| But most of these
books are only of historical 'importance now. For Hindu society has naturally changed
during all these intervening centuries and many new factors undreamt of by the old
lawgivers have come into existence. Accordingly many of the old laws have become obsolete.
Our society has outgrown them. It would be as impossible for us to order our lives today
according to these old laws as for a man of twenty-five to wear a coat which was made for
him when he was a child of five. Our attempt to
follow the laws of Manu now would be as ridiculous as a modern Englishman's attempt to
follow the laws of Alfred. All that we can do is to follow the spirit and not the letter
of our ancient lawgivers. The Itihasas are the two well-known epics - the Ramayana and the
Mahabharata. Their object is to drive home to all Hindus the laws of the Smrtis and the
principles of the Veda by means of the exploits of their great national heroes. We get our
earliest notions of our religion from these stories. |
