The Sanskrit text was first translated into English in 1794, and translations into other European languages swiftly followed. For Nietzsche the humane wisdom of Manu far surpassed that of the New Testament; for the British Raj it seemed to be the perfect tool with which to rule the Hindu. No understanding of modern India is possible without it, and in the richness of its ideas, its aphoristic profundity and its relevance to universal human dilemmas Manu stands beside the great epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.
