HINDOOSTAN, 
142 
a century or two afterwards, may have imported them to 
Sparta. If Minos the fon of Jupiter, whom the Cretans, 
from national vanity, might have made a native of their 
own ifland, was really the lame perfon with Menu, the fon 
of Brahma, we have the good fortune to reftore, by means 
of Indian literature, the molt celebrated fyltem of heathen 
jurifprudence ; and this institute might have been entitled, 
The Laws of Minos ; but the paradox is too lingular to 
be confidently aliened, and the geographical part of the 
book, with molt of the allufions to natural hiltory, mult 
indubitably have been written after the Hindoo race had 
fettled to the fouth of Himalaya. We cannot but remark, 
that the word Menu has no relation whatever to the Moon ; 
and that it was the feventh, not the firlt, of that name, 
whom the Brahmins believe to have been preferved in an 
ark from the general deluge ; him they call the “ Child 
of the Sun,” to diftinguifh him from this great legillator; 
but they affign to his brother Yama the office (which the 
Greeks were pleated to confer on Minos) of judge in the 
fhades below. 
“ Dara Shucuh was perfuaded, and not without reafon, 
that the firlt Menu of the Brahmins could be no other perfon 
than the progenitor of mankind, to whom Jew's, Chriltians, 
and MulTulmans, unite in giving the name of Adam ; but 
whoever he might have been, he is highly honoured by 
name in the Veda itfelf, where it is declared, “ that what¬ 
ever Menu pronounced, was a medicine for the foul.” 
“ It is the general opinion of the learned Pundits, that 
Brahma taught his laws to Menu in a hundred thoufand 
verfes, which Menu explained to the primitive world in 
the very words of the book tranllated by fir William Jones, 
where he names himfelf, after the manner of ancient fages, 
in the third perfon ; but, in a Ihort preface to the law 
traft of Nared, it is afferted, that “ Menu, having writ¬ 
ten the laws of Brahma in a hundred thoufand Jlocas or 
couplets, arranged under twenty-four heads in a thoufand 
chapters, delivered the work to Nared, the fage among 
gods, who abridged it for the ufe of mankind, in twelve 
thoufand verfes, and gave them to a fon of Bhirgu, named 
Sumati, who, for greater eafe to the human race, reduced 
them to four thoufand; that mortals read only the fecond 
abridgment by Sumati, while the gods of the lower heaven, 
and the band of celeftial muficians, are engaged in ftudy- 
ing the primary code, beginning with the fifth verfe of 
the book now extant on earth ; but that nothing remains 
of Nared’s abridgment, except an elegant epitome of the 
ninth original title. On the Adminiftration of Juftice.” 
Now, fince thefe inftitutes confilt only of two thoufand fix 
hundred and eighty-five verfes, they cannot be the whole 
work afcribed to Sumati, which is probably diftinguifhed 
by the name of the Vriddak, or ancient, Manava, and can¬ 
not be found entire; though feveral paffages from it, 
which have been preferved by tradition, are cited in this 
digeft. 
“ The firft order of duties herein laid down, confift gene¬ 
rally of abftinence, chaftity, innoxioufnefs to all animated 
beings, a refpeftful behaviour to fuperiors, a dutiful at¬ 
tention to parents, and application in acquiring and digeft- 
ing the doftrine of the Vedas. The ceremony of giving a 
name is to be performed on the tenth or twelfth day after 
the birth. 
“ The firft part of a Brahmin’s compound name, fiiould 
Indicate holinefs ; of a Clhatrya’s, power ; of a Vaifya’s, 
wealth ; and of a Sudra’s, contempt. The fecond part of 
the prieft’s name, lliould imply profperity; of the foldier’s, 
prefervation ; of the merchant’s, nourilhment ; of the fer- 
vant’s, humble attendance. 
“ The names of women Ihould be delicately foft, clear, 
captivating the fancy, aufpicious, ending in long vowels, 
refembling w'ords of benevolence. The ceremony of ton- 
fure, or preferying the lock, muft be performed by the 
firft three dalles in the firft or third year after birth. In 
the eighth year, the child Ihould be invefted with the 
mark of his clafs, or the facerdotal thread or cord ; which 
for a Brahmin mull be made of cotton, fo as to be put on 
over his head, in three firings; that of a Clhatrya, of fans 
thread only; that of a Vaifya, of woollen thread. The 
inveftiture of the facerdotal thread is confidered as a fe¬ 
cond birth ; whence the appellation of twice-born is applied 
to the three higher claffes. Amid thele fuperftitious ri¬ 
tuals, we are frequently furprifed with maxims of the 
pureft morality, inculcated in the molt impreffive terms, 
and capable of touching the feelings of the molt wicked 
and irreligious. 
“ Let not a man be querulous, even though in pain ; 
let him not injure another in deed or in thought; let him. 
not even utter a word, by which his fellow-creature may 
fuffer uneafinefs; fince that will obftruft his own progrefs 
to future beatitude. The entrance of the lacerdotal youth 
into the fecond order, depends on the progrefs which he 
lhall be found to make in his ftudies.” 
The order of marriage is thus laid down : “ The gift 
of a daughter, clothed only with a fingle robe, to a man 
learned in the Veda, whom her father voluntarily invites 
and re fp eft fully receives, is the nuptial rite called Brahma. 
“ The rite which fages call Daiva, is the gift of a daugh¬ 
ter, whom her father has decked in gay attire, when the 
facrifice is already begun to the officiating prieft, who per¬ 
forms that aft of religion. 
“ When the father gives his daughter away, after having 
received from the bridegroom one pair of kine, or two 
pairs, for ufes prefcribed by law, that marriage is termed 
Arjha. 
“ The nuptial rite, called Prajapatya, is when the father 
gives his daughter away with due honour, faying diltinft- 
ly, ‘ May both of you perform together your civil and 
religious duties.’ 
“ When the bridegroom, having given as much wealth 
as he can afford to the father and paternal kinfmen, and 
to the damfel herfelf, takes her voluntarily as his bride, 
that marriage is named Afura. 
“ The reciprocal connection of a youth and a damfel 
with mutual defire, is the marriage denominated Gand- 
harva, contracted for the purpofe of amorous embraces, 
and proceeding from fenfual inclination. 
“ The feizure of a maiden by force from her houfe, while 
fhe weeps and calls for affiftance, after her kinfmen and 
friends have been flain in battle, or wounded, and their 
houfes broken open, is the marriage ftyled Racjhafa. 
“ When the lover fecretly embraces the damfel, either 
fleepirig or fiufhed with ftrong liquor, or difordered in her 
intellect, that finful marriage, called Pifacha, is the eighth, 
and the bafeit kind.” 
The hufband, having become a houfekeeper, muft per¬ 
form domeftic religious rites, with the nuptial fire, the 
ceremonies of the five great facraments, and the obfequies 
performed at the new moon to the manes of departed an- 
ceftors. This rite is held effential to the happinefs of the 
deceafed ; and we may readily conceive what a powerful 
effeft this inftitution muft have on the population of the 
country; fince a man who dies without legitimate male 
ilfue is deprived, together with his progenitors, of the ad¬ 
vantages refulting from its performance. 
On private morals , much ftriftnefs is infilled upon ; and 
a variety of trivial obfervances are inculcated with feri- 
oufngfs, and occafionally interfperfed with fublime re¬ 
flections on the fuperior efficacy of virtue over ceremo¬ 
nial.—By falfehood, the facrifice becomes vain; by pride, 
the merit of devotion is loft; by intuiting priefts, life is 
forfeited 5 and by proclaiming a largefs, its fruit is dirni- 
nifhed.” 
On the duties of women, the Hindoo legillator was much 
more fevere than the Mohammedan prophet. In child¬ 
hood muft a female be dependent on her father; in youth, 
on her hufband ; her lord being dead, on her fons ; if Hie 
have no fons, on the near kinfmen of her hufband ; if he 
left no kinfmen, on thole of her father; if fhe have no 
paternal kinfmen, on the fovereign : a woman mujl never 
J'eek independence . No facrifice is allowed to women apart 
from their hufbands; no religious rite, no falling: “ as 
