, etc.). When the Flood submerged the earth, according to the legend of the Satapatha-brāhmaṇa, I, 8, 1, 1, he saved himself by boarding a ship that he had built, and through a sacrifice he created Ida, his adopted daughter, from whom the human race originated anew. He is credited with a work of great importance, concerning the religious and civil duties of the Aryan Indians, and bearing the title Māna-va-dharma-lāstra, “Treatise on the sacred laws of M.” (v. DHARMA ŚĀSTRA). But in chap. 1 (stanzas 58–59), M. himself makes known that the celestial laws were revealed to him by the Self-born One (Brahmā); M. then communicated them to his son Bhṛgu, who, at his father’s command, passed them on to certain “great sages,” desirous of learning the rights and duties of the castes.
For historians of Indian literature, the M. Dh. Ś. is an anonymous treatise in verse (s'loka metre), which served for instruction in Brahmanical schools, as attested by stanza 103 of chap. 1, which recommends it to a learned Brahman so that he may teach his disciples the duties of the castes. It is not easy to determine the period to which the work belongs, but its entirely metrical form, the allusion to written documents (VIII, 168), and the evident affinities between the M. Dh. Ś. and the more recent parts of the Mahābhārata (v.) are all indications that the treatise can be neither earlier than the 2nd century B.C. nor later than the 2nd century A.D. As regards its content, it should be noted that the precepts relating to religious life are far more numerous than the juridical provisions, which occupy little more than a quarter of the book. The obligatory observances for the Aryan castes come first; the saṃshāra, “consecrations” or sacraments (twelve according to M.), the duties of the householder, the daily domestic rites, and the monthly worship of the deceased “fathers” are the subjects of the first five chapters. Chapter 7 is devoted to the rights and duties of the king, and also deals with politics and the art of government. Chapters 8–9 treat of civil and criminal law, and the material is divided into eighteen parts, the last of which concerns gaming and betting. The text then returns to the castes and religious prescriptions (chaps. 10–11), before passing, in the final chapter, to metaphysical subjects, such as the consequences of good or evil actions in the next life, the transmigration of souls, and liberation (v. MOKRA). The M. Dh. Ś. is not a dry collection of aphorisms; a certain elevation of style, together with similes and poetic images, here and there indicates the author’s intention of producing a work also of literary merit.