1 The great sages approached Manu, who was seated with a collected mind, and, having duly honoured him, spoke as follows:

2 "Deign, O Manu, to declare to us precisely and in due order the sacred laws of each of the (four chief) classes (varna) and of the intermediate ones.

3 "For thou alone knowest the purport, (that is) the rites, and the knowledge of the soul, (taught) in this whole ordinance of God, the Self-Subsisting, which is unknowable and unfathomable."

4 He, whose wisdom was measureless, being thus asked by the high-minded great sages, duly honoured them, and answered, "Listen!"

5 This (universe) existed in the shape of darkness, unperceived, destitute of distinctive marks, unattainable by reasoning, unknowable, wholly immersed, as it were, in deep sleep.

6 Then God, the Self-Subsisting, Himself unseen, making all this, the great elements and the rest, discernible, manifested His irresistible creative power, dispelling the darkness.

7 He who can be perceived by the inner understanding alone, who is subtle, unseen, and eternal, who encompasses all created beings by His knowledge and is inconceivable, shone forth by His own will.

8 He, desiring to produce beings of many kinds, first created the waters by His command.

9 By His command that which He willed took form, brilliant as the sun, and from it the creation of the whole world proceeded.

10 The waters are the first of His creation, and upon them His decree was established.

11 From that first cause, which is unseen and eternal, by His command was produced the first man, the progenitor, famed in this world.

12 The Divine One, by His thought alone, brought all this to its ordered form.

13 And He formed heaven and earth, between them the middle sphere, the eight points of the horizon, and the eternal abode of the waters.

14 By His command He also brought forth the mind, which is both real and unreal, and from the mind egoism, which possesses the function of self-consciousness (and is) lordly;

15 Moreover, the great principle, and all (products) affected by the three qualities, and, in their order, the five organs, which perceive the objects of sensation.

16 But, joining minute particles even of those six, which possess measureless power, by His command He created all beings.

17 Because those six (kinds of) minute particles enter into these (creatures), therefore the wise call the frame of a creature the body (sarira).

18 The great elements enter, together with their functions, and the mind, which through its minute parts is the framer of all beings.

19 But from minute body-framing particles of these seven very powerful principles, by God's decree, springs this (world), the perishable.

20 Among them each succeeding (element) acquires the quality of the preceding one, and whatever place (in the sequence) each of them occupies, even so many qualities it is declared to possess.

21 But in the beginning He assigned their several names, actions, and conditions to all (created beings), according to His revealed word.

22 He, the Lord, also created the class of the angels, who are endowed with life, and whose nature is obedient action; and the subtle class of the Sadhyas, and devotion that is everlasting.

23 And He revealed the threefold eternal Veda, called Rik, Yajus, and Saman, for the due performance of devotion to Him alone; fire, wind, and the sun are His signs.

24 Time and the divisions of time, the lunar mansions and the planets, the rivers, the oceans, the mountains, plains, and uneven ground,

25 Austerity, speech, pleasure, desire, and anger, this whole creation He likewise produced, as He desired to call these beings into existence.

26 Moreover, in order to distinguish actions, He separated merit from demerit, and He caused the creatures to be affected by the pairs (of opposites), such as pain and pleasure.

27 But with the minute perishable particles of the five (elements) which have been mentioned, this whole (world) is framed in due order.

28 But to whatever course of action the Lord at first appointed each (kind of beings), that alone it has spontaneously adopted.

29 Whatever He assigned to each at the (first) creation, noxiousness or harmlessness, gentleness or ferocity, virtue or sin, truth or falsehood, that clung (afterwards) spontaneously to it.

30 As at the change of the seasons each season of its own accord assumes its distinctive marks, even so corporeal beings keep their (appointed) course of action.

31 But for the sake of the prosperity of the worlds, God ordained among mankind different callings and duties: that of the teacher, the protector, the trader, and the worker; yet the noblest before God is the most righteous.

32 God created mankind as male and female.

33 But know me, O most holy among you, to be one who was charged by God to declare the laws of this whole world, and who performed austerities for that purpose.

34 Then I, desiring to guide created beings, performed very difficult austerities, and (thereby) there arose ten great sages, leaders of created beings,

35 Marichi, Atri, Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Pracetas, Vasishtha, Bhrigu, and Narada.

36 Through them arose seven other Manus possessing great brilliancy, and classes of angels created by God, and great sages of measureless power,

37 Yakshas, Rakshasas and Pisachas, Gandharvas, Apsarases, Asuras, Nagas and Sarpas, Suparnas, and the several classes of the ancestors,

38 Lightnings, thunderbolts and clouds, imperfect and perfect rainbows, falling meteors, supernatural noises, comets, and heavenly lights of many kinds,

39 Kinnaras, monkeys, fishes, birds of many kinds, cattle, deer, men, and carnivorous beasts with two rows of teeth,

40 Small and large worms and beetles, moths, lice, flies, bugs, all stinging and biting insects and the several kinds of immovable things.

41 Thus was this whole (creation), both the immovable and the movable, produced by God's command, (each being) according to (the results of) its actions.

42 But whatever act is stated (to belong) to (each of) those creatures here below, that I will truly declare to you, as well as their order in respect to birth.

43 Cattle, deer, carnivorous beasts with two rows of teeth, Rakshasas, Pisachas, and men are born from the womb.

44 From eggs are born birds, snakes, crocodiles, fishes, tortoises, as well as similar terrestrial and aquatic (animals).

45 From hot moisture spring stinging and biting insects, lice, flies, bugs, and all other (creatures) of that kind which are produced by heat.

46 All plants, propagated by seed or by slips, grow from shoots; annual plants (are those) which, bearing many flowers and fruits, perish after the ripening of their fruit;

47 (Those trees) which bear fruit without flowers are called vanaspati (lords of the forest); but those which bear both flowers and fruit are called vriksha.

48 But the various plants with many stalks, growing from one or several roots, the different kinds of grasses, the climbing plants and the creepers spring all from seed or from slips.

49 These (plants), which are surrounded by multiform darkness, the result of their deeds, possess, by God's decree, an inner awareness and experience pleasure and pain.

50 The (various) conditions of created beings are stated to range from the highest to these (just mentioned) immovable creatures.

51 When He whose power is incomprehensible had thus produced the universe and me, He continues to sustain it, and the periods are in His hand.

52 At the appointed hour, by God's command, this world stirs; and at the appointed end, by His command, the universe sinks to rest.

53 But when the end comes, the corporeal beings whose nature is action desist from their actions, and the mind becomes inert.

54 When they are all gathered at once before God, the Lord of all beings, who needs no rest and is free from all weariness, then the judgement is made.

55 When the soul has entered the darkness of death, it remains for a time with its faculties unexercised, and performs not its functions; it then leaves the corporeal frame.

56 Then, by God's command, it is raised and clothed anew, and assumes a (new) corporeal frame.

57 Thus God, the Imperishable, who neither slumbers nor sleeps, gives life and causes death to this whole movable and immovable (creation).

58 But God, having revealed these Institutes (of the sacred law), Himself taught them, according to the rule, to me alone in the beginning; next I (taught them) to Marichi and the other sages.

59 Bhrigu, here, will fully recite to you these Institutes; for that sage learned the whole in its entirety from me.

60 Then that great sage Bhrigu, being thus addressed by Manu, spoke, pleased in his heart, to all the sages, "Listen!"

61 Six other high-minded, very powerful Manus, who belong to the race of this Manu Svayambhuva, and who have severally guided created beings,

62 (Are) Svarochisha, Auttami, Tamasa, Raivata, Chakshusha, possessing great lustre, and the son of Vivasvat.

63 These seven very glorious Manus, the first among whom is Svayambhuva, have each, during the period (allotted to him), guided and protected this whole movable and immovable (creation).

64 Eighteen nimeshas (twinklings of the eye) are one kashtha, thirty kashthas one kala, thirty kalas one muhurta, and as many (muhurtas) one day and night.

65 The sun divides days and nights, both human and heavenly, the night (being intended) for the repose of created beings and the day for exertion.

67 A year is a day and a night of the angels; their division is (as follows): the half year during which the sun progresses to the north will be the day, that during which it goes southwards the night.

68 But hear now the brief (description of) the duration of the several ages (of the world, yuga) according to their order.

69 They declare that the Krita age (consists of) four thousand years; the twilight preceding it consists of as many hundreds, and the twilight following it of the same number.

70 In the other three ages with their twilights preceding and following, the thousands and hundreds are diminished by one (in each).

71 These twelve thousand (years) which thus have been just mentioned as the total of four (human) ages, are called one age of the angels.

74 By His command the mind, which is both real and unreal, was brought forth.

75 Mind, impelled by His will to create, performs the work of creation by modifying itself; thence ether is produced; they declare that sound is the quality of the latter.

76 But from ether, modifying itself, springs the pure, powerful wind, the vehicle of all perfumes; that is held to possess the quality of touch,

77 Next from wind, modifying itself, proceeds the brilliant light, which illuminates and dispels darkness; that is declared to possess the quality of colour;

78 And from light, modifying itself, (is produced) water, possessing the quality of taste, from water earth which has the quality of smell; such is the creation in the beginning.

79 The before-mentioned age of the angels, (or) twelve thousand (of their years), being multiplied by seventy-one, (constitutes what) is here named the period of a Manu (Manvantara).

80 The periods, the creation and the end (of the world, are) numberless; God alone knows them.

81 In the Krita age Dharma is four-footed and entire, and (so is) Truth; nor does any gain accrue to men by unrighteousness.

82 In the other (three ages), by reason of (unjust) gains, Dharma is deprived successively of one foot, and through (the prevalence of) theft, falsehood, and fraud the merit (gained by men) is diminished by one fourth (in each).

83 (Men are) free from disease, accomplish all their aims, and live four hundred years in the Krita age, but in the Treta and (in each of) the succeeding (ages) their life is lessened by one quarter.

84 The life of mortals, mentioned in the Veda, the desired results of devotional rites and the (supernatural) power of embodied (beings) are fruits proportioned among men according to (the character of) the age.

85 One set of duties (is prescribed) for men in the Krita age, different ones in the Treta and in the Dvapara, and (again) another (set) in the Kali, in proportion as (those) ages decrease in length.

86 In the Krita age the chief (virtue) is declared to be (the performance of) austerities, in the Treta (divine) knowledge, in the Dvapara (the performance of) devotional worship in God's name, in the Kali liberality alone.

87 But in order to protect this universe He, the Most Resplendent, assigned separate (duties and) occupations to the four callings of mankind.

88 To the Brahmanas (the scholars) He assigned teaching and studying (the Veda), conducting worship for themselves and for others, giving and accepting (of alms).

89 The Kshatriya (the protector) He commanded to protect the people, to bestow gifts, to offer devotional sacrifices, to study (the Veda), and to abstain from attaching himself to sensual pleasures;

90 The Vaisya (the trader and farmer) to tend cattle, to bestow gifts, to offer devotional sacrifices, to study (the Veda), to trade, to lend money, and to cultivate land.

91 One occupation only the Lord prescribed to the Sudra (the worker), to serve the other three.

96 Of created beings the most excellent are said to be those which are animated; of the animated, those which subsist by intelligence; of the intelligent, mankind; and of men, the righteous;

97 Of the righteous, those learned (in the Veda); of the learned, those who recognise (the necessity and the manner of performing the prescribed duties); of those who possess this knowledge, those who perform them; of the performers, those who know God.

98 He who lives by the sacred law fulfils the purpose of his birth, and draws near to God.

99 A scholar who guards the treasury of the law is held in high honour on earth, as a servant of God.

102 In order to clearly settle his duties and those of the other (callings) according to their order, wise Manu composed these Institutes (of the sacred law).

103 A learned man must carefully study them, and he must duly instruct his pupils in them.

104 A man who studies these Institutes (and) faithfully fulfils the duties (prescribed therein), is, by God's grace, guarded from sins arising from thoughts, words, or deeds.

106 (To study) this (work) is a means of securing welfare, it increases understanding, it procures fame and long life, it (leads to) supreme bliss.

107 In this (work) the sacred law has been fully stated as well as the good and bad qualities of (human) actions and the immemorial rule of conduct, (to be followed) by all the four classes (varna).

108 The rule of conduct is transcendent law, whether it be taught in the revealed texts or in the sacred tradition; hence an initiated man who possesses regard for himself, should be always careful to (follow) it.

109 A man who departs from the rule of conduct, does not reap the fruit of the Veda, but he who duly follows it, will obtain the full reward.

110 The sages who saw that the sacred law is thus grounded on the rule of conduct, have taken good conduct to be the most excellent root of all austerity.

111 The creation of the universe, the rule of the sacraments, the ordinances of studentship, and the respectful behaviour (towards teachers), the most excellent rule of bathing (on return from the teacher's house),

112 (The law of) marriage and the description of the (various) marriage-rites, the regulations for the great acts of worship and the eternal rule of the funeral rites and charity,

113 The description of the modes of (gaining) subsistence and the duties of a Snataka, (the rules regarding) lawful and forbidden food, the purification of men and of things,

114 The laws concerning women, (the law) of hermits, (the manner of gaining) final emancipation and (of) renouncing the world, the whole duty of a king and the manner of deciding lawsuits,

115 The rules for the examination of witnesses, the laws concerning husband and wife, the law of (inheritance and) division, (the law concerning) gambling and the removal of (men noxious like) thorns,

116 (The law concerning) the behaviour of traders and workers, the law for all classes in times of distress and the law of penances,

117 The result of (good or bad) actions, (the manner of attaining) supreme bliss and the examination of the good and bad qualities of actions,

118 The primeval laws of countries, of classes, of families, and the rules concerning heretics and companies (of traders and the like) -- (all that) Manu has declared in these Institutes.

119 As Manu, in reply to my questions, formerly promulgated these Institutes, even so learn ye also the (whole work) from me.