Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 25.djvu/38

 we have in our passage the usual arrangement followed in the Dharma-sûtras. First comes the prose rule, next the verses which confirm it, and finally a Vedic passage on which both the rule and the verses rest. It may be added that the explanation of the passage given by Krishna-pandita Dharmâdhikârin in his commentary on Vasishtha, according to which the word Mânavam, explained above by 'the Mânava (Sûtra),' is to mean 'the (opinion) of Manu' (manumatam), cannot be upheld, for several reasons. First, the wording of the text of Sûtra 5 looks like a real quotation, not like a summary of Manu's views by Vasishtha. This becomes quite clear, if we compare Vasishtha I, 17, where undoubtedly a rule of Manu, corresponding to Mânava Dh. VII, 203, and VIII, 41, is given in Vasishtha's words, 'Manu has declared (that) the (peculiar) laws of countries, castes, and families (may be followed) in the absence of (rules of) the revealed texts .' Secondly, the great differences between several other passages, quoted by Vasishtha as Manu's, and the corresponding passages of the text of our Manu-smriti, as well as the fact that the latter, as we have seen, refers to the Vâsishtha Dharmasâstra, do not permit us to assume, with Krishnapandita, that Vasishtha knew and referred to our Manu.

If it is thus necessary to admit that Vasishtha's quotation is taken from a Mânava Dharma-sûtra, the agreement of the doctrine taught in the quotation and of a portion of the text with those of our Manu-smriti show further that this Dharma-sûtra must have been the forerunner of our metrical law-book. An examination of the other quotations from Manu, which occur in the Vasishtha-smriti, will show that this agreement was, though pretty close, not complete. The identity of the view, ascribed to Manu by Vasishtha I, 17, with the contents of Manu VII, 303, and VIII, 41, has already been mentioned. Vasishtha III, 2, a Mânava Sloka is quoted which agrees literally with Manu II, 168. The same remark applies to the quotation at Vasishtha XX, 18, which is found Manu XI, 153. Another passage,