Manusmriti

“ No greater millstone could be hung around the neck of any people than that of the multitudinous caste rules of Manu and later accretions which are the all in all of Hindu life. There may have been good in this system in the past, and it may have conserved some blessings of antiquity; but today it is the worst tyranny and the greatest curse that has blasted the life of the people. It is the source of their physical degeneracy, for it compels them to marry within narrow lines of consanguinity. It has cursed the people with a narrow sympathy ”

“ The Hindoo law-book of Manu goes farther and says that “even an infant king must not be despised from an idea that he is a mere mortal; for he is a great deity in human form.” There is said to have been a sect in Orissa some years ago who worshipped the late Queen Victoria in her lifetime as their chief divinity. And to this day in India all living persons remarkable for great strength or valour or for supposed miraculous powers run the risk of being worshipped as gods. Thus, a sect in the Punjaub worshipped a deity whom they called Nikkal Sen. ”

“ If one does not acquire merits, then one has sorrow. Therefore must he who is acquiring merits offer sacrificial gifts, as is fitting. In this world and in the future will he, if he offer up gifts, obtain happiness.”
The inhabitants of the town and country heard that King Māndhātar had fallen ill and was nigh unto death. Having learnt this, many hundreds of thousands of men assembled in order to see King Māndhātar. The king spoke to the multitudes upon the evil of lust and the ills of house-life, and then condemned desire. ”

“ From the sun sprang Manu whose sons were Ikshawaku, Nriga, Dwrishta, Saryati, Narishyanta, Pransu, Nabhaga, Nedishta, Karusha, and Prishadhra. Being desirous of having offspring formerly Manu celebrated a sacrifice in honour of Mitra and Varuna; but the ceremony being unsuccessful on account of some irregularity from the presiding priest a daughter Ilā was born. But by the mercy of the two deities however, her sex was changed and she became a man under the name of Sudyumna. And he again became a woman under an imprecation (from Siva) near the hermitage of Buddha, the son of the moon. ”

“ I feared that my knife was too short to ward off the Hindu's sword. Denviers was getting the better of the enemy with whom he fought, and the tall Hindu was wounded, although he fought bravely on. I felt that it was a matter of life or death, and made a lunge at my own foe to settle which of us should conquer. He parried the blow, and a moment after I was down with the Hindu kneeling upon my chest, and his sword-point at my throat. I saw something white gleam before my eyes, then the Hindu was pulled violently from me. I rose and saw the second Hindu lying motionless. ”

“ Thus, in the ancient collection of laws called the Manu (viii. 92) occurs the following passage, “Within thine heart dwells the god Jama, the son of Vivasvat: when thou hast no variance with him, thou hast no need to repair to the Gangâ, nor the Kuruxêtra;” meaning clearly, “If thou hast nothing on thy conscience, thou hast no object in making a pilgrimage.” Muni, “who keepeth watch over virtue and over sin,” however, more properly represents conscience. ”

“ Chanden Sing, who was well versed in religious matters, explained that only Hindoo pilgrims who had lost both parents shaved their heads on visiting Mansarowar, as a sacrifice to Siva, and if they were of a high caste, on their return to their native land after the pilgrimage, it was customary to entertain all the Brahmins of the town to a banquet. A man who had bathed in Mansarowar was held in great respect by everybody, and commanded the admiration and envy of the entire world. ”

“ Even as a child tries to put its father in an amiable state of mind before presenting its petition, the believer's motive in coming forward with precious gifts—the flesh even of his own little ones—or with elaborate and highly finished compliments, is to throw a spell upon the deity, to charm him, as it were, into granting the petitioner his request. The savage actually believed that the savour of burning flesh, and the sight of palpitating blood shed at the altars, so delighted or intoxicated the deity that almost any favor could be wrested from him while in that condition. ”

“ Manaswi, the Brahman’s son, was so completely overcome, that he lay there dead to everything. Just then the learned, deeply read, and purblind Pandits Muldev and Shashi by name, strayed into the garden, and stumbled upon the body.
“Friend,” said Muldev, “how came this youth thus to fall senseless on the ground?”
“Man,” replied Shashi, “doubtless some damsel has shot forth the arrows of her glances from the bow of her eyebrows, and thence he has become insensible!” ”

“ The Hindu woman replied: "Yes, sahib, you shall escape, but not immediately. Tonight I will hide you where none will be able to discover your place of concealment; when morning dawns you must make the effort upon which your life will depend. Hidden within this temple, you will hear to-morrow the Brahmins as they utter their chants calling upon Shiva to accept the sacrifice which they intend to make. ”

“ On the Aunri hill are two dreaded demons, Deorâsan and Birwat, the latter a Bîr or malignant ghost of some one who died a violent death. They rule the hail, and at harvest time the Baiga offers a goat, and spreading rice on the ground, prays—“O Lord [63] Mahâdeva! May this offering be effectual.” Mangesar, the rugged peak which frowns over the valley of the Son, is a popular local god of the various Kolarian races, and a shrine to Bâba or Râja Mangesar, “the father and the king,” is found in many of their villages. ”

“ Manu is considered a law giver in the Hindu tradition. Manu Smriti is one of the 18 Smritis. It is important to note that laws given by Manu, in Manu Smriti although followed in some form even today, are not considered divine, and may be modified by the society to keep up with the times. Indeed, it has been speculated that in its current form, Manu Smriti represents laws that have been added or modified throughout the history. ”

“ Unhistorical as they probably are in their details, these traditions are curious both as illustrating the predominant inclination to speculative inquiries, and the fact that in those inquiries the priestly caste was sometimes outshone by their more secular rivals. The following quotation bears upon another doctrine, the transcendent merit of patience under trials, even of the severest kind. Manu, the typical ancestor of mankind, is represented as resigning his most precious possessions to enable impious priests to perform a sacrifice:—
"Manu had a bull. ”

“ The Code of Manu has been classified as, 1st, sacred knowledge and religion; 2d, philosophy; 3d, social rules and caste organization; 4th, criminal and civil laws; 5th, systems of penance; 6th, eschatology, or the doctrine of future rewards. No uninspired or non-Vedic production has equal authority in India. We can only judge of its date by its relative place among other books. It applies Vedic names to the gods, though it mentions Brahma and Vishnu, but it makes no reference to the Trimurti. Pantheism was evidently in existence and was made prominent in the code. ”

“ Manaswi rejoined: “The Deity in his beneficence has created many jewels in this world, but the pearl, woman, is chiefest of all; and for her sake only does man desire wealth. What are riches to one who has abandoned his wife? ”

“ It is tormented
she was with these giving out you were done away
with, and mocking at your weapons that they laid
down to be the cleaver and the spit, till the heart
broke in her like a nut.
Manus: (Kneeling beside her.) Then it is myself
have brought the death darkness upon you at the
very time I thought to have saved you!
Nurse: There is no blame upon you, but some
that had too much talk!
(Goes on keening.)
Manus: What call had I to come humbugging
and letting on as I did, teasing and tormenting
her, and not coming as a King should that is come
to ask for a Queen! ”

“ I am happier than King Mansoor, who has no Ali, no child.' The king frowned as black as thunder, and he understood wherefore he was unhappy: he had no child to play on his knee when care oppressed his heart. As he thought of this, rage increased within him, and drawing a concealed sword, before the wezeer could interpose with his wisdom, he smote the infant, crying: 'Woman, be as miserable as King Mansoor.' Then he dropped the sword, and alarmed by the shrieks of the poor mother, thought that if he was found in that costume, the people might do vengeance on him ”

“ As every Manu establishes the same Manava Dharma again and again, and as the Manus are higher than Buddha and other founders of religions, I should call upon you to pay all possible attention to this subject. Manu is higher, because he overshadows a Buddha. ”

“ According to legend, Mansarowar was created by Brahma, and he who shall bathe in its waters will share the paradise of Mahadeva! No matter what crimes he may have previously committed, a dip in the holy lake is sufficient to purge the soul as well as the body! To please my men, therefore, and perhaps bring myself some luck, I too hurled a couple of coins into the water.
The purifying ablutions being over, I ordered Chanden Sing to take his rifle and follow me into the Gomba, as the Lamas were so polite that I feared treachery on their part. ”

“ It should be set down to the credit of the Code of Manu that with all its relentless cruelty toward woman it nowhere gives countenance to the atrocious custom of widow-burning which soon afterward became an important factor in the Hindu system and desolated the homes of India for more than two thousand years. ”

“ The one phrase which expresses the whole spirit of the laws of Manu is intense conservatism. They stand for the definite authority of dogma; they re-assert in strong terms the authority of the Vedas; they establish and fortify by all possible influences, the institution of caste. They enclose as in an iron framework, all domestic, social, civil, and religious institutions. They embrace not only the destiny of men upon the earth, but also the rewards and punishments of the future life. ”

“ At the outer door of this temple—which at night is strongly guarded—you will find in the daytime only two Hindus armed with sword. You approach will doubtless heard however softly you may tread, such is the acuteness of hearing which distinguishes our race. Two minutes afterwards your fate will be irrevocably decided." Taking them from beneath her robe, the Dasi held out to each of us a wide-bladed knife and then continued:—
"Armed thus, you will each engage with one of the guards. Knife against sword is unequal fighting; act, therefore, only on the defensive, and stain not Shiva's temple. ”

“ By repeating the Gayatri (a certain verse of the Rigveda addressed to the sun) a man is saved. "A brahman who holds the Veda in his memory is not culpable though he should destroy the three worlds"—so says the Code of Manu. The Tantras, or ritual works of modern Hinduism, abound in such prescriptions for sinners. "He who liberates a bull at the Aswamedika place of pilgrimage obtains mukti, that is salvation or an end of his rebirths." "All sin is destroyed by the repetition of Kali's thousand names." "The water of a guru's [religious teacher's] feet purifies from all sin." ”

“ And in Manu's race have been born all human beings, who have, therefore, been called Manavas. And it is of Manu that all men including Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, and others have been descended, and are, therefore, all called Manavas. Subsequently, O monarch, the Brahmanas became united with the Kshatriyas. And those sons of Manu that were Brahmanas devoted themselves to the study of the Vedas. And Manu begat ten other children named Vena, Dhrishnu, Narishyan, Nabhaga, Ikshvaku, Karusha, Saryati, the eighth, a daughter named Ila, Prishadhru the ninth, and Nabhagarishta, the tenth. ”

“ Where there is fear there is no religion. The charge is a compliment in that it is a reluctant acknowledgment of my capacity for appreciating the beauties of Christianity. Let me own this. If I could call myself, say, a Christian or a Mussalman, with my own interpretation of the Bible or the Quran, I should not hesitate to call myself either. For then Hindu, Christian and Mussalman would be synonymous terms.” [16]
India has always opened her heart to great leaders. ”

“ Moreover, Manasses shed also very much innocent blood, till he filled Jerusalem up to the mouth: besides his sins, wherewith he made Juda to sin, to do evil before the Lord.
21:17. Now the rest of the acts of Manasses, and all that he did, and his sin, which he sinned, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda?
21:18. And Manasses slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Oza: and Amon, his son, reigned in his stead. ”

“ Since the beginning of the present Kalpa creation, six Manwantaras, each ending with the Deluge, have passed away. We are just now living in the seventh of which twenty-seven Divine Cycles have rolled away and we are now living in the Iron Age of the twenty-eighth. Many millions of years therefore have gone by since the last Flood. Towards the end of the Kali Yuga of the last Manwantara, mankind became filled with the utmost corruption. But there was, according to the Mahābhārata and the Bhāgavat Purana, one man, by the name of King Satyavrata, whom this spirit of corruption failed to touch. ”