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Concept
Manusmriti
Summary
The Manusmṛiti (मनुस्मृति), also known as the Mānava-Dharmaśāstra or Laws of Manu, is one of the many legal texts and constitution among the many of Hinduism. In ancient India, the sages often wrote their ideas on how society should run in the manuscripts. It is believed that the original form of Manusmriti was changed and interpolated with commentaries and opinions of the writers rather than the original content, as many things written in the manuscript contradict each other.
Over fifty manuscripts of the Manusmriti are now known, 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 dated to the 1st 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 influence had historically spread outside India. 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.
The Laws of Manu was one of the first Sanskrit texts to be translated into English in 1776, by British philologist Sir William Jones, and was used to construct the Hindu law code, for the East India Company administered enclaves.
The title Manusmriti is a relatively modern term and a late innovation, probably coined because the text is in a verse form. The over-fifty manuscripts discovered of the text never use this title, but state the title as Manava Dharmasastra (Sanskrit: मानवधर्मशास्त्र) in their colophons at the end of each chapter. In modern scholarship, these two titles refer to the same text.
Official source
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