The Laws of Manu

by The Laws of Manu (retail) (epub)

  I took this rather drastic measure because I felt it essential to my purpose in creating a text that could be thought in English. For a non-Indological English reader, the phrase ‘Kṣatriyas do not have the right to kill Brahmins’ conveys nothing at all about those two groups; whereas ‘Rulers do not have the right to kill priests’ stimulates associations that may in some respects be inappropriate (shades of Thomas à Becket and Henry II) but that at least do mean something. This ‘something’ will perhaps make the reader wonder to what extent the conflict between Hindu rulers and priests both was and was not like the conflict between Becket and Henry II, and, moreover, how the conflict would vary if the member of the ruling class was a king, a soldier, or a merchant, and the member of the priestly class an officiating priest or a landowner.

  The same concern underlay my uneasy decision to translate dharma and karman. Dharma, in particular, is so essential to this text, and so multivalent, that I needed several words even to approximate it: duty, law (a seamless combination of law in the sense of the law of gravity, natural law, and law in the sense of paying taxes, cultural law), justice, right, religious merit, and, finally, religion. It might be argued that ‘religion’ is too vague, and too European, a word to render such a quintessentially Hindu concept, but it is precisely the vagueness of the term that seems to me to resonate with the pervasive nature of dharma. The damage in transit is minimalized if we take religion in the OED sense of ‘action or conduct indicating a belief in, reverence for, and desire to please, a divine ruling power; the exercise or practice of rites or observances implying this’, always bearing in mind that the ‘divine ruling power’ in India includes not merely the gods but the impersonal power of ultimate reality (brahman), and indeed dharma itself. As for the many other meanings of dharma, one would really need a Venn diagram, encompassing all of human life, to do justice to it; let me at least remind the reader of A. K. Ramanujan’s wise caution (in his essay, ‘Is there an Indian way of thinking?’) that words, particularly Sanskrit words, particularly words like dharma, are always context-sensitive.

  But despite these problems, I persisted stubbornly in translating dharma, and this is why. The phrase, ‘In the Winning Age, religion is entire’ forces the reader to wonder what it means to say that religion is entire, and what it is that the first age wins (and our age loses), though admittedly it rules out some other valid implications of dharma in this sentence. But the phrase, ‘In the Kṛta Yuga, dharma is entire’ is not a translation at all, and leads to no thought in the mind of the English reader, however much it might allow someone in the Indological know to savour the many meanings of dharma.

  In an attempt to compensate for the loss of this technical vocabulary in the text, I have provided an English–Sanskrit index and glossary of terms, names, and subjects, which lists the choices that I made in my attempt to be consistent in the use of English words for Sanskrit words that have no exact English equivalent. The cross-listings are designed both to enable the non-Sanskrit-reader to see the ways in which certain meanings are grouped together differently by Sanskrit terms and English concepts and to enable a Sanskritist to know the Sanskrit original for technical terms cited in English translation. For a few central Sanskrit terms, such as adharma, dharma, and karman, I listed all the occurrences of each of the several English words that I used to translate the single Sanskrit term, to give the reader an idea of the range of meanings of these rich concepts.

  I tried to keep the critical apparatus to a minimum, using the notes primarily to provide further information on some of the technicalities of the text and, more often, to explicate the meaning of obscure passages. Where there are variant readings and disputing commentaries, I cut the Gordian note and gave the reading and the translation that made best sense to me. On the other hand, I did include in the notes material that is not traditionally included in a Western Indologist apparatus, noting not merely the legal and ritualistic technicalities but the human implications of certain key passages. Footnotes to technical terms are supplied on the first occurrence of the term; thereafter the reader should consult the index and glossary, which will also indicate the first occurrence.

  Finally, there is a bibliography for further reading on the various topics covered in the text and for information about the history of the text on both sides of Manu: on the antecedents on which he draws, and the later uses of the text in India. These supplements to the translation are designed to aid the reader who seeks a more detailed grasp of this extraordinary text.

  CHAPTER 1

  [1] The great sages approached Manu when he was seated in single-minded concentration; they exchanged mutual salutations in the proper manner and then they said this to him: [2] ‘Sir, please tell us, properly and in order, the duties of all (four) classes and also of the people who are born between (two classes). [3] For you, lord, are the only one who knows the true meaning of what is to be done in this whole system made by the Self-existent one, that cannot be imagined and cannot be measured.’

  [4] When the great and great-souled sages had properly asked him this, Manu, whose energy was boundless, honoured them and replied,

  Listen! [5] Once upon a time this (universe) was made of darkness, without anything that could be discerned, without any distinguishing marks, impossible to know through reasoning or understanding; it seemed to be entirely asleep. [6] Then the Lord who is Self-existent, himself unmanifest, caused this (universe) to become manifest; putting his energy into the great elements and everything else, he became visible and dispelled the darkness. [7] The one who can be grasped only by what is beyond the sensory powers, who is subtle, unmanifest, eternal, unimaginable, he of whom all creatures are made – he is the one who actually appeared.

  [8] He thought deeply, for he wished to emit various sorts of creatures from his own body; first he emitted the waters, and then he emitted his semen in them. [9] That (semen) became a golden egg, as bright as the sun with his thousand rays; Brahmā himself, the grandfather of all people, was born in that (egg). [10] ‘The waters are born of man,’ so it is said; indeed, the waters are the children of the (primordial) man. And since they were his resting place in ancient time, therefore he is traditionally known as Nārāyaṇa (‘Resting on those born of man’). [11] The one who is the first cause, unmanifest, eternal, the essence of what is real and unreal, emitted the Man, who is known in the world as Brahmā.

  [12] The Lord dwelt in that egg for a whole year, and then just by thinking he himself divided the egg into two. [13] Out of the two fragments he made the sky and the earth, and the atmosphere in the middle, and the eight cardinal directions, and the eternal place of the waters. [14] And out of himself he grew the mind-and-heart, the essence of what is real and unreal, and from mind-and-heart came the sense of ‘I’, the controlling consciousness of self, [15] and the great one which is the self, and all (material things that have) the three qualities, and, one by one, the five sensory powers that grasp the sensory objects.

  [16] But by mingling the subtle parts of the six that have boundless energy with the minute particles of his own self, he made all living beings. [17] Since the six subtle parts of his physical form ‘embody’ these, therefore wise men call his physical form ‘the body’. [18] The gross elements enter into that with their innate activities, and the imperishable mind-and-heart that makes all living beings (enters) with its subtle parts. [19] But this (universe) arises from the subtle. minute particles of the physical form of those seven Men of great energy, the perishable from the imperishable. [20] Each of these (elements) takes on the quality of the one that precedes it, so that each is traditionally regarded as having as many qualities as the number of its position in the series.

  [21] But in the beginning he made the individual names and individual innate activities and individual conditions of all things precisely in accordance with the words of the Veda. [22] And the Lord emitted the host of gods who have the breath of life and whose essence is the ritual, and the subtle host of the Amenables, and
the everlasting sacrifice. [23] From fire, wind, and the sun he milked out the triple eternal Veda, consisting of the ṛg, Yajur, and Sāman, so that the sacrifice could be accomplished. [24] He emitted time and the divisions of time, the constellations and planets, rivers, oceans, mountains, rough ground and smooth ground; [25] inner heat, speech, and sexual pleasure; desire and anger. Indeed, he emitted precisely this created universe because he wanted to emit these creatures.

  [26] And in order to distinguish innate activities, he distinguished right from wrong, and he yoked these creatures with the pairs, happiness and unhappiness and so forth. [27] For, with the impermanent atomic particles of what are traditionally known as the five (elements), in their order this whole (universe) comes into being. [28] And whatever innate activity the Lord yoked each (creature) to at first, that (creature) by himself engaged in that very activity as he was created again and again. [29] Harmful or harmless, gentle or cruel, right or wrong, truthful or lying – the (activity) he gave to each (creature) in creation kept entering it by itself. [30] Just as the seasons by themselves take on the distinctive signs of the seasons as they change, so embodied beings by themselves take on their innate activities, each his own.

  [31] Then, so that the worlds and people would prosper and increase, from his mouth he created the priest, from his arms the ruler, from his thighs the commoner, and from his feet the servant. [32] He divided his own body into two and became a man with one half, a woman with the other half. In her the Lord emitted Virāj, [33] and that man, Virāj, generated ascetic heat and by himself emitted someone – you, who are the best of the twice-born, should know that the one whom he emitted was me, the creator of this whole (universe). [34] Because I wanted to emit creatures, I generated inner heat that is very hard to produce, and then at the start I emitted the ten great sages, lords of creatures: [35] Marīci, Atri and Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Pracetas, Vasiṣṭha, Bhṛgu, and Nārada.

  [36] These emitted seven other Manus who had immeasurable brilliant energy, and the gods and the troops of the gods, and the great sages who had boundless energy; [37] and genies and ogres and ghouls, and centaurs and nymphs and demons, and dragons and snakes and supernatural birds, and the several classes of the ancestors; [38] and lightning, thunderbolts, and clouds, straight rainbows and curved rainbows, comets, whirlwinds, and meteors, and the higher and lower celestial lights; [39] quasi-men, monkeys, fish, and various kinds of birds, livestock, wild animals and humans, beasts of prey, (and) animals with two rows of teeth; [40] worms, bugs, and moths, lice, flies, and maggots, mosquitoes and gnats, and various stationary things.

  [41] Thus this whole (universe), stationary and moving, was created by those great-souled ones at my command through the use of inner heat – each according to its own innate activity. [42] I will tell you now what sort of innate activity each sort of living being here is said to have, and also their order according to their birth.

  [43] Livestock and wild animals, beasts of prey and animals with two rows of teeth, ogres, ghouls, and humans, are born from an embryonic sac. [44] Birds, snakes, crocodiles, fish, turtles, and various other species of this sort born on land or in water are born from eggs. [45] Mosquitoes and gnats, lice, flies, and maggots, and other species of this sort which originate from heat are born of sweat. [46] All the stationary (plants) that grow from the seed or node are born from shoots; herbs are those that bear many flowers and fruits and then die with the ripening of the fruit. [47] (Trees) that have fruit but no flowers are traditionally known as Lords of the Forest; those that bear both flowers and fruit are called trees. [48] The various sorts of (plants that have) one root and those with many roots, the different species of grasses, and climbing vines and creepers all grow from a seed or a shoot. [49] Enveloped by a darkness that has many forms and is the result of their own innate activities, they have an internal consciousness and experience happiness and unhappiness. [50] In this terrible cycle of transmigration of living beings, which moves relentlessly on and on, the levels of existence are said to begin with Brahmā and to end with them.

  [51] When the one whose prowess cannot be imagined had thus emitted this whole (universe), and me, he vanished once again into himself, pressing time against time. [52] For when the god awakens, this universe moves; and when he sleeps, and his soul is at rest, then everything closes its eyes. [53] And when he is fast asleep, embodied beings, whose souls are conditioned by their innate activities, cease from their own innate activities, and the mind-and-heart becomes faint. [54] And when, all at the same time, they are dissolved into that great soul, then the one who is the soul of all living beings turns back and sleeps happily. [55] Lodging in darkness, he remains there with the sensory powers for a long time and does not engage in his own innate activity; and then he moves out from that physical form. [56] He becomes the size of an atomic particle and enters into the seed of what moves and of what is still; and when he has united (with that) he leaves his (former) physical form. [57] Thus by means of waking and sleeping the imperishable one brings to life this whole (universe), moving and unmoving, and tirelessly destroys it.

  [58] When he had made this teaching, he himself first made me grasp it according to the rules, and I taught it to Marīci and the other hermits. [59] Bhṛgu, here, will let you hear this teaching and leave nothing out; for that hermit came to understand it all, in its entirety, from me.

  [60] When Manu had spoken to the great sage Bhṛgu in this way, Bhrgu’s soul rejoiced and he said to all the sages,

  Listen! [61] There are six other Manus in the dynasty of that Manu who was born of the Self-existent (Brahmā); they have great souls and great energy and each emitted his own progeny. [62] They are the sons of ‘Self-luminous’, ‘Uppermost’, ‘Dark’, ‘Wealthy’, ‘Gazing’, and the radiant son of ‘the Shining Sun’. [63] These seven Manus, beginning with the one born of the Self-existent (Brahmā), abound in brilliant energy; each one, in his own Epoch, created and pervaded this whole (universe), moving and unmoving.

  [64] Eighteen blinks of an eye make up a period called a ‘race-course’, and thirty ‘race-courses’ make up one ‘fraction’; thirty ‘fractions’ constitute a ‘moment’, and the same number (of ‘moments’) make up. a day and a night. [65] The sun separates day and night, both for human beings and for gods; the night is for living beings to sleep, and the day is for them to move about in their activity. [66] A (human) month is a day and night for the ancestors, and it is divided into two lunar fortnights: the dark (fortnight) is the day for them to move about in their activity and the bright (fortnight) is the night for their sleep. [67] A (human) year is a day and night for the gods, and it too is divided into two parts: when the sun goes north it is their day, and when it goes south it is their night.

  [68] Now learn, in summary, the measure of the night and day of Brahmā, and of the Ages, one by one, in order. [69] It is said that the Winning Age lasts for four thousand years; the twilight (preceding it) lasts for the same number of hundreds (of years), and the partial twilight (following it) is the same size. [70] In the three other (Ages) with their twilights and their partial twilights, the thousands and hundreds (of years) are calculated by subtracting one (from each progressive Age). [71] This period of four Ages, lasting for twelve thousand years, that has been enumerated first, is said to be an Age of the gods. [72] But the sum of a thousand Ages of the gods is known as a single day of Brahmā, and a night (of Brahmā) is exactly as long. [73] Those who know about days and nights know that an excellent day of Brahmā ends after a thousand Ages, and a night is exactly as long. [74] At the end of his day and night, the sleeper awakens, and when he is awake he emits mind-and-heart, the essence of what is real and unreal.

  [75] Driven by the desire to create, mind-and-heart transforms creation; the ether is produced from that, and sound is known as the quality of the ether. [76] From the ether as it transforms itself comes the unpolluted and powerful wind, the vehicle of all odours, which is regarded as having the quality of touch. [7
7] From wind, as it also transforms itself, comes light, shining and brilliant and dispelling darkness, and said to have the quality of form. [78] And from light as it transforms itself come the waters, which are traditionally known to have the quality of taste; and from the waters comes earth, with the quality of smell. This is the creation in the beginning.

  [79] The Age of the gods, which was mentioned before, lasts for twelve thousand (years); when it is multiplied by seventy-one it is called an Epoch of a Manu. [80] The Epochs of a Manu are countless, and so are the emissions and reabsorptions (of the universe); as if he were playing, the Supreme Lord does this again and again. [81] In the Winning Age, religion is entire, standing on all four feet, and so is truth; and men do not acquire any gain through irreligion. [82] But in the other (Ages), through (such wrong) gains, religion is brought down foot by foot; and because of theft, lying, and deceit, religion goes away foot by foot. [83] In the Winning Age, (people) are free from sickness, achieve all their goals, and (have) a lifespan of four hundred years; but in the Ages that begin with the Age of the Trey, their lifespan grows smaller foot by foot.

  [84] The lifespan of mortals, which is mentioned in the Veda, the realized hopes of innate activities, and the special power of embodied beings bear fruit in the world according to the Age. [85] The religious duties of men are different in the Winning Age and in the Age of the Trey and the Age of the Deuce; they are different in the Losing Age, in proportion with the decrease of each Age. [86] Inner heat is said to be paramount in the Winning Age, and knowledge in the Age of the Trey; they say that sacrifice (is paramount) in the Age of the Deuce, and the one thing in the Losing Age is giving.