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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1= which recently have come to light impart a higher degree of probability to the alleged connexion between Manu and Narada, than was formerly allowed by myself. Thus the contents of Narada’s Preface to his Smriti appear xii NARADA. to have been known to such an early author as MedhAtithi, who quotes it, rather loosely it is true, in his Commentary on the Code of Manu, where he says that ‘this work, consisting of one hundred thousand (slokas), was composed by Pragapati and abridged successively by Manu and the rest? This goes far to prove that the Preface to the Narada-smriti had attained notoriety as early as the ninth century A.D., and must be nearly or quite as old as the remainder of the work. The antiquity of the account given by Narada of the origin and history of the principal code of ancient India is supported to some extent by the Paurazik statement regarding four successive remodellings of the original composition of Svayambhuva (Manu), by Bhrigu, Narada, Brzhaspati, and Angiras®, and by a curious tradition preserved in the MahabhArata, to the effect that the original Dharmasdstra, produced by Brahman in 100,000 chapters, was successively reduced to 10,000, 5,000, 3,000, and 1,000 chapters by Samkara, Indra, Brzhaspati, and Kavya*. What is more, in a colophon of the ancient Nepalese MS. of the Narada-smriti, that work is actually designed as the Manava Dharmasastra in the recension of Narada (manave dharmasdstre néradaproktayam samhitayam), just as the Code of Manu in the colophons is usually called the Manava Dharmasastra in the recension of Bhvzgu (manave dharmasdstre bhriguproktayam samhitay4m, or manave dharmasastre bhriguprokte). Again, the chapter on theft (£aurapratishedha), which has come to light in Mr. Bendall’s Nepalese Palm-leaf MS. of Narada, and in a Nepalese paper MS. recently discovered by the same scholar, forms an appendix to the body of the Naradasmriti, exactly in the same way as an analogous chapter on robbery and other criminal offences is tacked on at the close of the eighteen titles of law in the Code of Manu, IX, 252-293. It also deserves to be noted, perhaps, that the Dhamathats of Burma, while professing to be founded * Manu/fk4saigraha, p. 39, gloss on Manu I, 58; Biihler, Sacred Books of the East, vol. xxv, p. xv. ? Mandlik’s Hindu Law, p. xlvii. 5 Mahabharata XII, 59, 22, and 80 foll.; Biihler, ibid. p. xcvi. INTRODUCTION. xiii
239, gloss on Manu I, 58; Biihler, Sacred Books of the East, vol. xxv, p. xv. ? Mandlik’s Hindu Law, p. xlvii. 5 Mahabharata XII, 59, 22, and 80 foll.; Biihler, ibid. p. xcvi. INTRODUCTION. xiii on the laws of Manu, contain several rules and maxims which may be traced to the Ndrada-smriti, whereas they do not occur in the Code of Manu?. Although, therefore, there appears to be an element of Manu anterior truth in Narada’s account of the history of to Narada. = the Code of Manu, and of his own Smriti, there can be no doubt that the actual position of the two works has been inverted by him. The composition of Bhrigu, or of Sumati, the son of Bhrigu, i.e. the now extant Code of Manu, is not posterior, but decidedly anterior, in date to the Narada-smrtti, as may be gathered easily from a comparison of both works. Thus e.g. Narada mentions twenty-one modes of acquiring property, fifteen sorts of slaves, fourteen species of impotency, three kinds of women twice married, and four kinds of wanton women, twenty women whom a man must not approach, thirty-two divisions of the law of gift, eleven sorts of witnesses, five or seven ordeals, four or five losers of their suit, two kinds of proof and two kinds of documents, seven advantages resulting from a just decision, eight members of a lawsuit, one hundred and thirty-two divisions of the eighteen principal titles of law. The first germs of some of these theories may be traced to the Code of Manu, and it is interesting to note how these germs have been developed by Narada. As a rule, his judicial theories show an infinitely advanced stage of development as compared to Manu’s, and his treatment of the law of procedure, in particular, abounding as it does in technical terms and nice distinctions, and exhibiting a decided preference for documentary evidence and written records over oral testimony and verbal procedure, exhibits manifest signs of recent composition. An analogous inference may be drawn from the fact that Narada acquainted Ndrada was apparently acquainted with a with the Code work either identical with, or closely allied of Manu. to, the now extant Code of Manu. His analysis of the contents of the original Code composed by Manu in 100,000 slokas corresponds in the main to the topics ! Forchhammer, The Jardine Prize Essay, pp. 54-58. xiv NARADA.
3to, the now extant Code of Manu. His analysis of the contents of the original Code composed by Manu in 100,000 slokas corresponds in the main to the topics ! Forchhammer, The Jardine Prize Essay, pp. 54-58. xiv NARADA. treated in that work as it now stands. He quotes the opening verse of the original gigantic work of Manu, and it is a remarkable coincidence that this verse agrees with Manu I, 5, 6, i.e. with the actual exordium of the Code of Manu, as vv. I-4 serve as an introduction only, and may be a subsequent addition. Forensic law is alleged to have formed the subject of the ninth chapter of the original composition of Manu. In the Code of Manu, law and judicature are discussed in the eighth and ninth chapters. The twenty-four chapters, divided into one thousand and eighty, i.e. 45 x 24 sections, of the original Code, seem to represent double the twelve chapters of the Code of Manu. On the other hand, Sumati, the son of Bhvigu, who is alleged to have reduced the original Code of Manu to its present size, and to have produced the law-book now current among mankind, may be identified with Bhrigu, the supposed author of the actual Manu-smrti; and the number of 4,000 slokas, which is assigned to his composition, may be taken to be a rough statement of the actual extent of the Manu-smriti, which in reality runs up to 2,685 slokas only. A consideration of these facts leaves but little.doubt that the compiler of the Ndrada-smrzti, whoever he was, must have been acquainted with a work closely akin to the now extant Manu-smriti. This is so much the more probable because several of his references to the authoritative enunciations of Manu may be actually traced to the Manusmriti1, and because a number of verses either occurring in the MSS. of the Narada-smriti, or attributed to him by the digest-writers, recur in the Code of Manu. However, though acquainted with the Code of Manu, the Discrepancies so-called Narada was far from offering a between Manu mere slavish reproduction of its doctrines and Narada. i) his own work. On the contrary, the Narada-smr?ti must be considered as an independent, and therefore specially valuable, exposition of the whole system of civil and criminal law, as taught in the law schools of the period. It is in fact the only Smrtti, completely preserved 1 See e. g. Appendix 26 (p. 227) and Manu VIII, 320; Appendix 34 (p. 228) and Manu VIII, 334; Appendix 36, 37 (p. 228) and Manu VIII, 124, 125. INTRODUCTION. , xv
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1= which recently have come to light impart a higher degree of probability to the alleged connexion between Manu and Narada, than was formerly allowed by myself. Thus the contents of Narada’s Preface to his Smriti appear xii NARADA. to have been known to such an early author as MedhAtithi, who quotes it, rather loosely it is true, in his Commentary on the Code of Manu, where he says that ‘this work, consisting of one hundred thousand (slokas), was composed by Pragapati and abridged successively by Manu and the rest? This goes far to prove that the Preface to the Narada-smriti had attained notoriety as early as the ninth century A.D., and must be nearly or quite as old as the remainder of the work. The antiquity of the account given by Narada of the origin and history of the principal code of ancient India is supported to some extent by the Paurazik statement regarding four successive remodellings of the original composition of Svayambhuva (Manu), by Bhrigu, Narada, Brzhaspati, and Angiras®, and by a curious tradition preserved in the MahabhArata, to the effect that the original Dharmasdstra, produced by Brahman in 100,000 chapters, was successively reduced to 10,000, 5,000, 3,000, and 1,000 chapters by Samkara, Indra, Brzhaspati, and Kavya*. What is more, in a colophon of the ancient Nepalese MS. of the Narada-smriti, that work is actually designed as the Manava Dharmasastra in the recension of Narada (manave dharmasdstre néradaproktayam samhitayam), just as the Code of Manu in the colophons is usually called the Manava Dharmasastra in the recension of Bhvzgu (manave dharmasdstre bhriguproktayam samhitay4m, or manave dharmasastre bhriguprokte). Again, the chapter on theft (£aurapratishedha), which has come to light in Mr. Bendall’s Nepalese Palm-leaf MS. of Narada, and in a Nepalese paper MS. recently discovered by the same scholar, forms an appendix to the body of the Naradasmriti, exactly in the same way as an analogous chapter on robbery and other criminal offences is tacked on at the close of the eighteen titles of law in the Code of Manu, IX, 252-293. It also deserves to be noted, perhaps, that the Dhamathats of Burma, while professing to be founded * Manu/fk4saigraha, p. 39, gloss on Manu I, 58; Biihler, Sacred Books of the East, vol. xxv, p. xv. ? Mandlik’s Hindu Law, p. xlvii. 5 Mahabharata XII, 59, 22, and 80 foll.; Biihler, ibid. p. xcvi. INTRODUCTION. xiii
239, gloss on Manu I, 58; Biihler, Sacred Books of the East, vol. xxv, p. xv. ? Mandlik’s Hindu Law, p. xlvii. 5 Mahabharata XII, 59, 22, and 80 foll.; Biihler, ibid. p. xcvi. INTRODUCTION. xiii on the laws of Manu, contain several rules and maxims which may be traced to the Ndrada-smriti, whereas they do not occur in the Code of Manu?. Although, therefore, there appears to be an element of Manu anterior truth in Narada’s account of the history of to Narada. = the Code of Manu, and of his own Smriti, there can be no doubt that the actual position of the two works has been inverted by him. The composition of Bhrigu, or of Sumati, the son of Bhrigu, i.e. the now extant Code of Manu, is not posterior, but decidedly anterior, in date to the Narada-smrtti, as may be gathered easily from a comparison of both works. Thus e.g. Narada mentions twenty-one modes of acquiring property, fifteen sorts of slaves, fourteen species of impotency, three kinds of women twice married, and four kinds of wanton women, twenty women whom a man must not approach, thirty-two divisions of the law of gift, eleven sorts of witnesses, five or seven ordeals, four or five losers of their suit, two kinds of proof and two kinds of documents, seven advantages resulting from a just decision, eight members of a lawsuit, one hundred and thirty-two divisions of the eighteen principal titles of law. The first germs of some of these theories may be traced to the Code of Manu, and it is interesting to note how these germs have been developed by Narada. As a rule, his judicial theories show an infinitely advanced stage of development as compared to Manu’s, and his treatment of the law of procedure, in particular, abounding as it does in technical terms and nice distinctions, and exhibiting a decided preference for documentary evidence and written records over oral testimony and verbal procedure, exhibits manifest signs of recent composition. An analogous inference may be drawn from the fact that Narada acquainted Ndrada was apparently acquainted with a with the Code work either identical with, or closely allied of Manu. to, the now extant Code of Manu. His analysis of the contents of the original Code composed by Manu in 100,000 slokas corresponds in the main to the topics ! Forchhammer, The Jardine Prize Essay, pp. 54-58. xiv NARADA.
3to, the now extant Code of Manu. His analysis of the contents of the original Code composed by Manu in 100,000 slokas corresponds in the main to the topics ! Forchhammer, The Jardine Prize Essay, pp. 54-58. xiv NARADA. treated in that work as it now stands. He quotes the opening verse of the original gigantic work of Manu, and it is a remarkable coincidence that this verse agrees with Manu I, 5, 6, i.e. with the actual exordium of the Code of Manu, as vv. I-4 serve as an introduction only, and may be a subsequent addition. Forensic law is alleged to have formed the subject of the ninth chapter of the original composition of Manu. In the Code of Manu, law and judicature are discussed in the eighth and ninth chapters. The twenty-four chapters, divided into one thousand and eighty, i.e. 45 x 24 sections, of the original Code, seem to represent double the twelve chapters of the Code of Manu. On the other hand, Sumati, the son of Bhvigu, who is alleged to have reduced the original Code of Manu to its present size, and to have produced the law-book now current among mankind, may be identified with Bhrigu, the supposed author of the actual Manu-smrti; and the number of 4,000 slokas, which is assigned to his composition, may be taken to be a rough statement of the actual extent of the Manu-smriti, which in reality runs up to 2,685 slokas only. A consideration of these facts leaves but little.doubt that the compiler of the Ndrada-smrzti, whoever he was, must have been acquainted with a work closely akin to the now extant Manu-smriti. This is so much the more probable because several of his references to the authoritative enunciations of Manu may be actually traced to the Manusmriti1, and because a number of verses either occurring in the MSS. of the Narada-smriti, or attributed to him by the digest-writers, recur in the Code of Manu. However, though acquainted with the Code of Manu, the Discrepancies so-called Narada was far from offering a between Manu mere slavish reproduction of its doctrines and Narada. i) his own work. On the contrary, the Narada-smr?ti must be considered as an independent, and therefore specially valuable, exposition of the whole system of civil and criminal law, as taught in the law schools of the period. It is in fact the only Smrtti, completely preserved 1 See e. g. Appendix 26 (p. 227) and Manu VIII, 320; Appendix 34 (p. 228) and Manu VIII, 334; Appendix 36, 37 (p. 228) and Manu VIII, 124, 125. INTRODUCTION. , xv
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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