Or The Institutes Of Manu Comprising The Indian System Of Duties-Religious And Civil.

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In recent decades there has been a rising interest among scholars of Hinduism and Judaism in engaging in the comparative studies of these ancient traditions. Academic interests have also been inspired by the rise of interreligious dialogue by the respective religious leaders. Dharma and Halacha: Comparative Studies in Hindu-Jewish Philosophy and Religion represents a significant contribution to this emerging field, offering an examination of a wide range of topics and a rich diversity of perspectives and methodologies within each tradition, and underscoring significant affinities in textual practices, ritual purity, sacrifice, ethics and theology. Dharma refers to a Hindu term indicating law, duty, religion, morality, justice and order, and the collective body of Dharma is called Dharma-shastra. Halacha is the Hebrew term designating the Jewish spiritual path, comprising the collective body of Jewish religious laws, ethics and rituals. Although there are strong parallels between Hinduism and Judaism in topics such as textual practices and mystical experience, the link between these two religious systems, i.e. Dharma and Halacha, is especially compelling and provides a framework for the comparative study of these two traditions. The book begins with an introduction to Hindu-Jewish comparative studies and recent interreligious encounters. Part I of the book titled “Ritual and Sacrifice,” encompasses the themes of sacrifice, holiness, and worship. Part II titled "Ethics," is devoted to comparing ethical systems in both traditions, highlighting the manifold ways in which the sacred is embodied in the mundane. Part III of the book titled "Theology," addresses common themes and phenomena in spiritual leadership, as well as textual metaphors for mystical and visionary experiences in Hinduism and Judaism. The epilogue offers a retrospective on Hindu-Jewish encounters, mapping historic as well as contemporary academic initiatives and collaborations.

Excerpt from The Laws of Manu: Or Manava Dharma-Sástra, Abridged English Translation Sruti and Smriti. - The sacred books of the Hindus are divided into two great classes, called Sruti and Smriti. Sruti, which means 'hearing' denotes direct revelation; Smriti, 'recollection' includes the sacred books which are admitted to have been composed by human authors. Classed under Sruti, are the Vedas, the Brahmanas, and the Upanishads. Smriti, in its widest sense, includes almost the whole of post-vedic literature The principal divisions are the six Vedangas, the Smarta-Sutras, the Dharma-Sastras or Law Books, the Epic Poems, the eighteen Puranas, and the Upa-Puranas. Yajur Veda. - The Rig-Veda denotes the Veda of hymns of praise. The Sama-Veda contains extracts from the Rig-Veda, arranged for the purpose of being chanted at sacrifices. The Atharva-Veda is of later origin than the others. It is sometimes called the Cursing Veda, because it contains so many mantras supposed to be able to cause the destruction of enemies. The Yajur-Veda will be noticed rather more at length from its close connection with the Dharma-Satras. The name comes from yaj, 'sacrifice.' It contains the formulas and verses to be muttered by the priests and their assistants who had chiefly to prepare the sacrificial ground, to dress the altar, slay the victims, and pour out the libations. The first sentences in one of the two divisions were to be uttered by the priest as he cut from a particular tree a switch with which to drive away the calves from the cows whose milk was to furnish the material of the offering. There are two principal texts of the Yajur-Veda, called respectively the White and the Black, or the Vajasaneyi and Taittiriya Sanhitas. The Vishnu Purana gives the followiug explanation of their names: Vaisampayana, a pupil of the great Vyasa, was the original teacher of the Black Yajur-Veda. Yajnavalkya, one of his disciples, having displeased him, was called upon by his master to part with the knowledge which he had acquired from him. He forthwith vomited the Yajur-Veda. The other disciples of Vaisampayana, assuming the form of partridges (tittiri), picked up from the ground its several dirtied texts. From this circumstance it received the name of Taittiriya Krishna Yajur-Veda. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.