MANSLAUGHTER. [MURDER.] MANU (a word which implies " rational," from man, to " under. stand"), according to a Hindu fiction, was the son or grandson of the creating deity of Brahma, the first of rational beings, and the progenitor of mankind, who thence are called Manavits, or Manujas (offspring of Manu). To this primeval sage, the father Of the human race, and consequently their patriarchal ruler and legislator, is ascribed a celebrated system of religious and civil law, which in the beginning of time was revealed to him by Brahma., and has been handed down by tradition to the present age. In other words, the Sanskrit work now extant, and indiscriminately called Smriti (tradition), or Manava dharma-eastra the Institutes of Mann), is deemed by the Hindus not only the oldest but at the same time the holiest text after the Vedas.
Before these pretensions of the sacred code to antiquity and authority can be duly appreciated, it will be convenient to state its contents, and to point out the leading features of a system at once so comprehensive and eo complicated that it would be almost impossible to dwell upon its particular precepts without entering fully into the labyrinth of Hindu religion and ceremonies. The work is divided into tue twelve following chapters :—i. On the creation ; ii. On education, or on the first order ; hi. On marriage, or on the second order ; iv. On economics and private morals ; v. On diet, purification, and women ; vi. On devo tion, or on the third and fourth orders ; vii. On government, and on the military class; viii. On judicature, and 'on law, private and criminal; ix. On the commercial and servile classes ; x. On the mixed classes, and on time of distress; xi. On penance and expiation; xii. On trans migration and final beatitude.
We shall not dwell on the first or last chapter ; the first is occupied with a summary of the contents of the whole code, and with a problem of cosmogony, in accordance with the wild and fanciful conceptions of Hindu metaphysics and natural philosophy; the twelfth chapter con tains a detailed system of metempsychosis and final punishments, closely connected with the institutes of temporal law. It is obvious that either a strict order in the arrangement of the judicial oode has been neglected, or, what is more probable, the monarchical and civil laws (viL-xL) have purposely been separated from the general duties contained in the first half of the work. These for the most part are of
a religious character, being engrafted on the most rigid distinction of caste, and therefore totally dependent upon the hierarchical rules of the first order, by which even the minutest actions of the inferior classes are invariably to be regulated. Without entering into the mass of formalities and customs by which the main structure of the Brain minical, and in fact of every hierarchy is Largely cemented, and into those generally absurd and often ridiculous ceremonies inculcated upon the different branches of society, it will be sufficient to rework that they were evidently congenial to the religious prejudices. and to the habits and disposition of the Hindus, and that most of them had long been sanctioned when the sacred code was promulgated. This is expressly asserted by the author himself, who professes to giro the system of law in its full extent, and the immemorial customs of the four classes, adding that immemorial custom ie transcendent law, approved in sacred scripture, and that holy sages have embraced good usages long established. The principal duties of the four classes in general are stated as follows : To the first, or sacerdotal order, the supreme ruler assigned the duty of reading the Veda, and of teaching it; of giving advice to kings, of sacrificing and of assisting others to sacrifice, of giving alms and of receiving gifts, of promoting justice on earth, and of procuring happi ness hereafter ; in short, a Brahmin must ever be intent on divine worship, devotion, austerity,- and abstinence. It is only in case of need that he is allowed to support himself by tillage or traffic, but never by service for hire. Although he is by right the chief of the whole creation, and, whether learned or ignorant, must bo revered as a powerful divinity, nevertheless he should constantly shun worldly honour, and rather peek disrespect and poverty.