Golden Gate University School of Law GGU Law Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations Student Scholarship 2008 History and Influence of Law Code of Manu Charles J. Naegele Golden Gate University School of Law Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/theses Part of the Other Law Commons Recommended Citation Naegele, Charles J., "History and Influence of Law Code of Manu" (2008). Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1. This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at GGU Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of GGU Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Golden Gate University School OfLaw History and Influence ofLaw Code ofManu Charles J. Naegele, JD, LLM Submitted to the Golden Gate University School of Law, Depart of International Legal Studies, in fulfillment ofthe Requirement for the conferment ofthe degree of Scientiae Juridicae Doctor (SJD) SJD Committee Professor Sompong Sucharitkul Professor of Law Emeritus, Founder SJD and Int'l LLM Program Golden Gate University School of Law *--------------------------- Professor Christian N. Okeke Professor of Law, Director SJD and Int'I LLM Program Golden Gate University School of Law *--------------------------- Judge Vichai Ariyanuntaka ChiefJustice & Adjunct Professor of Law Chulalongkorn, Thammasat & Ramkamhaeng Universities, Thailand San Francisco, California 2008 Acknowledgment I would like to acknowledge Professor Sompong Sucharitkul and Professor Christian N. Okeke for their continued inspiration towards completing this SJD dissertation. Dedication I would like to dedicate this work to my family and friends who encouraged me to complete this SJD dissertation. Chapter One: Overview...3 Chapter Two: History ofLaw Code ofManu (Manusmirti or Manu Dharma Shastra)...48 Qllipter Three: Indus/Harappa Civilization Decline...82 Qllipter Four: Technology in Rig Veda, Indus/Harappa Civilization and Law Code ofManu Society...112 Chapter Five: Indus/Harappa Civilization Script ... 171 Chapter Six: Law Code ofManu Translations: Caste and Guilds...200 Qllipter Seven: Comparative Law...225 Chapter Eight: Conclusion...246 2 Qllipter One: Overview The current legal-historical majority-view about the Law Code ofManu of ancient India is that it was probably formulated by one man in about 100 BC (2100 years ago) and its influence remained confined to mostly India and some parts ofSoutheast Asia; this view has not yet been revised, in spite ofnew scientific and archeological research findings and new progress towards ancient- script decipherment over the last 30 years. This paper will trace the history ofthe Law Code ofManu, its relationship to Rig Veda and the Indus/Harappa Civilization and offer a possible alternative view, that Code Manu may be older and may have influenced additional legal codes. Europeans "discovered" the Law Code ofManu about the same time as the United States was adopting a Constitution, in the 1790's, when a British judge sent to India, Sir William Jones, learned the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit, translated the Law Code ofManu and published it. I (Other translations followed, the ones that will be used in this paper are by Jones (1794), Dutt2 (1895), See Buehler3 (1896), Jha4 (1920), Doniger & SmithS (1991), and Olivelle6 (2005).) I See Sir William Jones, The Works ofSir William Jones (The Institutes ofHindu Law or The Ordinances ofManu According to the Closs ofCaluuca), VoU, 275 (1794, Reprint 1909) 2 See M.N Dutt, MANUSMRTI, 314, (1895, Reprint 2003) 3 See Buehler, G., LA WS OF MANU, 253, (1896) nd 4 See Ganganath Jha, Manusmrti With the Manubhaasya ofMedhaatithi, Vol. 6, 267 (1 'I ed.1920; 2 1999) 5 See Wendy Donigerand Brian K. Smith, THE LAWS OF MANU, 152 (1991) 6 See Patrick Olivelle, Manu's Code OfLaw, a critical edition and translation ofthe Maanava­ Dharmashaastra, 179 (2005) 3 Translations ofother Sanskrit works from India followed over the next ninety years. In the year 1886, the process oftranslating Sanskrit to English was made easier by the publication ofthe British philologist, Sir Monier-Williams, of his very famous Sanskrit to English7 and English to Sanskrit8 dictionaries. These are the dictionaries which will also be used and in this paper. 9 (Sir William Jones also "discovered" that Sanskrit was similar to many other European languages and virtually "founded" the field ofcomparative linguistics.) In 1786, in his famous address to the Asiatic Society ofBengal, Sir William Jones said: The Sanskrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is a wonderful structure, more prefect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin and more exquisitely refined than either: yet bearing to both ofthem a stronger affinity, both in roots ofverbs, and in the forms ofgrammar, than could possibly have been 0 produced by accident. 1 In our quest to look for sophistication in the Law Code ofManu, a brief mention here will be made ofthe sophistication ofthe Sanskrit language. Until its translation, the Law Code ofManu was apparently composed and preserved in the Sanskrit language. 7 See Monier-Williams, A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1886) (Motilal 1995) 8 See Monier-Williams, An English- Sanskrit Dictionary (1886) (Motilal 1995) 9 We will be focusing much ofour analysis on Sanskrit words, their translations and definitions, in order to gain greater insight into the actual words used in the Law Code of Manu and what is written "between the lines". 10 See Handa, Devendra, Vedic vis-a-vis Harappan Culture, n. 14, p. 75 4 Most individuals who study the Sanskrit language in depth consider it to be the most complex and precise ofall human languages yet discovered. The transliteration in this paper is based on the Harvard-Kyoto (HK) convention as follows: Vowels: aAiIuU R RR IR IRR e ai 0 au MH Consonants: Guttural: kkhg gh G Palatal: c ch j jh J Cerebral: T Th D Dh N Dental: tthddhn Labial: p ph b bh m Semi-Vowels: y r I v Sibilants: z S s h (Note: Sanskrit words will appear first in their common current English spelling, followed by the word in parenthesis, underlined, using the above "Harvard-Kyoto" convention, for those readers who are searching for the correct pronunciation ofSanskrit words used here. For example, take the word Sanskrit 5 ("saMskRta"), which has the definition: "constructed well or completely formed, perfected". Also in the 1800s, after the Law Code ofManu was "discovered" by Europeans, the most ancient work ofIndian philosophy and spirituality that pre­ dated Code Manu, the "Rig Veda" was also translated. II The texts ofboth the Law Code ofManu and that ofRig-Veda give us much insight into the minds of the people ofancient India. But there was a problem with both the Law Code ofManu and the Rig Veda, in that both ofthese works had not been written down when they were composed. In fact, it appeared that the people ofancient India either did not use a writing system to preserve the Law Code ofManu or Rig Veda or any oftheir other ancient compositions, or they wrote on paper or wood or other medium, none ofwhich survived the bugs and heat oftropical India. This theory, by the way, may hold some weight. As shall be shown below, many wooden boats were constructed by the people living in ancient India. None ofthese wooden boats have survived until today. At least no wooden boats have been as ofyet excavated by archeologists studying the remains ofthe cities and towns ofancient India. Other theories are that the people ofancient India either knew that paper would be lost or that they wanted to control the flow ofinformation for political or religious reasons. Whatever the case may have been, it is clear that a different II Griffith, Ralph TH, Hymns ofthe Rigveda, (1889) Munishiram Manoharlal (1999) 6 method ofpreserving knowledge was discovered or invented. That method was the method ofprecise memorization. It required the lifelong dedication ofcertain individuals to commit to memory long passages of information, which had been rendered into a form that was easier to memorize and recite: a type ofpoetry or hymn that was chanted to a particular rhythm or beat. Such hymns or poems were not only memorized and chanted daily, but also taught to the next generation. How many generations this was kept up is not known. And even today, with the advent ofpencils, pens, paper, typewriters, printing and computers, there are individuals in India today who continue to memorize many ofthese hymns or poems, especially Rig Veda, recite them every day and teach them to the next generation. These hymns or poems ofthe Law Code ofManu or Rig Veda were not "dated" in the conventional sense. Some parts ofthe Rig Veda are especially difficult to understand and difficult to determine what is factual and what is not factual. Other parts seemed beyond current human comprehension, saying apparently that the world, or world populations, have been created many times, stretching over a period ofmany tens ofthousands ofyears. In any case, whether for lack ofcertainty, or because the British with their colonial outlook oftheir then-current-colonial-world, a theory was made that the native people ofIndia did not come up with the sophisticated language ofSanskrit 7 and did not come up with the sophisticated laws in the Law Code ofManu and did not compose the sophisticated Rig Veda, but that all ofthe above came from civilizations outside ofIndia and that the unsophisticated native population of India was forced to submit to these sophisticated, intelligent invaders, inter-marry and gradually become overtaken by the invading army's thoughts, words and deeds. In part, the British and other Europeans did not have far to look to find some support for their theories. Because in the Rig Veda itself, there are many references to battles between different forces, especially the "Arya versus the Dasyu", although nowadays some scholars are asking whether or not these battles are references to a never-ending fight between good and evil, and not a battle between real, living, human beings.