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{{Short description|Ancient Hindu text}}
{{italic title}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Hindu scriptures}}

The '''''Manusmṛti''''' ({{langx|sa|मनुस्मृति}}), also known as the '''''Mānava-Dharmaśāstra''''' or the '''Laws of Manu''', is one of the many legal texts and constitutions among the many ''{{IAST|[[Dharmaśāstra]]s}}'' of [[Hinduism]].<ref>[http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195134056.013.0539 Manusmriti], The Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History (2009), [[Oxford University Press]], {{ISBN|978-0195134056}}, See entry for Manusmriti</ref><ref name="olivelle18" />

Over fifty manuscripts of the ''Manusmriti'' are now known, but the earliest discovered, most translated, and presumed authentic version since the 18th century is the "[[Kolkata]] (formerly Calcutta) manuscript with Kulluka Bhatta commentary".<ref name=olivellecriticaledition/> Modern scholarship states this presumed authenticity is false, and that the various manuscripts of ''Manusmriti'' discovered in India are inconsistent with each other.<ref name=olivellecriticaledition/><ref name=srikantan/>

The metrical text is in Sanskrit, is dated to the 2nd century BCE to 2nd century CE,<ref name=":0" /> and presents itself as a discourse given by [[Manu (Hinduism)|Manu]] (Svayambhuva) and [[Bhrigu]] on [[dharma]] topics such as duties, rights, laws, conduct, and virtues. The text's influence had historically spread outside India, influencing Hindu kingdoms in modern [[Cambodia]] and [[Indonesia]].<ref>Robert Lingat (1973), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Sauo8iSIj7YC&pg=PA77 The Classical Law of India]'', University of California Press, {{ISBN|978-0520018983}}, p. 77</ref><ref>Patrick Olivelle (2005), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=PnHo02RtONMC&pg=PA3 Manu's Code of Law]'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, pp. 3–4</ref><ref>Steven Collins (1993), ''The discourse of what is primary, Journal of Indian philosophy'', Volume 21, pp. 301–393</ref>

In 1776, ''Manusmriti'' became one of the first Sanskrit texts to be translated into English (the original Sanskrit book was never found), by British philologist [[William Jones (philologist)|Sir William Jones]].<ref name="Flood 1996, page 562">{{Cite web |title=Flood (1996)|page=56 |url=https://archive.org/details/AnIntroductionToHinduismSeeTantraWesternPhilosophyAscetismFoldersGavinFloodOUP/page/n70}}</ref> ''Manusmriti'' was used to construct the [[Hindu law]] code for the [[East India Company]]-administered enclaves.<ref>P Bilimoria (2011), "The Idea of Hindu Law", ''Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia'', Volume 43, pp. 103–130</ref><ref name="donalddavis">Donald Davis (2010), ''The Spirit of Hindu Law'', Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|978-0521877046}}, pp. 13–16, 166–179</ref>

==Nomenclature==
The title ''Manusmriti'' is a relatively modern term and a late innovation, probably coined because the text is in a verse form.<ref name=olivelle18/> The over-fifty manuscripts discovered of the text never use this title, but state the title as ''Manava Dharmashastra'' (Sanskrit: मानव धर्मशास्त्र) in their [[Colophon (publishing)|colophon]]s at the end of each chapter. In modern scholarship, these two titles refer to the same text.<ref name=olivelle18>Patrick Olivelle (2005), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=PnHo02RtONMC&pg=PA18 Manu's Code of Law]'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, pp. 18–19, 41</ref>

== Chronology ==
Philologists Jones and [[Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel]], in the 18th century, dated ''Manusmriti'' to around 1250 BCE and 1000 BCE respectively, which, from later linguistic developments, is untenable due to the language of the text which must be later than the late Vedic texts such as the [[Upanishads]], themselves dated a few centuries later, around 500 BCE.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Indian Empire: Its People, History and Products|author=[[William Wilson Hunter]]|page=114|publisher=Routledge}}</ref> Later scholars shifted the chronology of the text to between the 1st or 2nd century CE.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Manu-smriti &#124; Hindu law |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Manu-smriti|access-date=2023-01-01|website=Britannica |language=en}}</ref> Olivelle adds that [[numismatic]] evidence and the mention of gold coins as a fine suggest the text may date to the 2nd or 3rd century CE.<ref>Patrick Olivelle (2005), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=PnHo02RtONMC&pg=PA24 Manu's Code of Law]'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, pp. 24–25</ref> However, the majority of scholars agree that it was composed sometime between 200 BCE and 200 CE.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781119144892 |title=Wiley Blackwell Companion to Hinduism |date=2022-05-07 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-119-14486-1 |editor-last=Flood |editor-first=Gavin |page=76 |language=en |doi=10.1002/9781119144892 |quote=If the Manusmrti is indeed the oldest versified dharmasastra and if we accept, with the majority of scholars, that it was composed between 200 bce and 200 ce (the time when the Mahabharata was about to reach its final form).}}</ref>

Most scholars consider the text a composite produced by many authors put together over a long period. Olivelle states that the various ancient and medieval Indian texts claim revisions and editions were derived from the original text with 100,000 verses and 1,080 chapters. However, the text version in modern use, according to Olivelle, is likely the work of a single author or a chairman with research assistants.<ref>{{cite book|title=Manu's Code of Law|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=19|author=Patrick Olivelle|isbn=0195171462|date=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PnHo02RtONMC&pg=PA19 }}</ref>

Manusmriti, Olivelle states, was not a new document - it drew on other texts, and reflects "a crystallization of an accumulated knowledge" in ancient India.<ref name=olivelle41/> The root of theoretical models within Manusmriti rely on at least two [[shastra]]s that pre-date it: ''[[artha]]'' (statecraft and legal process) and ''dharma'' (an ancient Indian concept that includes duties, rights, laws, conduct, virtues and others discussed in various [[Dharmasutras]], older than Manusmriti).<ref name=olivelle41>Patrick Olivelle (2005), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=PnHo02RtONMC&pg=PA41 Manu's Code of Law]'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, pp. 41–49</ref> Its contents can be traced to ''Kalpasutras'' of the Vedic era, which led to the development of ''Smartasutras'' consisting of ''Grihyasutras'' and ''Dharmasutras''.<ref name=bowker>John Bowker (2012), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=c-QIduNZdscC&pg=PA179 The Message and the Book: Sacred Texts of the World's Religions]'', Yale University Press, {{ISBN|978-0300179293}}, pp. 179–180</ref> The foundational texts of Manusmriti include many of these sutras, all from an era preceding the common era. Most of these ancient texts are now lost, and only four have survived: the law codes of ''Apastamba'', ''Gautama'', ''Baudhayana'' and ''Vasishtha''.<ref>Patrick Olivelle (1999), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=gnVxqvPg9a0C&pg=PR24 Dharmasutras – the law codes of ancient India]'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|0192838822}}, pp. xxiv–xxv, 280–314</ref>

==Structure==
The ancient version of the text has been subdivided into twelve ''Adhyayas'' (chapters), but the original text had no such division.<ref name=olivellepage7>{{Cite book|last1=Manu|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PnHo02RtONMC|title=Manu's Code of Law|last2=Olivelle|first2=Alma Cowden Madden Centennial Professor in Liberal Arts Professor of Sanskrit and Indian Religions Patrick|last3=Olivelle|first3=Patrick|last4=umetnostite|first4=Makedonska akademija na naukite i|last5=Olivelle|first5=Suman|date=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press, US|isbn=978-0-19-517146-4|language=sa}}</ref> The text covers different topics, and is unique among ancient Indian texts in using "transitional verses" to mark the end of one subject and the start of the next.<ref name=olivellepage7/> The text can be broadly divided into four, each of different length. and each further divided into subsections:<ref name=olivellepage7/>
#Creation of the world
#Source of dharma
#The dharma of the four social classes
#Law of karma, rebirth and final liberation

The text is composed in metric ''Shlokas'' (verses), in the form of a dialogue between an exalted teacher and disciples who are eager to learn about the various aspects of [[dharma]].<ref name=olivellepage25>Patrick Olivelle (2005), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=PnHo02RtONMC&pg=PA25 Manu's Code of Law]'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, pp. 25–27</ref> The first 58 verses are attributed by the text to [[Manu (Hinduism)|Manu]], while the remaining more than two thousand verses are attributed to his student [[Bhrigu]].<ref name=olivellepage25/> Olivelle lists the subsections as follows:<ref name=olivellepage9>Patrick Olivelle (2005), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=PnHo02RtONMC&pg=PA9 Manu's Code of Law]'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, pp. 9–10</ref>

===Sources of the law===
The ''Dharmasya Yonih'' (Sources of the Law) has twenty-four verses and one transition verse.<ref name=olivellepage9/> These verses state what the text considers as the proper and just sources of law:

{{Blockquote|वेदोऽखिलो धर्ममूलं स्मृतिशीले च तद्विदाम् <nowiki>। आचारश्चैव साधूनामात्मनस्तुष्टिरेव च ॥</nowiki>

Translation 1: The whole Veda is the (first) source of the sacred law, next the tradition and the virtuous conduct of those who know the (Veda further), also the customs of holy men, and (finally) self-satisfaction (''Atmana santushti'').<ref name="manusmriti2">{{Cite book|last1=Manu (Lawgiver)|url=http://archive.org/details/lawsofman00manu|title=The laws of Manu|last2=BÃ¼hler|first2=Georg|date=1886|publisher=Oxford : The Clarendon Press|others=PIMS - University of Toronto}}</ref><br />
Translation 2: The root of the dharma is the entire Veda, and (then) the tradition and customs of those who know (the Veda), and the conduct of virtuous people, and what is satisfactory to oneself.<ref name=manusmriti3>Brian Smith and Wendy Doniger (1992), The Laws of Manu, Penguin, {{ISBN|978-0140445404}}, pp. 17–18</ref>
|Manusmriti 2.6}}

{{Blockquote|वेदः स्मृतिः सदाचारः स्वस्य च प्रियमात्मनः <nowiki>। एतच्चतुर्विधं प्राहुः साक्षाद् धर्मस्य लक्षणम् ॥</nowiki>

Translation 1: The Veda, the sacred tradition, the customs of virtuous men, and one's own pleasure, they declare to be the fourfold means of defining the sacred law.<ref name=manusmriti2/><br />
Translation 2: The Veda, tradition, the conduct of good people, and what is pleasing to oneself – they say that is four-fold mark of dharma.<ref name="manusmriti3"/>
|Manusmriti 2.12}}

This section of Manusmriti, like other Hindu law texts, includes fourfold sources of ''Dharma'', states Levinson, which include ''Atmana santushti'' (satisfaction of one's conscience), ''Sadachara'' (local norms of virtuous individuals), ''Smriti'' and ''Sruti''.<ref name=davidlevinson>David Levinson (2002), Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment, Volume 1, SAGE Publications, {{ISBN|978-0761922582}}, p. 829</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Davis | first1 = Donald R. Jr. | year = 2007 | title = On Ātmastuṣṭi as a Source of ''Dharma'' | journal = Journal of the American Oriental Society | volume = 127 | issue = 3| pages = 279–296 }}</ref><ref>Werner Menski, ''Hindu Law: Beyond Tradition and Modernity'' (Delhi: Oxford UP, 2003), p. 126 and Domenico Francavilla, ''The Roots of Hindu Jurisprudence: Sources of Dharma and Interpretation in Mīmāṃsā and Dharmaśāstra''. Corpus Iuris Sanscriticum. Vol. 7 (Torino: CESMEO, 2006), pp. 165–176.</ref>

===Dharma of the four Varnas===
{{further|Varna (Hinduism)}}
*3.1 Rules Relating to Law (2.25 – 10.131)
**3.1.1 Rules of Action in Normal Times (2.26 – 9.336)
***3.1.1.1 Fourfold Dharma of a [[Brahmin]] (2.26 – 6.96) (contains the longest section of Manusmriti, 3.1, called ''dharmavidhi'')<ref name=olivellepage7/>
***3.1.1.2 Rules of Action for a [[Kshatriya|King]] (7.1 – 9.324) (contains 960 verses, includes description of institutions  and officials of state, how officials are to be appointed, tax laws, rules of war, the role and limits on the power of the king, and long sections on eighteen grounds for litigation, including those related to non-delivery under contract, breach of contract, non-payment of wages, property disputes, inheritance disputes, humiliation and defamation, physical assault, theft, violence of any form, injury, sexual crimes against women, public safety, and others; the section also includes rules of evidence, rules on interrogation of witnesses, and the organisation of court system)<ref name=olivellepage10>Patrick Olivelle (2005), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=PnHo02RtONMC&pg=PA10 Manu's Code of Law]'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, pp. 10–15, 154–205</ref>
***3.1.1.3 Rules of Action for [[Vaiśya]]s and [[Śūdra]]s (9.326 – 9.335) (shortest section, eight rules for Vaishyas, two for Shudras, but some applicable laws to these two classes are discussed generically in verses 2.26 – 9.324)<ref>Patrick Olivelle (2005), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=PnHo02RtONMC&pg=PA16 Manu's Code of Law]'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, pp. 16, 8–14, 206–207</ref>
**3.1.2 Rules of Action in Times of Adversity (10.1 – 11.129) (contains revised rules on the state machinery and four varnas in the times of war, famine or other emergencies)<ref name=olivellepage16>Patrick Olivelle (2005), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=PnHo02RtONMC&pg=PA16 Manu's Code of Law]'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, pp. 16–17, 208–229</ref>
*3.2 Rules Relating to Penance (11.1 – 11.265) (includes rules of proportionate punishment; instead of fines, incarceration or death, discusses penance or social isolation as a form of punishment for certain crimes)<ref name=olivellepage16/>

The verses 6.97, 9.325, 9.336 and 10.131 are transitional verses.<ref name=olivellepage9/> Olivelle notes instances of likely interpolation and insertions in the notes to this section, in both the presumed vulgate version and the critical edition.<ref>Patrick Olivelle (2005), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=PnHo02RtONMC&pg=PA237 Manu's Code of Law]'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, pp. 237–350, 914–982</ref>

===Determination of Karmayoga===
The verses 12.1, 12.2 and 12.82 are transitional verses.<ref name=olivellepage9/> This section is in a different style than the rest of the text, raising questions of whether this entire chapter was added later. While there is evidence that this chapter was extensively redacted over time, it is unclear whether the entire chapter is of a later era.<ref name=olivellepage18/>
*4.1 Fruits of Action (12.3–81) (section on actions and consequences, personal responsibility, action as a means of [[moksha]] – the highest personal bliss)<ref name=olivellepage18>Patrick Olivelle (2005), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=PnHo02RtONMC&pg=PA10 Manu's Code of Law]'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, pp. 10, 17–19, 230–236, 290–292</ref>
*4.2 Rules of Action for Supreme Good (12.83–115) (section on karma, duties and responsibilities as a means of supreme good)<ref name=olivellepage18/>

The closing verses of Manusmriti declare,
{{Blockquote|
<poem>
एवं यः सर्वभूतेषु पश्यत्यात्मानमात्मना <nowiki>। स सर्वसमतामेत्य ब्रह्माभ्येति परं पदम् ॥</nowiki>
He who thus recognizes in his individual soul (Self, [[Atman (Hinduism)|Atman]]), the universal soul that exists in all beings,
becomes equal-minded towards all, and enters the highest state, [[Brahman]].
</poem>
|Manusmriti 12.125, Calcutta manuscript with Kulluka Bhatta commentary<ref>Robert Lingat (1973), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Sauo8iSIj7YC&pg=PA86 The Classical Law of India]'', University of California Press, {{ISBN|978-0520018983}}, p. 86</ref><ref name="manusmriti2"/>}}

==Contents==
The structure and contents of the Manusmriti suggest it to be a document predominantly targeted at the Brahmins (priestly class) and the Kshatriyas (king, administration and warrior class).<ref name=olivellemspurpose/> The text dedicates 1,034 verses, the largest portion, on laws for and expected virtues of Brahmins, and 971 verses for Kshatriyas.<ref>Patrick Olivelle (2005), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=PnHo02RtONMC&pg=PA41 Manu's Code of Law]'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, p. 41</ref> The statement of rules for the [[Vaishya#:~:text=Vaishya (Sanskrit: वैश्य, vaiśya,trade and other business pursuits.|Vaishyas]] (merchant class) and the Shudras (artisans and working class) in the text is extraordinarily brief. Olivelle suggests that this may be because the text was composed to address the balance "between the political power and the priestly interests", and because of the rise in foreign invasions of India in the period it was composed.<ref name=olivellemspurpose>Patrick Olivelle (2005), Manu's Code of Law, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, pp. 16, 62–65</ref>

===On virtues and outcast===
Manusmriti lists and recommends virtues in many verses. For example, verse 6.75 recommends [[Ahimsa|non-violence]] towards everyone and [[temperance (virtue)|temperance]] as key virtues,<ref name="manusmriti2"/><ref>[[J Duncan M Derrett]] (1975), Bharuci's commentary on the Manusmrti, Schriftenreihe des Sudasien-Instituts der Universitat Heidelberg, {{ISBN|978-3515018586}}, p. 23</ref> while verse 10.63 preaches that all four varnas must abstain from injuring any creature, abstain from falsehood and abstain from appropriating the property of others.<ref name="manusmriti2"/><ref>Patrick Olivelle (2005), Manu's Code of Law, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, pp. 208–214, 337</ref>

Similarly, in verse 4.204, states Olivelle, some manuscripts of Manusmriti list the recommended virtues to be, "compassion, forbearance, truthfulness, non-injury, self-control, not desiring, meditation, serenity, sweetness and honesty" as primary, and "purification, sacrifices, ascetic toil, gift giving, Vedic recitation, restraining the sexual organs, observances, fasts, silence and bathing" as secondary.<ref name=olivellepage275>Patrick Olivelle (2005), Manu's Code of Law, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, p. 275</ref> A few manuscripts of the text contain a different verse 4.204, according to Olivelle, and list the recommended virtues to be, "not injuring anyone, speaking the truth, chastity, honesty and not stealing" as central and primary, while "not being angry, obedience to the teacher, purification, eating moderately and vigilance" to desirable and secondary.<ref name=olivellepage275/>

In other discovered manuscripts of ''Manusmriti'', including the most translated Calcutta manuscript, the text declares in verse 4.204 that the ethical precepts under [[Yamas]] such as [[Ahimsa]] (non-violence) are paramount while [[Niyama]]s such as [[Ishvarapranidhana]] (contemplation of personal god) are minor, and those who do not practice the ''Yamas'' but obey the ''Niyamas'' alone become outcasts.<ref name="manusmriti2"/><ref>[[J Duncan M Derrett]] (1975), Bharuci's commentary on the Manusmrti, Schriftenreihe des Sudasien-Instituts der Universitat Heidelberg, {{ISBN|978-3515018586}}, pp. 30, 439–440</ref>

==Significance of Manusmriti==
===On personal choices, behaviours and morals===
Manusmriti has various verses on duties a person has towards himself and to others, thus including moral codes as well as legal codes.<ref name=olivellepage31>Patrick Olivelle (2005), ''Manu's Code of Law'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, pp. 31–32</ref> Olivelle states that this is similar to the modern contrast between informal moral concerns to birth out of wedlock in the developed nations, along with simultaneous legal protection for children who are born out of wedlock.<ref name=olivellepage31/>

Personal behaviours covered by the text are extensive. For example, verses 2.51–2.56 recommend that a monk must go on his begging round, collect alms food and present it to his teacher first, then eat. One should revere whatever food one gets and eat it without disdain, states Manusmriti, but never overeat, as eating too much harms health.<ref>Patrick Olivelle (2005), ''Manu's Code of Law'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, p. 97</ref> In verse 5.47, the text states that work becomes without effort when a man contemplates, undertakes and does what he loves to do and when he does so without harming any creature.<ref>Patrick Olivelle (2005), ''Manu's Code of Law'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, p. 140</ref>

Numerous verses relate to the practice of meat eating, how it causes injury to living beings, why it is evil, and the morality of vegetarianism.<ref name=olivellepage31/> Yet, the text balances its moral tone as an appeal to one's conscience, states Olivelle. For example, verse 5.56 as translated by Olivelle states, "there is no fault in eating meat, in drinking liquor, or in having sex; that is the natural activity of creatures. Abstaining from such activity, however, brings greatest rewards."<ref>Patrick Olivelle (2005), ''Manu's Code of Law'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, pp. 31–32, 138–147, 558–593</ref>

===On rights of women===
Manusmriti offers an inconsistent and internally conflicting perspective on women's rights.<ref name=flavia/> The text, for example, declares that a marriage cannot be dissolved by a woman or a man, in verse 8.101–8.102.<ref>Robert Lingat (1973), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Sauo8iSIj7YC&pg=PA84 The Classical Law of India]'', University of California Press, {{ISBN|978-0520018983}}, p. 84</ref> Yet, the text, in other sections, allows either to dissolve the marriage. For example, verses 9.72–9.81 allow the man or the woman to get out of a fraudulent or abusive marriage and remarry. The text also provides legal means for a woman to remarry when her husband has been missing or has abandoned her.<ref>Patrick Olivelle (2005), ''Manu's Code of Law'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, pp. 190–207, 746–809</ref>

While preaching [[chastity]] to [[widow]]s such as in verses 5.158–5.160, and opposing a woman marrying someone outside her own social class in verses 3.13–3.14,<ref>Patrick Olivelle (2005), ''Manu's Code of Law'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, pp. 31–32, 108–123, 138–147</ref> in other verses, such as 2.67–2.69 and 5.148–5.155, Manusmriti preaches that as a girl, she should obey and seek protection of her father, as a young woman her husband, and as a widow her son; and that a woman should always worship her husband as a god and a man should consider his wife an embodiment of goddess.<ref>Patrick Olivelle (2005), ''Manu's Code of Law'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, pp. 98, 146–147</ref> In verses 3.55–3.56, Manusmriti also declares that women must be honored, and "[w]here women are revered, there the gods rejoice; but where they are not, no rite bears any fruit".<ref>Patrick Olivelle (2005), ''Manu's Code of Law'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, p. 111</ref><ref name="manusmriti2"/> Elsewhere, in verse 5.148, states Olivelle, the text declares, "[a woman] must never seek to live independently".<ref>Patrick Olivelle (2005), ''Manu's Code of Law'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, p. 146</ref>

Simultaneously, states Olivelle, the text enumerates numerous practices such as marriages outside one's varna (see [[anuloma]] and [[pratiloma]]), such as between a Brahmin man and a Shudra woman in verses 9.149–9.157, a widow becoming pregnant by a man she is not married to in verses 9.57–9.62, marriage where a woman elopes with her lover, and then grants legal rights in these cases such as property inheritance rights in verses 9.143–9.157, and the legal rights of the children so born.<ref>Patrick Olivelle (2005), ''Manu's Code of Law'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, pp. 31–32, 194–207, 755–809</ref> The text also provides for a situation when a married woman may become pregnant by a man other than her husband, and dedicates verses 8.31–8.56 to conclude that the child's custody belongs to the woman and her legal husband, and not to the biological father.<ref>Robert Lingat (1973), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Sauo8iSIj7YC&pg=PA83 The Classical Law of India]'', University of California Press, {{ISBN|978-0520018983}}, pp. 83–84</ref><ref>Patrick Olivelle (2005), ''Manu's Code of Law'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, pages 182-193, 659–706</ref>

Manusmriti provides a woman with property rights to six types of property in verses 9.192–9.200. These include those she received at her marriage, or as gift when she eloped or when she was taken away, or as token of love before marriage, or as gifts from her biological family, or as received from her husband subsequent to marriage, and also from inheritance from deceased relatives.<ref>Patrick Olivelle (2005), ''Manu's Code of Law'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, pages 200–201, 746–809</ref>

[[Flavia Agnes]] states that Manusmriti is a complex commentary from women's rights perspective, and the British colonial era codification of women's rights based on it for Hindus, and from Islamic texts for Muslims, picked and emphasised certain aspects while it ignored other sections.<ref name=flavia>Flavia Agnes (2001), ''Law and Gender Inequality: The Politics of Women's Rights in India'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195655247}}, pp. 41–45</ref> This construction of personal law during the colonial era created a legal fiction around Manusmriti's historic role as a scripture in matters relating to women in South Asia.<ref name=flavia/><ref>[[Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im]] (2010), ''Islam and the Secular State'', Harvard University Press, {{ISBN|978-0674034563}}, pp. 149, 289</ref>

===On statecraft and rules of war===
Chapter 7 of the Manusmriti discusses the duties of a king, what virtues he must have, what vices he must avoid.<ref name=lingatpage81/> In verses 7.54–7.76, the text identifies precepts to be followed in selecting ministers, ambassadors and officials, as well as the characteristics of well fortified capital. Manusmriti then lays out the laws of just war, stating that first and foremost, war should be avoided by negotiations and reconciliations.<ref name=lingatpage81/><ref name=olivellepage154/> If war becomes necessary, states Manusmriti, a soldier must never harm civilians, non-combatants or someone who has surrendered, that use of force should be proportionate, and other rules.<ref name=lingatpage81/> Fair taxation guidelines are described in verses 7.127–7.137.<ref name=lingatpage81>Robert Lingat (1973), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Sauo8iSIj7YC&pg=PA81 The Classical Law of India]'', University of California Press, {{ISBN|978-0520018983}}, pp. 81–82</ref><ref name=olivellepage154>Patrick Olivelle (2005), ''Manu's Code of Law'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, pp. 154–166, 613–658</ref>

==Authenticity and inconsistencies in various manuscripts==
[[Patrick Olivelle]], credited with a 2005 translation of ''Manusmriti'' published by the Oxford University Press, states the concerns in [[postmodern]] scholarship about the presumed authenticity and reliability of Manusmriti manuscripts.<ref name=olivellecriticaledition/> He writes (abridged),

{{Blockquote|The ''MDh'' [Manusmriti] was the first Indian legal text introduced to the western world through the translation of Sir [[William Jones (philologist)|William Jones]] in 1794. ... All the editions of the ''MDh'', except for Jolly's, reproduce the text as found in the [Calcutta] manuscript containing the commentary of Kulluka. I have called this as the "[[vulgate]] version".  It was Kulluka's version that has been translated repeatedly: Jones (1794), Burnell (1884), Buhler (1886) and [[Wendy Doniger|Doniger]] (1991). ...

The belief in the authenticity of Kulluka's text was openly articulated by Burnell (1884, xxix): "There is then no doubt that the textus receptus, viz., that of Kulluka Bhatta, as adopted in India and by European scholars, is very near on the whole to the original text." This is far from the truth. Indeed, one of the great surprises of my editorial work has been to discover how few of the over fifty manuscripts that I collated actually follow the vulgate in key readings.
|[[Patrick Olivelle]]|Manu's Code of Law (2005)<ref name=olivellecriticaledition>Patrick Olivelle (2005), ''Manu's Code of Law'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, pp. 353–354, 356–382</ref>}}

Other scholars point to the inconsistencies and have questioned the authenticity of verses, and the extent to which verses were changed, inserted or interpolated into the original, at a later date. Sinha, for example, states that less than half, or only 1,214 of the 2,685 verses in ''Manusmriti'', may be authentic.<ref name="sinha" /> Further, the verses are internally inconsistent.<ref>Arun Kumbhare (2009), ''Women of India: Their Status Since the Vedic Times'', {{ISBN|978-1440156007}}, p. 56</ref> Verses such as 3.55–3.62 of ''Manusmriti'', for example, glorify the position of women, while verse such as 9.3 and 9.17 do the opposite.<ref name="sinha">J Sinha (2014), ''Psycho-Social Analysis of the Indian Mindset'', Springer Academic, {{ISBN|978-8132218036}}, p. 5</ref> Other passages found in ''Manusmriti'', such as those relating to [[Ganesha]], are modern era insertions and forgeries.<ref>{{cite book|author=A. Narain|editor=Robert Brown |title=Ganesh: Studies of an Asian God |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oF-Hqih3pBAC |year=1991|publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=978-0791406564 |page=22 }}</ref> [[Robert E. Van Voorst]] states that the verses from 3.55–60 may be about respect given to a woman in her home, but within a strong patriarchal system.<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert E. Van Voorst |title=Anthology of World Scriptures |date=January 2016 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J8YaCgAAQBAJ&q=Women+must+be+honoured+and+adorned+by+their+fathers%2C+brothers%2C+husbands%2C+and+brothers-in-law%2C+who+desire+%28their+own%29+welfare&pg=PA43 |page=43 |isbn=978-1305888005 |publisher=Cengage}}</ref>

Nelson in 1887, in a legal brief before the [[Madras High Court]] of British India, had stated, "there are various contradictions and inconsistencies in the ''Manu Smriti'' itself, and that these contradictions would lead one to conclude that such a commentary did not lay down legal principles to be followed but were merely recommendatory in nature."<ref name="srikantan">G. Srikantan (2014), Thomas Duve (ed.), ''Entanglements in Legal History'', Max Planck Institute: Germany, {{ISBN|978-3944773001}}, p. 123</ref> [[Mahatma Gandhi]] remarked on the observed inconsistencies within ''Manusmriti'' as follows:

{{Blockquote|I hold Manusmriti as part of Shastras. But that does not mean that I swear by every verse that is printed in the book described as Manusmriti. There are so many contradictions in the printed volume that, if you accept one part, you are bound to reject those parts that are wholly inconsistent with it. ... Nobody is in possession of the original text.
|[[Mahatma Gandhi]]|An Adi-Dravida's Difficulties<ref>Mahatma Gandhi, ''Hinduism According to Gandhi'', Orient Paperbacks (2013 Reprint Edition), {{ISBN|978-8122205589}}, p. 129</ref>}}

==Commentaries==
There are numerous classical commentaries  on the ''{{IAST|Manusmṛti}}'' written in the medieval period.

[[Bhāruci]] is the oldest known commentator on the ''{{IAST|Manu Smṛti}}''. Kane places him in the late 10th or early 11th century,<ref>Kane, P. V. (1975), ''History of Dharmaśāstra'', Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 1975, Volume I, Part I, 566.</ref> Olivelle places him in the 8th century,<ref name="ReferenceA">Olivelle, Patrick, "Dharmaśāstra: A Literary History", page 29.</ref> and Derrett places him between 600 and 800 CE.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref>[[J. Duncan M. Derrett]] (1975), ''Bharuci's commentary on the Manusmrti'', Schriftenreihe des Sudasien-Instituts der Universitat Heidelberg, {{ISBN|978-3515018586}}</ref> From these three opinions we can place Bhāruci anywhere from the early 7th century CE to the early 11th century CE. Bhāruci's commentary, titled ''Manu-sastra-vivarana'', has far fewer number of verses than the Kullūka-Calcutta vulgate version in circulation since the British colonial era, and it refers to more ancient texts that are believed to be lost. It is also called ''Raja-Vimala'', and [[J. Duncan M. Derrett]] states Bharuci was "occasionally more faithful to his source's historical intention" than other commentators.<ref>J. Duncan M. Derrett (1977), ''Essays in Classical and Modern Hindu Law'', Brill Academic, {{ISBN|978-9004048089}}, pp. 10–17, 36–37 with footnote 75a</ref>

[[Medhātithi]]'s commentary on ''{{IAST|Manu Smṛti}}'' has been widely studied. Scholars such as Buhler, Kane, and Lingat believe he was from north India, likely the Kashmir region. His commentary on Manusmriti is estimated to be from 9th to 11th century.<ref>Kane, P. V. (1975), ''History of Dharmaśāstra'', Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Volume I, Part II, 583.</ref>

Govindarāja's commentary, titled ''Manutika'', is an 11th-century commentary on Manusmriti, referred to by ''Jimutavahana'' and ''Laksmidhara'', and was plagiarised by Kullūka, states Olivelle.<ref name=olivelle368/>

Kullūka's commentary, titled ''Manvarthamuktavali'', along with his version of the ''Manusmrti'' manuscript has been "vulgate" or default standard, most studied version, since it was discovered in 18th-century [[Kolkata|Calcutta]] by the British colonial officials.<ref name=olivelle368/> It is the most reproduced and famous, not because, according to Olivelle, it is the oldest or because of its excellence, but because it was the lucky version found first.<ref name=olivelle368/> The Kullūka commentary dated to be sometime between the 13th to 15th century, adds Olivelle, is mostly a plagiary of Govindaraja commentary from about the 11th century, but with Kullūka's criticism of Govindaraja.<ref name=olivelle368>Patrick Olivelle (2005), ''Manu's Code of Law'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195171464}}, pp. 367–369</ref>

Nārāyana's commentary, titled ''Manvarthavivrtti'', is probably from the 14th century and little is known about the author.<ref name=olivelle368/> This commentary includes many variant readings, and Olivelle found it useful in preparing a critical edition of the Manusmriti text in 2005.<ref name=olivelle368/>

Nandana was from south India, and his commentary, titled ''Nandini'', provides a useful benchmark on Manusmriti version and its interpretation in the south.<ref name=olivelle368/>

Other known medieval era commentaries on Manusmriti include those by Sarvajnanarayana, Raghavananda and Ramacandra.<ref name=olivelle368/><ref>Visvanath Narayan Mandlik (1886), ''Manavadharmaśastram'', {{oclc|83427487}}</ref>

==Significance and role in history==
===In ancient and medieval India===
Scholars doubt Manusmriti was ever administered as law text in ancient or medieval Hindu society. David Buxbaum states, "in the opinion of the best contemporary orientalists, it [Manusmriti] does not, as a whole, represent a set of rules ever actually administered in India . It is in great part an ideal picture of that which, in the view of a Brahmin, ought to be law".<ref>David Buxbaum (1998), ''Family Law and Customary Law in Asia: A Contemporary Legal Perspective'', Springer Academic, {{ISBN|978-9401757942}}, p. 204</ref>

Donald Davis writes, "there is no historical evidence for either an active propagation or implementation of Dharmasastra [Manusmriti] by a ruler or any state – as distinct from other forms of recognizing, respecting and using the text. Thinking of Dharmasastra as a legal code and of its authors as lawgivers is thus a serious misunderstanding of its history".<ref>Donald Davis (2010), ''The Spirit of Hindu Law'', Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|978-0521877046}}, p. 14</ref> Other scholars have expressed the same view, based on epigraphical, archaeological and textual evidence from medieval Hindu kingdoms in [[Gujarat]], [[Kerala]] and [[Tamil Nadu]], while acknowledging that Manusmriti was influential to the South Asian history of law and was a theoretical resource.<ref>Werner Menski (2009), ''Hindu Law: Beyond Tradition and Modernity'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195699210}}, Chapters 2 & 4</ref><ref>Donald R. Davis Jr (2005), "Intermediate Realms of Law: Corporate Groups and Rulers in Medieval India", ''Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient'', Volume 48, Issue 1, pp. 92–117</ref>

===Outside India===
The ''Dharma-sastras'', particularly Manusmriti, states Anthony Reid,<ref name=reidseasia/> were "greatly honored in Burma's (Myanmar) [[Wareru Dhammathat]],<ref>{{Cite journal|last=BHATTACHARYYA|first=PARNASABARI|title=Manusmriti and Manavadhammasattham: Indian Influence on Burmese Legal Texts |date=1993|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44142924|journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress|volume=54|pages=68–72|jstor=44142924 |issn=2249-1937}}</ref> Siam (Thailand), Cambodia and Java-Bali (Indonesia) as the defining documents of the natural order, which kings were obliged to uphold. They were copied, translated and incorporated into local law code, with strict adherence to the original text in Burma and Siam, and a stronger tendency to adapt to local needs in Java (Indonesia)".<ref name=reidseasia>Anthony Reid (1988), ''Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450–1680: The lands below the winds'', Yale University Press, {{ISBN|978-0300047509}}, p. 137–138</ref><ref>Victor Lieberman (2014), ''Burmese Administrative Cycles'', Princeton University Press, {{ISBN|978-0691612812}}, pp. 66–68; Also see discussion of 13th-century Wagaru Dhamma-sattha / 11th century Manu Dhammathat manuscripts discussion.</ref><ref>On Laws of Manu in 14th-century Thailand's [[Ayutthaya Kingdom|Ayuthia kingdom]] named after [[Ayodhya (Ramayana)|Ayodhya]], see David Wyatt (2003), ''Thailand: A Short History'', Yale University Press, {{ISBN|978-0300084757}}, p. 61;<br />Robert Lingat (1973), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Sauo8iSIj7YC&pg=PA269 The Classical Law of India]'', University of California Press, {{ISBN|978-0520018983}}, pp. 269–272</ref> The medieval era derived texts and Manusmriti manuscripts in Southeast Asia are, however, quite different than the "vulgate" version that has been in use since its first use in British India. The role of then extant Manusmriti as a historic foundation of law texts for the people of Southeast Asia has been very important, states Hooker.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hooker |first=M. B. |date=February 1978 |title=The Indian-Derived Law Texts of Southeast Asia |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=201–219 |jstor=2054162|doi=10.2307/2054162|s2cid=159671154 }}</ref>

===In British India===
{{main|Hindu law}}
Prior to the British colonial rule, [[Sharia]] (Islamic law) for Muslims in South Asia had been codified as ''[[Fatawa-e-Alamgiri]]'', but laws for non-Muslims – such as Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis – were not codified - both in regions of the subcontinent that witnessed anything up to 600 years of Islamic rule - as well as others.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lariviere |first=Richard W. |date=November 1989 |title=Justices and Paṇḍitas: Some Ironies in Contemporary Readings of the Hindu Legal Past |journal=Journal of Asian Studies |publisher=Association for Asian Studies |volume=48 |issue=4 |pages=757–769 |doi=10.2307/2058113 |jstor=2058113|s2cid=159457790 }}</ref> With the arrival of the British colonial officials, Manusmriti played a historic role in constructing a legal system for non-Muslims in South Asia and early Western perceptions about the ancient and medieval Indian society.<ref name=donalddavis/>

In the 18th century, the earliest British of the East India Company acted as agents of the Mughal emperor. As the British colonial rule took over the political and administrative powers in India, it was faced with various state responsibilities such as legislative and judiciary functions.<ref name=timlubin>Tomothy Lubin et al (2010), Lubin and Davis (eds.), ''Hinduism and Law: An Introduction'', Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|978-0521716260}}, Chapter 1</ref> The East India Company, and later the British Crown, sought profits for its British shareholders through trade as well as sought to maintain effective political control with minimal military engagement.<ref name=dawashbrook/> The administration pursued a path of least resistance, relying upon co-opted local intermediaries that were mostly Muslims and some Hindus in various princely states.<ref name=dawashbrook/> The British exercised power by avoiding interference and adapting to law practices as explained by the local intermediaries.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kugle |first=Scott Alan |date=May 2001 |title=Framed, Blamed and Renamed: The Recasting of Islamic Jurisprudence in Colonial South Asia |journal=Modern Asian Studies |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=257–313 |jstor=313119 |doi=10.1017/s0026749x01002013|s2cid=146583562 }}</ref> The existing legal texts for Muslims, and resurrected Manusmriti manuscript thus helped the colonial state sustain the pre-colonial religious and political law and conflicts, well into the late nineteenth century.<ref name=timlubin/><ref name=dawashbrook>{{cite journal |last=Washbrook |first=D. A. |date=1981 |title=Law, State and Agrarian Society in Colonial India |journal=Modern Asian Studies |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=649–721 |doi=10.1017/s0026749x00008714 |jstor=312295|s2cid=145176900 }}</ref><ref name=ludorocherhcl/> The colonial policy on the system of personal laws for India, for example, was expressed by Governor-General Hastings in 1772 as follows,

{{Blockquote|That in all suits regarding inheritance, marriage, caste and other religious usages or institutions, the law of the Koran with respect to Mahometans [Muslims], and those of the Shaster with respect to Gentoos [Hindus] shall be invariably be adhered to.
|[[Warren Hastings]]|August 15, 1772<ref name=rocherresponse>{{cite journal | last1 = Rocher | first1 = Ludo | year = 1972 | title = Indian Response to Anglo-Hindu Law | journal = Journal of the American Oriental Society | volume = 92 | issue = 3| pages = 419–424 | doi = 10.2307/600567 | jstor=600567}}</ref>}}

For Muslims of India, the British accepted sharia as the legal code for Muslims, based on texts such the ''al-Sirjjiyah'' and ''Fatawa-i Alamgiri'' written under sponsorship of Aurangzeb.<ref name=michaelanderson>{{cite book |first=Michael |last=Anderson |title=Institutions and Ideologies: A SOAS South Asia Reader |chapter=10 |year=1995 |editor1-first=David |editor1-last=Arnold |editor2-first=Peter |editor2-last=Robb |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0700702848 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=K. |last=Ewing |year=1988 |title=Sharia and ambiguity in South Asian Islam |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0520055759}}</ref><ref name=annaim>Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im (2010), ''Islam and the Secular State'', Harvard University Press, {{ISBN|978-0674034563}}, pp. 149–150</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Baillie|first=Neil B. E. (Neil Benjamin Edmonstone)|url=http://archive.org/details/digestmoohummud00bailgoog|title=A digest of Moohummudan law on the subjects to which it is usually applied by British courts of justice in India|date=1875|publisher=London, Smith, Elder & co.|others=New York Public Library}}</ref> For Hindus and other non-Muslims such as Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, and Parsis, this information was unavailable.<ref name=timlubin/> The substance of Hindu law, was derived by the British colonial officials from Manusmriti, and it became the first Dharmasastra that was translated in 1794.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Flood (1996)|page =56 |url=https://archive.org/details/AnIntroductionToHinduismSeeTantraWesternPhilosophyAscetismFoldersGavinFloodOUP/page/n70}}</ref><ref name=donalddavis/> The British colonial officials, for practice, attempted to extract from the Dharmaśāstra, the English categories of law and religion for the purposes of colonial administration.<ref>Ludo Rocher, "Hindu Law and Religion: Where to draw the line?" In S. A. J. Zaidi, ed. ''Malik Ram Felicitation Volume''. (New Delhi, 1972), pp. 190–191.</ref><ref>J. D. M. Derrett, ''Religion, Law, and the State in India'', London: Faber, 1968, 96. For a related distinction between religious and secular law in Dharmaśāstra, see {{cite journal |last=Lubin |first=Timothy |date=2007 |title=Punishment and Expiation: Overlapping Domains in Brahmanical Law |ssrn=1084716 |journal=Indologica Taurinensia |volume=33 |pages=93–122}}</ref>

The British colonial officials, however, mistook the Manusmriti as codes of law, failing to recognise that it was a commentary on morals and law and not a statement of positive law.<ref name=ludorocherhcl/><ref name=michaelanderson/> The colonial officials of the early 19th century also failed to recognise that Manusmriti was one of many competing Dharmasastra texts, it was not in use for centuries during the Islamic rule period of India.<ref name=ludorocherhcl/><ref name=michaelanderson/> The officials resurrected Manusmriti, constructed statements of positive law from the text for non-Muslims, in order to remain faithful to its policy of using sharia for the South Asian Muslim population.<ref name="donalddavis"/><ref name=ludorocherhcl>Ludo Rocher (1978), "Hindu Conceptions of Law", ''Hastings Law Journal'', Volume 29, pp. 1283–1297</ref><ref name=michaelanderson/> Manusmriti thus played a role in constructing the Anglo-Hindu law, as well as Western perceptions about ancient and medieval era [[Hindu culture]] from the colonial times.<ref>For reviews of the British misappropriations of Dharmaśāstra, see: {{cite journal |last=Lariviere |first=Richard W. |date=November 1989 |title=Justices and Paṇḍitas: Some Ironies in Contemporary Readings of the Hindu Legal Past |journal=Journal of Asian Studies |publisher=Association for Asian Studies |volume=48 |issue=4 |pages=757–769 |doi=10.2307/2058113 |jstor=2058113|s2cid=159457790 }} and {{cite journal |last=Rocher |first=Ludo |date=June 1993 |title=Law Books in an Oral Culture: The Indian Dharmaśāstras |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |volume=137 |issue=2 |pages=254–267 |jstor=986732}}</ref> Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im states the significance and role of Manusmriti in governing India during the colonial era as follows (abridged),<ref name=annaim/>

{{Blockquote|
The [British] colonial administration began the codification of Hindu and Muslim laws in 1772 and continued through the next century, with emphasis on certain texts as the authentic "sources" of the law and custom of Hindus and Muslims, which in fact devalued and retarded those dynamic social systems. The codification of complex and interdependent traditional systems froze certain aspects of the status of women, for instance, outside the context of constantly evolving social and economic relations, which in effect limited or restricted women's rights. The selectivity of the process, whereby colonial authorities sought the assistance of Hindu and Muslim religious elites in understanding the law, resulted in the Brahminization and Islamization of customary laws [in British India]. For example, the British orientalist scholar William Jones translated the key texts ''Al Sirjjiyah'' in 1792 as the Mohammedan Law of Inheritance, and '''Manusmriti''' in 1794 as the ''Institutes of Hindu Law or the Ordinances of Manu''. In short, British colonial administrators reduced centuries of vigorous development of total ethical, religious and social systems to fit their own preconceived European notions of what Muslim and Hindu "law" should be.
|[[Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im]]|Islam and the Secular State: Negotiating the Future of Sharia<ref name=annaim/>}}Another scholar, Supriya Gandhi, writing in the [[Journal of Hindu Studies]], states 
{{Blockquote|text=...whatever its historical status, however, most scholars today agree that it (Manu Smriti) took on unprecedented status as an "applied" legal document only under early British rule' (Dirks, 2001: 34). when [[Sir William Jones]], who was a judge of the [[Calcutta High Court|Supreme Court of Bengal]] appointed by the Crown, threw his weight behind Manu Smriti as the Institutes of Hindu Law (Rocher, 2010), Manu smriti acquired a status disproportionate to its actual stature in India in terms of people's awareness and acceptance of it in contrast to customs.|author=Supriya Gandhi|title=Dharmaśāstra in Aurangzeb’s India: A Persian Translation of the Yājñavalkya Smṛti and Mitākṣarā|source=<ref>{{Cite book|title=Dharmaśāstra in Aurangzeb's India: A Persian Translation of the Yājñavalkya Smṛti and Mitākṣarā|publisher=The Journal of Hindu Studies 16(1)|date=September 2022|doi=10.1093/jhs/hiac007}}</ref>}}

==Comparison with other dharmasastras==
{{further|Dharma|Dharmashastra}}
Along with Manusmriti (''Manava Dharmasastra''), ancient India had between eighteen and thirty six competing ''Dharma-sastras'', states John Bowker.<ref name=bowker/> Many of these texts have been lost completely or in parts, but they are referred to in other ancient Indian texts suggesting that they were influential in some regions or time. Of the numerous jurisprudence-related commentaries and Smriti texts, after Manu Smriti and other than the older Dharma Sutras, Yajnavalkya Smriti has attracted the attention of many scholars, followed by Narada Smriti and Parashara Smriti (the oldest Dharma-smriti).<ref>M. Rama Jois (2004), ''Legal and Constitutional History of India'', Universal Law Publishing, {{ISBN|978-8175342064}}, pp. 19–34</ref> According to Ghose and other scholars, evidence suggests that [[Yajnavalkya Smriti]] was the more referred to text than Manu Smriti in matters of governance and practice. This text, of unclear date of composition but likely to be a few centuries after Manusmriti, is more "concise, methodical, distilled and liberal".<ref name=jois31>M. Rama Jois (2004), ''Legal and Constitutional History of India'', Universal Law Publishing, {{ISBN|978-8175342064}}, p. 31</ref> According to Jois,

{{Blockquote|
Regarding the 18 titles of law, Yajnavalkya follows the same pattern as in Manu with slight modifications. On matters such as women's rights of inheritance and right to hold property, status of Sudras, and criminal penalty, Yajnavalkya is more liberal than Manu. ... He deals exhaustively on subjects like creation of valid documents, law of mortgages, hypothecation, partnership and joint ventures.
|M. Rama Jois|Legal and Constitutional History of India<ref>M. Rama Jois (2004), ''Legal and Constitutional History of India'', Universal Law Publishing, {{ISBN|978-8175342064}}, pp. 31–32</ref>}}

Jois suggests that the [[Yajnavalkya Smriti]] text liberal evolution may have been influenced by [[Buddhism]] in ancient India.<ref name=jois31/> The Yajnavalkya text is also different from Manu text in adding chapters to the  organisation of monasteries, land grants, deeds execution and other matters. The Yajnavalkya text was more referred to by many Hindu kingdoms of the medieval era, as evidenced by the commentary of 12th-century [[Vijñāneśvara]], titled ''Mitakshara''.<ref>M. Rama Jois (2004), ''Legal and Constitutional History of India'', Universal Law Publishing, {{ISBN|978-8175342064}}, p. 32</ref>

==Modern reception==
The ''Manusmrti'' has been subject to appraisal and criticism.<ref>For objections to the work by feminists, see: Avari, pp. 142–143.</ref> Among the notable Indian critics of the text in the early 20th century was [[Bharat Ratna Dr.B. R. Ambedkar]], who held ''Manusmriti'' as responsible for [[caste system in India]]. In protest, Ambedkar [[Manusmriti Dahan Din|burnt ''Manusmrti'']] in a bonfire on 25 December 1927.<ref name=nicholasdirks266>Nicholas Dirks (2001), ''Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India'', Princeton University Press, {{ISBN|978-0691088952}}, pp. 266–269</ref> While Ambedkar condemned Manusmriti, [[Mahatma Gandhi]] opposed the book burning. The latter stated that while caste discrimination was harmful to spiritual and national growth, it had nothing to do with Hinduism and its texts such as Manusmriti. Gandhi argued that the text recognises different callings and professions, defines not one's rights but one's duties, that all work from that of a teacher to a janitor are equally necessary, and of equal status.<ref name=nicholasdirks266/> Gandhi considered ''Manusmriti'' to include lofty teachings but a text with inconsistency and contradictions, whose original text is in no one's possession.<ref name="mahatamagandhi129">Mahatma Gandhi, ''Hinduism according to Gandhi'', Orient Paperbacks (2013 Reprint Edition), {{ISBN|978-8122205589}}, p. 129</ref> He recommended that one must read the entire text, accept those parts of Manusmriti which are consistent with "truth and [[ahinsa|ahimsa]]  (non-injury or non-violence to others)" and the rejection of other parts.<ref name="mahatamagandhi129"/>

The Manu Smriti was one of the first [[Sanskrit]] texts studied by the [[Sanskrit in the West|European philologists]]. It was first translated into English by [[William Jones (philologist)|Sir William Jones]]. His version was published in 1794.<ref>For Manu Smriti as one of the first Sanskrit texts noted by the British and translation by Sir William Jones in 1794, see: Flood (1996), p. 56.</ref> This interest in its translation was encouraged by British administrative requirements, which they believed to be legal codes. In fact, states [[Romila Thapar]], these were not codes of law but social and ritual texts.<ref>For British interest in Dharmashastras due to administrative needs, and their misinterpretation of them as legal codes rather than as social and ritual texts, see: Thapar (2002), pp. 2–3.</ref>

A [[Louis Jacolliot]] translation of the Calcutta version of "Law of Manu" was reviewed by [[Friedrich Nietzsche]]. He commented on it both favourably and unfavorably:
*He deemed it "an incomparably spiritual and superior work" to the Christian [[Bible]], observed that "the sun shines on the whole book" and attributed its ethical perspective to "the noble classes, the philosophers and warriors, [who] stand above the mass".<ref>Friedrich Nietzsche, ''The Antichrist'' (1888), 56–57.</ref> Nietzsche does not advocate a caste system, states [[David Conway (philosopher)|David Conway]], but endorses the political exclusion conveyed in the Manu text.<ref>Daniel Conway (1997), ''Nietzsche and the Political'', Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0415100694}}, p. 36</ref> Nietzsche considered Manu's social order as far from perfect, but considers the general idea of a caste system to be natural and right, and stated that "caste-order, order of rank is just a formula for the supreme law of life itself", a "natural order, lawfulness par excellence".<ref name=young515>Julian Young (2010), ''Friedrich Nietzsche: A Philosophical Biography'', Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|978-0521871174}}, p. 515</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">Aaron Ridley, ''Nietzsche: The Anti-Christ, Ecce Homo, Twilight of the Idols: And Other Writings'', Cambridge University Press, p. 58</ref> According to Nietzsche, states [[Julian Young]], "Nature, not Manu, separates from each other: predominantly spiritual people, people characterized by muscular and temperamental strength, and a third group of people who are not distinguished in either way, the average".<ref name=young515/> He wrote that "To prepare a book of law in the style of Manu means to give a people the right to become master one day, to become perfect, – to aspire to the highest art of life."<ref name="ReferenceB"/>
*The Law of Manu was also criticised by [[Friedrich Nietzsche|Nietzsche]]. He, states  "These regulations are instructive enough: here we encounter for once Aryan humanity, quite pure, quite primordial,—we learn that the concept of "pure blood" is the opposite of a harmless concept".<ref>Walter Kaufmann (1980), ''From Shakespeare to Existentialism'', Princeton University Press, {{ISBN|978-0691013671}}, p. 215</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Nietzsche |first=Friedrich |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=blfwSlxhjvAC&q=portable+nietzsche |title=The Portable Nietzsche |date=1977-01-27 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-1-4406-7419-8 |language=en}}</ref>

[[Bharat Ratna Dr.B. R. Ambedkar]] asserted that ''Manu Smriti'' was written by a sage named [[Brigu]] during the times of [[Pushyamitra Shunga|Pushyamitra of Shunga]] in connection with social pressures caused by the rise of [[Buddhism]].<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Ambedkar|first1=Bhimrao Ramji|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=18W1AAAAIAAJ|title=Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Writings and Speeches: Philosophy of Hinduism ; India and the pre-requisites of communism ; Revolution and counter-revolution ; Buddha or Karl Marx|last2=Moon|first2=Vasant|date=1987|publisher=Education Department, Government of Maharashtra|isbn=978-81-901518-9-4|language=en}}</ref> However, historian [[Romila Thapar]] considers these claims to be exaggerations. Thapar writes that archaeological evidence casts doubt on the claims of Buddhist persecution by [[Pushyamitra Shunga|Pushyamitra]].<ref>Romila Thapar, ''Aśoka and the Decline of the Mauryas,'' Oxford University Press (1960) p. 200.</ref> Support of the Buddhist faith by the [[Shunga Empire|Shungas]] at some point is suggested by an epigraph on the gateway of [[Bharhut]], which mentions its erection "during the supremacy of the Shungas".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://projectsouthasia.sdstate.edu/docs/archaeology/primarydocs/Sanchi/HistArt.htm |title=John Marshall, "An Historical and Artistic Description of Sanchi", from ''A Guide to Sanchi'', citing p. 11. Calcutta: Superintendent, Government Printing (1918). pp. 7–29 on line, Project South Asia. |access-date=20 July 2007 |archive-date=10 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090210033559/http://projectsouthasia.sdstate.edu/docs/archaeology/primarydocs/Sanchi/HistArt.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Pollard et al. state that the code of Manu was derived to answer questions on how men could rebuild their societies following a series of floods.<ref>{{cite book |title=Worlds Together Worlds Apart |author1=Elizabeth Pollard |author2=Clifford Rosenberg |author3=Robert L. Tignor |publisher=Norton |year=2011 |isbn=9780393918472 |location=New York |pages=285}}</ref>{{verify source|date=November 2015}} [[Swami Dayananda Saraswati]], the founder of [[Arya Samaj]], held the text to be authentic and authoritative.<ref>''The Light of Truth'', Chapter 4</ref> Other admirers of the text have included [[Annie Besant]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Pedigree of Man: Four Lectures Delivered at the Twenty-eighth Anniversary Meetings of the Theosophical Society, at Adyar, December, 1903|url=https://archive.org/details/pedigreeofmanfou00besarich|publisher=Theosophical Publishing Society|year=1904}}</ref>

Friedrich Nietzsche is noted to have said "Close the [[Bible]] and open the Manu Smriti. It has an affirmation of life, a triumphing agreeable sensation in life and that to draw up a lawbook such as Manu means to permit oneself to get the upper hand, to become perfection, to be ambitious of the highest art of living."<ref>Friedrich Nietzsche, ''The Will to Power,'' vol. 1.</ref>

==Editions and translations==
*{{Cite book |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/manu.htm |title=Sacred Books of the East: The Laws of Manus |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1886 |volume=XXV |location=Oxford |translator-last=Bühler |translator-first=G.}}
*[[Ganganath Jha]], ''Manusmriti with the Commentary of Medhatithi'', 1920, {{ISBN|8120811550}}
*J. I. Shastri (ed.), ''Manusmriti with Kullukabhatta Commentary'' (1972–1974), reprinted by [[Motilal Banarsidass]], {{ISBN|978-8120807662}}.
*{{Cite book |last=Olivelle |first=Patrick |title=The Law Code of Manu |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |isbn=0192802712 |location=New York}}
*{{Cite book |last=Olivelle |first=Patrick |title=Manu's Code of Law: A Critical Edition and Translation of the Mānava-Dharmaśāstra |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2005 |isbn=0195171462 |location=Oxford}}
*Pranjivan Harihar Pandya (ed.), ''Manusmriti; With a commentary called Manvarth Muktavali by Kullooka Bhatt'', Bombay, 1913.
*Ramacandra Varma Shastri, ''Manusmr̥ti: Bhāratīya ācāra-saṃhitā kā viśvakośa'', Śāśvata Sāhitya Prakāśana, 1997. {{ISBN?}}
*''The Institutes of Hindu Law: Or, The Ordinances of Manu'', Calcutta: Sewell & Debrett, 1796.

==See also==
* [[Apastamba Dharmasutra]]
* [[Arthashastra]]
* [[Classical Hindu law]]
* [[Classical Hindu law in practice]]
* [[Dharmaśāstra]]
* [[Gentoo Code]]
* [[Hindu law]]
* [[Kalpa (Vedanga)]]
* [[Kalpa Sūtra]]
* [[Vajrasuchi Upanishad#Question on the four varnas|Vajrasuchi Upanishad]]
* [[Yājñavalkya Smṛti]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|2}}

==References==
*{{cite book |last=Flood |first=Gavin |title=An Introduction to Hinduism |url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi0000floo |url-access=registration |year=1996 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn= 0521438780}}
*{{CathEncy|wstitle=The Laws of Manu}}
*{{cite book |last=Hopkins |first=Thomas J.|title=The Hindu Religious Tradition|year=1971 |publisher=Wadsworth Publishing Company|location=Belmont, California}}{{ISBN?}}
*{{cite book |last=Jha |first=Ganganath |title=Manusmṛti with the Manubhāṣya of Medhātithi |url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/manusmriti-with-the-commentary-of-medhatithi |year=1920 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishers |isbn=8120811550}}
*{{cite book |last=Keay |first=John|title=India: A History |year=2000 |publisher=Grove Press |location=New York |isbn=0802137970 }}
*{{cite book |last=Kulke |first=Hermann |author2=Rothermund, Dietmar  |title=A History of India|year=1986 |publisher=Barnes & Noble|location=New York|isbn= 0880295775}}
*{{cite book|last= Olivelle |first=Patrick| chapter = Dharmasastra: A Literary History| title =Law and Hinduism: An Introduction| editor=Lubin, Timothy |editor2=Krishnan, Jayanth |editor3=Davis, Jr. Donald R. | publisher = Cambridge University Press| year= 2010| isbn=978-0521716260}}
*{{cite book |last=Thapar |first=Romila |author-link=Romila Thapar |title=Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300 |year=2002 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley, California |isbn=0520242254 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/earlyindiafromor00thap }}

==External links==
* [https://www.yoopery.com/2021/06/What-is-manusmriti-in-english.html 12th chapters of manusmriti]

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