v The other sages wrote Sanhitsts on the same model, and they all cited Manze for authority, whose Sanhitā must therefore be fairly considered to be the basis of all the text-books on the system of Hindu jurisprudence. The law of Manu was so much revered even by the sages that no part of their codes was respected if it contradicted Manu. The sage Vrihaspati, now supposed to preside over the planet Jupiter, says in his law tract, that “ Mann, held the first rank among legislators, because he had expressed in his code the whole sense of the orda - that no code was approved, which contradicted Manu ; that other Shdistras , and treatises on grammar or logic retained eplendour so long only as Manu, who taught the way to just wealth, to virtue, and to final happiness, was not seen in competition with them.” Vyāsa too, the son of Parāsara before mentioned, has decided that the Veda with its Angas or the six compositions deduced from it, the revealed system of medicine, the Purúnas or sacred histories," and the code of Manu were four works of supreme authority, which ought never to bo shaken by arguments merely human. Above all he is highly honored by name in the Veda itself where it is declared that what Manzu pronounced was a medicine sor the soul. The following is a concise description of the works of several of the other sages. Atri composed a remarkable law treatise in verse, which is extant. Pishnu is the author of an excellent law treatise, which is for the most part in verse. II.irita wrote a treatise in prose. Metrical abridgments of both these works are also extant. Jianyavalkya appears, from the introduction to his own institutes, to have delivered his precepts to an audience of ancient philosophers assembled in the province of Mzithil... The institutes of Joignyavalkya are second in importance to Manve, and have been arranged in three books: viz. ochára, vyāvahára, and práyaschitta kándas, containing one thousand and twenty-three couplets.” C's and (crude form Usanas) composed his institutes in verse, and there is an abridgment 略史 of the same. the doctrincs of Veda. which the composer of our Dharmoz Shāstra must have studied very diligently. since great, numbers of its texts, changed only in a few syllables for the sake of the measure, are interspersed through the work. A spirit, of sublime devotion. of benevolen.:” to m linkind, and of amiablo tenderness to sentient, creatures pervades the whole work ; the style of it has a certain austere majesty that sounds like the lauguage of legislation and extorts respectful awe; the schtimouts of independence on all beings but God, aul harst. ndmonitions even to kings, are truly noble ; and the pancayrics on the Goyatri, the mother (as it is called) of ille Petras, prove the author to liave adored (not the visible material sun, but ) that divine incomparable greater light, ( to use th: words of the in 5st venerable text of Indian Seripture,) which illumlines all. delights all, from whit'll all proceed, to which all must return, and which alone cau cradicate (not our visual organs merely but, our souls and ) our intellects.” Mr. Morley, the author of the Analytical Digest, who in his introduction to the Hindu law has eit: , t the observations of the Sanserit scholars of Enropo, mak os tlnis concludirig rcmark :—-** Whatever mmay lore tlio exact period at which the Mānava Dharma. Shdistra was composed or collected, it is undoubtedly of very great antiquity, and is eminently worthy of the attention of the scholar, whether on areount of its ...lassical beauty. and proving as it does that, even at the remote epoch of its compositiou. the Hindus had at tained to a high degree of civilisation, or whether we regard it as held to be a divino revelation. and consequently the chief guide of moral and religious duties, by nearly a hundred millions of beings.” Morley's I)iige-'. Vol. I. Introd. p. cxcvii. The other Sanscrit scholars too of Europe do not and cannot deny that the Sanhits of Asant is the most ancient, or the sirst work of law. _
- The age of this code cannot be fixed with any certainity, but it is of considerable antiquity, as indeed is proved by passages from it being found on inscriptions in every part of India, dated in the tenth and cleventh centuries after Christ. “To have been so widely diffused,” says Professor Wilson. “ and to have then attained a general character as an authority, a considerable time must have elapsed; aud the work must date.
