The laws of Manu make no mention of the doctrine of Bakti or faith, and there is no reference to the worship of the Sakti; both of these were of later date.  The doctrine of transmigration, however, is fully stated, and as a consequence of this the hells described in the code, though places of torture, resolve themselves into merely temporary purgatories, while the heavens become only the steps on the road to a union with deity.  There is reason to believe that the practice of employing idols to represent deity was unknown at the time the code was compiled.  There is no allusion to public services or to teaching in the temples, the chief rites of religion were of a domestic kind, and the priests of that age were nothing more than domestic chaplains.

Manu’s theory of creation was this:  “The Self-Existent, having willed to produce various beings from his own substance, first with a thought created the waters and placed on them a productive seed or egg.  Then he himself was born in that egg in the form of Brahma.  Next he caused the egg to divide itself, and out of its two divisions there came the heaven above and the earth beneath.  Afterward, having divided his own substance he became half male, half female.  From that female was produced Viraj, from whom was created the secondary progenitor of all beings.  Then from the Supreme Soul he drew forth Manu’s intellect.”  This mixed cosmogony is supposed to indicate a diversity of authorship.

It will be seen that this is much less philosophical than the theory of creation quoted above from the Mundaka Upanishad.[51] If we compare Manu’s account with the description of the “Beginning” found in one of the hymns of the Rig Veda,[52] we shall see that there has been a downward trend of Hinduism from the simple and sublime conceptions of the early poets to that which is grotesque, and which has probably been worked over to suit the purposes of the Brahmans.  No mythological legend was too absurd if it promoted the notion of the divine origin of the Manus (sages) and the Brahmans.

Manu makes much of the Vedic passage which refers to the origin of caste.[53] He maintained that this distinction of caste was as much a law of nature and divine appointment as the separation of different classes of animals.  The prominence accorded to the Brahmans was nothing short of divine.  “Even when Brahmans employ themselves in all sorts of inferior occupations (as poverty often compels them to do) they must under all circumstances be honored, for they are to be regarded as supreme divinities.”  “A Brahman’s own power is stronger than the power of the king, therefore by his own might he may chastise his foes.”  “He who merely assails a Brahman with intent to kill him, will continue in hell for a hundred years, and he who actually strikes him must endure a thousand years.”