The Laws of Manu Read online

  THE LAWS OF MANU

  WENDY DONIGER is the Mircea Eliade Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Chicago. Under the name of Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty she has published two other Penguin translations, Hindu Myths (1975) and The Rig Veda (1981), and numerous other books, most recently Other Peoples’ Myths: The Cave of Echoes (1988) and Mythologies (1991), an English edition of Yves Bonnefoy’s Dictionnaire des Mythologies.

  BRIAN K. SMITH is Associate Professor of History and Religious Studies at the University of California, Riverside. He is the author of Reflections on Resemblance, Ritual and Religion (1989) and numerous articles on Vedic ritualism and the history of ancient Indian religious ideology.

  THE LAWS OF MANU

  WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES

  TRANSLATED BY WENDY DONIGER

  WITH BRIAN K. SMITH

  PENGUIN BOOKS

  For Arshia and Sanjay,

  a con-fused couple

  that even Manu would have loved

  PENGUIN BOOKS

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London, WC2R 0RL, England

  Penguin Books USA Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

  Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia

  Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2

  Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd, 182–190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand

  Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London, WC2R 0RL, England

  First published 1991

  Copyright © Wendy Doniger and Brian K. Smith, 1991

  All rights reserved

  The moral right of the editors has been asserted

  Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

  ISBN: 978-0-14-196662-5

  CONTENTS

  Acknowledgements

  INTRODUCTION

  PART I THE HISTORY OF THE TEXT

  1. The Importance of The Laws of Manu

  2. The History of the Text in Europe: the British and Nietzsche

  3. The Vedic Background: Food and Eaters

  4. The Revaluation of All Values: Violence and Vegetarianism

  5. The Authority of the Veda in Manu

  PART II THE STRUCTURE AND MEANING OF THE TEXT

  1. The Coherence of Manu

  2. Law in Extremity

  3. Contradictions in Manu

  4. ‘Between the idea/And the reality’

  PART III THE TRANSLATION

  1. Why Bühler is Not Good Enough

  2. The Continuous Narrative

  3. Translating against the Commentaries

  4. The Text and the Critical Apparatus

  THE LAWS OF MANU

  CHAPTER 1

  Verses 1–4 Introduction; 5–20 Creation of the Universe; 21–30 Creation of Innate Activities; 31–5 Creation of the Social Order; 36–50 Creation of Creatures; 51–7 Brahmā Sleeps and Wakes; 58–63 The Teaching of the Manus; 64–7 Time; 68–74 The Ages; 75–8 Creation of the Elements; 79–86 The Ages; 87–91 Duties of the Social Classes; 92–101 Pre-eminence of Priests; 102–10 Fruits of this Teaching; 111–19 Contents of this Teaching

  CHAPTER 2

  1–5 The Value of Desire; 6–16 Canon and Tradition; 17–24 The Sacred Geography of India; 25–9 The Transformative Rituals; 30–35 The Name-giving; 36–49 Initiation; 41–7 The Period of Vedic Study; 48–51 The Student’s Begging; 52–7 The Student’s Eating; 58–65 Washing; 66–7 Transformative Ceremonies for Women; 68–73 Vedic Recitation; 74–87 ‘Om’ and the Verse to the Sun-god; 88–100 Controlling the Sensory Powers; 101–4 Chanting the Verse to the Sun-god; 105–7 Reciting the Veda; 108–16 People to whom the Veda Should and Should Not Be Taught; 117–33 Greeting People; 134–9 Showing Respect; 140–43 Teachers and Priests; 144–53 The Teacher and the Parents; 154–8 Seniority by Knowledge of the Veda; 159–63 Modest Behaviour; 164–7 Inner Heat and Veda Study; 168–72 Initiation as Birth; 173–93 Proper Conduct for the Student; 194–206 Reverence to the Guru; 207–9 Reverence to the Guru’s Son; 210–17 Caution with the Guru’s Wife; 218–24 More Proper Conduct for the Student; 225–37 The Guru and the Parents; 238–42 People from whom One May Learn the Veda; 243–9 The Perpetual Student

  CHAPTER 3

  1–3 Entering the Householder Stage; 4–7 Choosing a Wife; 8–11 Qualities to Avoid in a Wife; 12–19 Wives of Various Classes; 20–35 The Eight Forms of Marriage; 36–44 Results of Good and Bad Marriages; 45–50 Begetting Children; 51–4 Against the Bride-price; 55–63 The Importance of Treating Women Well; 64–6 The Importance of Vedic Verses; 67–74 The Five Great Sacrifices; 75–9 The Importance of the Householder; 80–83 Duties of the Householder; 84–6 Offerings to the Gods; 87–93 Propitiatory Offerings; 94–8 Giving Alms; 99–115 Treatment of Guests; 116–18 Eating Leftovers; 119–21 The Honey-mixture; 122–3 The Ceremony for the Dead; 124–37 People to Invite to the Ceremony for the Dead; 138–44 People Not to Invite to the Ceremony for the Dead; 145–9 More People to Invite to the Ceremony for the Dead; 150–68 More People Not to Invite to the Ceremony for the Dead; 169–75 Types of Adulterers Not to Invite; 176–82 People who Should Not Be at the Ceremony for the Dead; 183–6 Still More People to Invite to the Ceremony for the Dead; 187–90 The Invitation to the Ceremony for the Dead; 191–200 Ancestors of the Ancestors; 201–5 The Ritual to the Gods; 206–10 Preparing the Ceremony for the Dead; 211–13 The Ritual to the Gods; 214–23 The Ceremony for the Dead; 224–30 The Meal; 231–5 The Entertainment; 236–42 Potential Pollutions at the Meal; 243–8 Feeding Uninvited Guests; 249–50 More Potential Pollutions at the Meal; 251–9 The End of the Ceremony; 260–65 Disposing of Leftovers; 266–72 Benefits of Offering Various Foods; 273–82 Auspicious Days for the Ceremony; 283–6 Fruits of the Ceremony

  CHAPTER 4

  1–12 Occupations for the Householder; 13–20 The Behaviour of the Householder; 21–4 Interior Sacrifices; 25–8 The Sacrifices of the Householder; 29–39 The Behaviour of the Householder; 40–44 Women that a Householder should Avoid; 45–52 A Householder’s Excretions; 53–81 General Comportment of a Householder; 84–91 Hells for those who Accept Gifts from Bad Kings; 92–8 Daily Rituals; 99–127 Occasions when the Veda Should Not Be Recited; 128–44 Miscellaneous Prohibitions for a Vedic Graduate; 145–9 Veda Recitation; 150–64 General Comportment of a Vedic Graduate; 165–9 Prohibitions against Harming Priests; 170–74 Avoiding Irreligion; 175–85 General Comportment of a Vedic Graduate; 186–91 Accepting Gifts; 192–200 Hypocrites; 201–4 General Comportment of a Vedic Graduate; 205–23 People whose Food One Should Not Eat; 224–8 Generosity; 229–37 Rewards for Giving Specific Gifts; 238–46 Rewards for Religious Merit after Death; 247–56 Gifts that may be Accepted; 257–60 The Meditation of a Vedic Graduate

  CHAPTER 5

  1–4 Fatal Flaws; 5–10 Forbidden Foods; 11–18 Forbidden Birds, Fish, and Animals; 19–21 Restorations for Eating Forbidden Foods; 22–5 Food that May be Eaten; 26–44 Meat that May Be Eaten; 45–56 Advantages of Not Eating Meat; 57–66 Pollution after Deaths and Births; 67–73 Pollution after the Death of Children and Women; 74–8 Pollution after a Death at a Distance; 79–84 Pollution after Other Deaths; 85–92 Other Pollutions; 93–9 The Purification of Kings; 100–104 The Death of a Distant Relative; 105–9 Sources of Purification; 110–14 Purification of Metals; 115–26 Purification of Various Objects; 127–31 Things that are Always Cle
an; 132–45 Purification of the Polluted Body; 146–51 The Dependence of Women; 152–60 Obedience to the Husband; 161–4 Consequences for Unfaithful Women; 165–9 The Death of a Wife

  CHAPTER 6

  1–4 The Forest-dweller’s Departure; 5–11 The Forest-dweller’s Rituals; 12–21 The Forest-dweller’s Food; 22–30 The Forest- dweller’s Inner Heat; 31–2 The Forest-dweller’s Death; 33–41 The Ascetic’s Departure; 42–9 The Ascetic’s Behaviour; 50–60 The Ascetic’s Begging; 61–5 The Ascetic’s Meditation on Transmigration; 66–72 The Ascetic’s Duty and Breath-suppression; 73–5 The Ascetic’s Meditation on Transmigration; 76–81 The Ascetic’s Death; 82–5 The Ascetic’s Veda; 86–90 Householder Ascetics; 91–4 The Ten-fold Duty; 95–7 Householder Renouncers

  CHAPTER 7

  1–8 The King as Incarnation of the Gods; 9–13 The Anger of the King; 14–19 The Rod of Punishment; 20–31 Incorrect and Correct Punishment; 32–5 The Good King; 36–43 The Humility of the King; 44–53 The Eighteen Vices; 54–62 Ministers; 63–8 The Ambassador; 69–77 Fortifications; 78–81 Other Officials; 82–6 Giving Gifts to Priests; 87–98 Warfare; 99–101 Four Ways of Accomplishing Goals; 102–6 Readiness; 107–9 The Four Expedients; 110–13 Guarding the Kingdom; 114–19 The Appointment of Officials; 120–24 Guarding against Corruption; 125–32 Wages and Taxation; 133–6 Protecting Learned Priests; 137–40 Tax Exemptions for the Poor; 141–4 Protecting the Subjects; 145–53 The King’s Day; 154–8 The Circle of Enemies and Allies; 159–76 The Six Tactics; 177–80 The Essence of Political Policy; 181–8 Marching; 189–94 Deploying Troops; 195–7 Laying Siege; 198–200 The Four Expedients; 201–11 Behaviour in Victory; 212–15 Behaviour in Extremity; 216–20 The King’s Food and Poison; 221–6 The King’s Relaxations

  CHAPTER 8

  1–3 The King as Judge; 4–7 The Eighteen Causes of Legal Action; 8–11 The Judges; 12–22 The Dangers of Injustice; 23–6 Investigative Techniques; 27–9 The Property of Women and Children; 30–34 Property Lost and Found; 35–9 Treasure Trove; 40–46 General Principles of Law; 47–51 Debtors and Creditors; 52–60 Debtors who Violate Court Procedures; 61–78 Witnesses in Cases of Debt; 79–88 Charging the Witnesses; 89–101 Consequences of Giving False Evidence; 103–8 Reasons and Redemptions for Giving False Evidence; 109–16 Oaths and Ordeals; 117–23 Punishments for Giving False Evidence; 124–30 Forms of Punishment; 131–9 The Measurements of Fines; 140–62 Interest Rates, Loans, and Pledges; 163–8 Contracts; 169–75 The King’s Behaviour; 176–8 Debts; 179–96 Deposits; 197–202 Sale without Ownership; 203–5 Bride-price; 206–13 Sacrificial Gifts to Officiating Priests; 214–17 Failure to Pay Wages; 218–23 Breach of Contract; 224–9 Flawed and Invalid Weddings; 230–36 Responsibilities of Herdsmen; 237–44. Damage Done by Livestock; 245–66 Boundary Disputes; 267–78 Verbal Assault; 279–87 Physical Assault; 288–9 Damage to Property; 290–98 Traffic Accidents; 299–300 Corporal Punishment; 301–9 The King’s Right to Tax; 310–13 The King’s Duty to Punish; 314–18 The Punishment of Thieves by the King; 319–38 Punishments for Various Thefts; 339–43 Permissible Thefts; 344–51 Acts of Violence; 352–63 Sexual Misconduct; 364–8 The Corruption of Maidens; 369–70 Lesbianism; 371–3 Adultery; 374–8 Punishments for Inter-class Sexuality; 379–81 Priests Exempt from Capital Punishment; 382–5 More Punishments for Inter-class Sexuality; 386–97 Miscellaneous Rules; 398–403 Duties and Fixed Prices; 404–9 Ferry-fares and Boat-fares; 410–20 The Work of Commoners and Servants

  CHAPTER 9

  1–4 The Dependence of Women; 5–18 Why Women Should Be Guarded; 19–21 Restorations for Women’s Errors; 22–5 The Dependence of Women on Husbands; 26–30 The Importance of Women; 31–40 The Son Born in the Husband’s Field; 41–55 The Danger of Sowing in Another Man’s Field; 56–70 Producing Male Heirs by Appointment; 71–3 Rejection of a Bride; 74–9 Separation from or Hatred of a Husband; 80–84 Rejection of a Wife; 85–7 Wives of Various Classes; 88–92 The Father’s Duty to Give his Daughter; 93–100 Against the Bride-price; 101–2 Fidelity: Marriage in a Nutshell; 103–10 Inheritance of the Eldest Son; 111–19 Inheritance of the Other Sons and Daughters; 120–21 Inheritance of the Son Born in the Field; 122–6 Inheritance of Sons of Various Wives; 127–36 Inheritance through Appointed Daughters; 137–9 Salvation through Sons; 140–42 Sons’ Roles in the Funeral Ritual; 143–7 Disinheritance of Sons of Appointed Daughters; 148–57 Inheritance of Sons of Wives of Various Classes; 158–81 Twelve Kinds of Sons; 182–91 Miscellaneous Heirs; 192–200 Inheritance of the Mother’s Estate; 201–6 Inheritance of Defective Sons and Educated Sons; 207–19 Inheritance of Divided and United Brothers; 220–28 The Evils of Gambling; 229–34 Miscellaneous Punishments Inflicted by the King; 235–42 Punishments by the King for Major Crimes; 243–7 Fines Not to Revert to the King; 248–9 Corporal and Capital Punishment by the King; 250–55 Duties of a King; 256–71 Detection and Punishment of Thieves; 272–93 More Miscellaneous Punishments by the King; 294–297 The Elements of the Kingdom; 298–302 The King’s Behaviour, like the Ages; 303–12 The King’s Behaviour, like the Gods’; 313–25 The King’s Deference to Priests; 326–36 The Duties of Commoners and Servants

  CHAPTER 10

  1–4 The Four Classes; 5–10 Sons and Outcasts Born ‘with-the-grain’; 11–19 Outcasts Born ‘against-the-grain’; 20–23 Outlaws and their Offspring; 24–31 Excluded Classes Born ‘against-the-grain’; 32–40 The Offspring of Excluded Classes and Aliens; 41–4 Risen and Fallen Degraded Castes; 45–9 The Occupations of Aliens and Outcasts; 50–56 The Treatment of Outcasts; 57–61 The Character and Behaviour of Outcasts; 62–8 Rising in Caste through Virtue; 69–73 The Seed and the Field; 74–80 The Occupations of the Twice-born; 81–94 Priests Living as Rulers or Commoners; 95–100 Rulers, Commoners, and Servants Living as Other Classes; 101–4 Priests in Adversity; 105–8 Famous Priests in Adversity; 109–17 Three Courses and Seven Ways for Priests in Adversity; 118–20 Rulers in Extremity; 121–5 Servants in Adversity; 126–31 The Duties of Servants

  CHAPTER 11

  1–4 Vedic Graduates who Beg; 5–10 Supporting Dependants; 11–26 Obtaining Sacrificial Materials from Others; 27–30 Sacrificing in Extremity; 31–5 The Priest’s Right to Punish; 36–43 People who Should Not Give the Daily Fire Sacrifice; 44–7 Restorations; 48–54 Physical Results of Unrestored Crimes; 55–9 The Major Crimes; 60–67 The Minor Crimes; 68–71 Crimes that Cause Loss of Caste; 72–90 Restorations for Killing a Priest; 91–8 Restorations for Drinking Liquor; 99–102 Restorations for Stealing Gold; 103–7 Restorations for Violating the Guru’s Marriage-bed; 108–17 Restorations for Killing a Cow; 118–24 Restorations for Shedding Semen; 125–6 Restorations for Loss of Caste; 127–31 Restorations for Killing People other than Priests; 132–46 Restorations for Killing Animals; 147–50 Restorations for Drinking Intoxicating Drinks; 151–61 Restorations for Eating Forbidden Foods; 162–9 Restorations for Theft; 170–79 Restorations for Having Sex with Forbidden Women; 180–91 Restorations for Associating with Fallen Men; 192–7 Reentering the Community; 198–204 Miscellaneous Restorations; 205–10 Restorations for Insulting Priests; 211–20 Descriptions of Vows of Restoration; 221–6 General Restorations; 227–33 Remorse; 234–45 Inner Heat as Restoration; 246–8 Veda as Restoration; 249–61 Particular Vedic Verses as Restorations; 262–6 Veda as Restoration

  CHAPTER 12

  1–2 The Fruits of Actions; 3–11 Acts of Mind, Speech, and Body; 12–15 The Knower of the Field; 16–23 Construction of the Body for Hell; 24–38 The Three Qualities of the Self; 39–53 Transmigrations according to Qualities; 54–72 Transmigrations according to Crimes; 73–81 The Torments of Hells and Transmigrations; 82–5 Acts that Bring about the Supreme Good; 86–90 Vedic Activity; 91–3 Knowledge of the Self; 94–106 The Value of Knowing the Veda; 107–15 Authorities and Legal Assemblies; 116–26 Meditation on the Self

  Bibliography

  Index and Glossary

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  This book would never have been written but for Brian K. Smith, who conceived the project, had
the idea of translating everything (even dharma), contributed many of the ideas for the introduction, compiled most of the bibliography, brought back the texts from India, furnished a translation of the parts of the book dealing with Vedic ritual (all of Chapters 3 and 4 and the first forty verses of Chapter 11), and suggested ingenious translations of many key terms. I also wish to thank my brother Tony Doniger, a lawyer, who gave me good advice on the legal terminology in Chapter 8; Greg Spinner (who did more work on the bibliography); David Gitomer, Sheldon Pollock, David Tracy, and Laurie Patton (who offered benevolent but penetrating criticisms of the introduction); David Grene, who read the translation and, as always, reacted with detailed, wise, and usefully non-Indological advice; Peggy Edwards, who typed the index, and Elise LaRose, who double-checked it. McKim Marriott, who was brave enough to try out an early draft on his classes, presented me with a long, painstaking, spirited, and insightful critique, particularly on matters of kinship, ritual, and pollution; I am grateful to him for the suggestions that I took (most of them) and beg his pardon for the ones that I could not accommodate to my own vision of the text. I am deeply indebted to Ariel Glucklich, who plied me with esoteric bibliographies and buoyant support, both dharmic and adharmic, during the final laps of the marathon. Finally, I wish to dedicate the book to Arshia Sattar and Sanjay Iyer, whose loyal friendship and incorrigible high spirits sustained me through rough passages in my life during the years in which this book was written.

  WENDY DONIGER

  Chicago, 31 December 1990

  INTRODUCTION

  Right and wrong (dharma and adharma) do not go about saying, ‘Here we are’; nor do gods, centaurs, or ancestors say, ‘This is right, that is wrong.’

  ĀPASTAMBA1

  To set up a law-book of the kind of Manu means to concede to a people the right henceforth to become masterly, to become perfect – to be ambitious for the highest art of living. To that end, the law must be made unconscious: this is the purpose of every holy lie.