---
type: Reference
bundle: cosmology-creation
bundle_version: "0.7.2"
id: manusmriti
title: "Manu-Smṛti"
description: "The dharmashastra of Manu; its cosmogony chapter grounds the time-cycle and creation vocabulary."
timestamp: "2026-07-01T00:00:00Z"
iast: "Manu-Smṛti"
devanagari: "मनुस्मृति"
text: "Manu-Smṛti (Mānavadharmaśāstra)"
text_division: "12 Adhyāyas (Chapters), 2,685 verses"
language: "Classical Sanskrit"
approximate_date: "c. 200 BCE -- 200 CE (compiled; attributed to Manu Svāyambhuva)"
tags: [dharmashastra, manu, smriti, cosmology, yuga, dharma, varna, karma]
okf_version: "0.2"
license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

# Manu-Smṛti (Mānavadharmaśāstra)

## Text Overview

The Manu-Smṛti is the most influential of the Dharmaśāstra texts, attributed to Manu Svāyambhuva (the first Manu, progenitor of humanity in the current Manvantara). It covers cosmogony, the Yuga system, varṇa-āśrama-dharma, law, ritual, and statecraft across 12 chapters. The text opens with a cosmological section (Adhyāya 1) that grounds its legal and ethical framework in the cosmic order -- a characteristic move: dharma is not arbitrary but flows from the structure of the cosmos.

## Key Passages for Cosmology-Creation Bundle

**Adhyāya 1 (Cosmogony):**
- 1.5-16: Brahman as the self-existent (*svayaṃbhū*) source; emergence of the cosmos through Brahman's creative intention; the Brahmāṇḍa as the primordial housing of all beings; Brahmā divides himself into male and female halves
- 1.67-86: The Yuga system with durations: Kṛta (Satya) = 4000 divine years + twilights; Tretā = 3000; Dvāpara = 2000; Kali = 1000 (divine years, not human years); the 4:3:2:1 ratio confirmed
- 1.69-72: Characteristics of each Yuga: dharma stands on four legs in Satya, progressively losing one leg per Yuga

**Adhyāya 12 (Karma and Guṇas across Rebirths):**
- 12.24-50: How the three Guṇas determine the species and condition of rebirth; Sattva-dominant beings take higher births; Tamas-dominant beings take lower births; this is the application of the cosmological Guṇa framework to individual karma
- The cosmological Triguṇas (v0.7) here interface directly with individual karma and dharma (dharma-foundation bundle)

## Significance and Limits

The Manu-Smṛti's cosmological section (Adhyāya 1) is important for:
1. Confirming the Yuga chronological system across Dharmaśāstra (not only Purāṇic) literature
2. Grounding dharma in the cosmic order -- the Yuga one is in determines the appropriate dharmic practice
3. The Guṇa-karma-rebirth framework (Adhyāya 12) shows the cosmological Triguṇas functioning at the individual level

**Important limitation for OKF**: The Manu-Smṛti's social prescriptions (particularly on jāti, gender, and varṇa hierarchy) represent a specific historical-social codification of dharma that has been highly contested, criticized, and rejected by significant movements within the tradition (including B.R. Ambedkar's public burning of the text in 1927). OKF entries that cite the Manu-Smṛti cite it for cosmological content only and note this distinction explicitly.

## Primary Concepts Using This Reference

- yuga.md (Yuga durations; 4:3:2:1 ratio; per-Yuga dharma characteristics)
- trigunas-cosmological.md (Guṇas and rebirth -- Adhyāya 12.24-50)
- kala.md (Yuga-as-time-unit confirmation across text types)
- manvantara.md (Manu Svāyambhuva as the progenitor figure)
