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Author: Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 9780140445404 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 444
Book Description
The Laws of Manu form a towering work of Hindu philosophy. Composed by many Brahmin priests, this is an extraordinary, encyclopaedic representation of human life in the world, and how it should be lived. Manu encompasses topics as wide-ranging as the social obligations and duties of the various castes, the proper way for a righteous king to rule and to punish transgressors, relations between men and women, birth, death, taxes, karma, rebirth and ritual practices. First translated into English in 1794, its influence spread from Nietzsche to the British Raj, and although often misinterpreted, it remains an essential work for understanding India today. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Author: Mohan Kumar Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 448
Book Description
The Manusmṛiti is an ancient legal text of Hindus. It was one of the first Sanskrit texts to have been translated into English in 1776, by Sir William Jones, and was used to formulate the Hindu law by the British colonial government.Over fifty manuscripts of the Manusmriti are found till, but the earliest discovered, most translated and presumed authentic version since the 18th century has been the "Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) manuscript with Kulluka Bhatta commentary". Modern scholarship states this presumed authenticity is false, and the various manuscripts of Manusmriti discovered in India are inconsistent with each other, and within themselves, raising concerns of its authenticity, insertions and interpolations made into the text in later times. The metrical text is in Sanskrit, is variously dated to be from the 2nd century BCE to 3rd century CE, and it presents itself as a discourse given by Manu (Svayambhuva) and Bhrigu on dharma topics such as duties, rights, laws, conduct, virtues and others. The text's fame spread outside Bharat (India), long before the colonial era. The medieval era Buddhistic law of Myanmar and Thailand are also ascribed to Manu, and the text influenced past Hindu kingdoms in Cambodia and Indonesia.Manusmriti is also called the Mānava-Dharmaśāstra or Laws of Manu.The modern version of the text has been subdivided into twelve Adhyayas (chapters), but the original text had no such division. 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. The text can be broadly divided into four, each of different length, and each further divided into subsections:1.Creation of the world2.Source of dharma3.The dharma of the four social classes4.Law of karma, rebirth and final liberationThe 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. The first 58 verses are attributed by the text to Manu, while the remaining more than two thousand verses are attributed to his student Bhrigu.Manusmriti is usually traslated as "code of Manu", but it literally means "reflections of Manu". It presents itself as a document that compiles and organises the code of conduct for human society.It came into being roughly 1,800 years ago, around the period that saw yagna-based Vedic Hinduism transform into temple-based Puranic Hinduism.Mansumriti is the law book of Hindus, something like the Constitution of India. Manusmriti or Manava-dharma-shastra, is a smriti (that which is recollected): the work of man, subject to change with time (kala), place (sthan) and participants (patra).Hindus believe that to make life meaningful (purusha-artha), we have to pursue four goals simultaneously: be socially responsible (dharma), generate and distribute wealth (artha), indulge in pleasure (kama) and don't get to attached to anything (moksha).The origin of Manusmriti is attributed to Brahma, the creator, who passes it on to the first human, Manu, who passes it on to the first teacher, Bhrigu, who passes it on to other sages. Since its composition, Manusmriti was seen as the foremost dharma-shastra, overshadowing all other law books. Manusmriti aligns with the Vedic view that society is composed of four kinds of communities - those who know the Vedas (brahmins), those who govern the land (kshatriyas), those who trade (vaishyas) and those who serve (shudra).Manusmriti was one of the many dharmashastras, and it was not much in use as India came to be increasingly governed by Muslim rulers, such as the Sultans of Delhi and the Deccan and Bengal. When the British East India Company took over the governance of India from the Mughals, they compiled law for managing their subjects.For Muslims, they accepted the then prevalent Sharia, but for Hindus, they had nothing.
Author: John Murdoch Publisher: Forgotten Books ISBN: 9781330276655 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 104
Book Description
Excerpt from The Laws of Manu: Or Manava Dharma-Sástra, Abridged English Translation Sruti and Smriti. - The sacred books of the Hindus are divided into two great classes, called Sruti and Smriti. Sruti, which means 'hearing' denotes direct revelation; Smriti, 'recollection' includes the sacred books which are admitted to have been composed by human authors. Classed under Sruti, are the Vedas, the Brahmanas, and the Upanishads. Smriti, in its widest sense, includes almost the whole of post-vedic literature The principal divisions are the six Vedangas, the Smarta-Sutras, the Dharma-Sastras or Law Books, the Epic Poems, the eighteen Puranas, and the Upa-Puranas. Yajur Veda. - The Rig-Veda denotes the Veda of hymns of praise. The Sama-Veda contains extracts from the Rig-Veda, arranged for the purpose of being chanted at sacrifices. The Atharva-Veda is of later origin than the others. It is sometimes called the Cursing Veda, because it contains so many mantras supposed to be able to cause the destruction of enemies. The Yajur-Veda will be noticed rather more at length from its close connection with the Dharma-Satras. The name comes from yaj, 'sacrifice.' It contains the formulas and verses to be muttered by the priests and their assistants who had chiefly to prepare the sacrificial ground, to dress the altar, slay the victims, and pour out the libations. The first sentences in one of the two divisions were to be uttered by the priest as he cut from a particular tree a switch with which to drive away the calves from the cows whose milk was to furnish the material of the offering. There are two principal texts of the Yajur-Veda, called respectively the White and the Black, or the Vajasaneyi and Taittiriya Sanhitas. The Vishnu Purana gives the followiug explanation of their names: Vaisampayana, a pupil of the great Vyasa, was the original teacher of the Black Yajur-Veda. Yajnavalkya, one of his disciples, having displeased him, was called upon by his master to part with the knowledge which he had acquired from him. He forthwith vomited the Yajur-Veda. The other disciples of Vaisampayana, assuming the form of partridges (tittiri), picked up from the ground its several dirtied texts. From this circumstance it received the name of Taittiriya Krishna Yajur-Veda. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.