THE BOOK OF THE LAWS OF MANU.
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About his personal views and tastes a good deal can be gathered from the book, but such a task would be unwise as it would lead us into details foreign to our purpose.[1]
- ↑ By the way I may say that there are two books in Burmese associated with the name of Manu: 1. The Damathat or the laws of Menoo. Translated from the Burmese by D. Richardson, Esq., xiv vols. complete in one. Burmese and English Maulmain. Burma. Amer. Baptist Mission Press, 1847. 8vo, pp. 752. This book starts with the story of creation, but involves Buddha in the story. Manu is depicted as a wise man, who would give decision on particular imaginary cases of law. 2. King Waguru's Manu-dhammasatthana text and translation: (Edited and translated by Emanuel Forchhammer, with a preface by John Jardine Rangoon, 1892.) In this book there are various similarities. There are even some rules which we find in our text but do not find in the literature prior to it (like adulterous acts, vii, 358359). But in the present condition of research it would be unsafe to make any conclusion. In this book there is no ritual and the book comes very near what we may call positive law. But both the books are of very little use in our work.
