Laws of Manu

The Indian Mānava-dharmśāstra or Manusmṛti, that is, the Laws of Manu, composed between 200 BCE and 200 CE, is, as indicated in one of its titles, human-based smṛti (see Smṛti) rather than “revealed” śruti (see Śruti) literature, but the Laws, like all smṛti, are necessarily closely related to the śruti Vedic (see Vedic entries) revelations. The Laws are the first metrical smṛti, treatises on dharma (see Dharma) or the proper righteous way of orderly life for Hindus, depending on caste and status—the worldly laws derived from the cosmic ones of the Vedas (see Vedas). Their authorship is attributed to the mythical Manu Svāyaṃbhuva, the first of the Manu, or fathers of humanity (see Manu). The Laws provide us with certain mythical constructs as well. There is, for example, an elaboration on the Vedic creation myths: that Brahman (see Brahman)—that which is “self-existent,” the Absolute—created the chaos and the seed out of which he was born. During his year in the primal egg of his own making, Brahman created existence by way of his own thoughts.