THE SACRED LIBRARY
About Manu Smriti
Smriti identifies it as remembered teaching, distinguished from the Veda as Shruti. The work claims a relationship to Vedic authority while setting out rules in its own voice. It is therefore more than a collection of isolated maxims, yet it is not the only work through which dharma has been discussed.
The discussion of legal cases addresses a ruler assisted by experienced counsellors and learned judges. Debt, wages, deposits, boundaries, violence, marriage and inheritance appear among its eighteen titles. What modern readers separate into religious conduct and civil law can stand within the same sacred framework.
More About Manu Smriti
Manu Smriti belongs to the dharma literature concerned with duties, religious conduct and legal or social questions. Surviving forms and attribution differ between works.
AT A GLANCE
Identity & Context
- Identity
- Text
- Form
- Smriti & Dharmashastra
- Tradition
- Hindu religious traditions
INSIDE THE TEXT
Stories & Teachings
ROLE & ESSENCE
Themes & Meaning
The work shows how one influential Dharma tradition connected religious authority with social and legal order. It assigns different rights and duties according to birth and gender as well as position in life. These inequalities are part of its prescriptions, alongside its discussions of justice and the responsibilities of public officials.
Library Category
Form / Textual Family
Smriti / Dharmashastra
Traditional Attribution
Traditionally associated with Manu; traditional attribution is not a proof of single historical authorship.
Subject & Teachings
Manu Smriti belongs to the dharma literature concerned with duties, religious conduct and legal or social questions. Surviving forms and attribution differ between works.
Associated Deities / Figures
Manu
Textual Relationships
Historical Context
Composition, transmission and redaction must be distinguished; no unsupported exact date is assigned.
Reading Notes
A historical religious text, not a statement of current civil law. Identify the edition and distinguish descriptive study from endorsement.
Tradition Notes
Names and accounts can vary by recension, region and commentary. This entry distinguishes attested details from identifications still requiring a passage-level source.
Archive Classification Notes
Original archive annotations are retained here. The current playable classification is shown in the side panel.
- Tradition Dependence
- High — compare the identified textual or regional account.
- Structure
- Consult the identified edition for chapters, recension and numbering.
TRADITION & MEANING
Traditions & Interpretations
Attribution to Manu gives the work traditional authority. It does not establish a modern biography of one author or prove that every community applied all its prescriptions. The text describes an envisaged order rather than uniform historical practice.
Its warning about unjust judgments makes the court's conduct morally significant. The witness, judges and king can share responsibility for a wrongful decision, rather than placing all blame on the original wrongdoer. The image of wounded justice explains why silence or negligence within the court also matters.
Names and accounts can vary by recension, region and commentary. This entry distinguishes attested details from identifications still requiring a passage-level source.
From the Sacred Texts
Explore the sacred texts behind these stories in the Suvarnaveda library.
FOLLOW THE THREADS
Connected Cards
4 connected profiles. Every path leads to an original record.
The Sacred Library4
Manusmriti is one major work in the dharma tradition.
The work distinguishes Shruti as Vedic revelation.
The opening explicitly invokes Manu when discussing inherited local and family laws.
Manu is included in the opening list of dharma teachers.